> On Mar 5, 2018, at 11:49 AM, Russell Oliver <roliver8...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> In terms of automatically arranging components a force directed graph
> algorithm may work quite nicely, especially if the algorithm is seeded with
> the layout of components on the schematic.
>
> A simplistic version would be to just arrange components on board sheet as to
> their position on the schematic sheets.
That approach might be fine for something like a VME CPU board filled with
74xxx TTL parts, but modern designs have too many other considerations. For
example, most things fit into some kind of enclosure, and as such the
mechanical constraints matter, and then trying to draw a schematic to represent
placement can make a mess of things. What if the person drawing the schematic
has no idea at the start what kind of enclosure will be used?
The “seeding” can be in some cases inferred from the netlist and connections.
This goes to that, that goes to something else, and this that there ends up
being in the middle. pcbnew’s netlist import generally keeps parts on the same
schematic page together. Start with stuff that needs to be located specifically
because of mechanical concerns. It usually turns out that parts will go whether
they need to go, and that becomes obvious once you have them all on the canvas
and the rats nest is visible. You start with the big parts and fit the
supporting parts around them.
I can’t think of any board I’ve done in the last {harumph!} years where I drew
the schematic in a way that reflected the final parts placement.
-a
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