Geoff, my experience with mirroring layouts (now several years in the past) was so disasterous that I gave it up. Connectivity of all copper objects became completely unreliable, not to say trash.
Can 99SE/SP6 in fact mirror layouts and retain connectivity? Or are you referring to mirroring as an aid to viewing overlays and the like on a "scratch" board, while modifying and later using the "true" layout? Brian >There is another possibility, but due care needs to be exercised if using >it. That possibility is to select *everything* in the PCB file, and then >mirror this about a vertical axis or horizontal axis. > >Since the release of SP6 (for Protel 99 SE), you will be presented with a >warning box if the items about to be mirrored include components, because >producing Gerber files from mirrored components will result in PCBs that >can't have "real world" components installed on them. As such, if you do go >for this option, you will then need to re-mirror everything again (and >before producing Gerber files). (And when you do re-mirror everything again, >the same warning box will be re-invoked; Protel is not "conscious" of >whether components are currently in a mirrored state or not, because (unlike >String objects) Component objects do *not* (currently) incorporate a >Mirrored field (something which I am hoping will be rectified in Phoenix >though).) > >If you add any new components to the PCB file while this is in a mirrored >state, you should then mirror such components as well (to match the >currently mirrored state of previously placed components, while keeping in >mind that the second mirroring of the PCB file will *toggle* the >(non-Protel-registered) mirrored status of *all* components within the PCB >file at that time). That consideration is one example of why you need to be >careful if you run with this procedure. > >Other aspects of going with this procedure is that Coordinate and Dimension >objects do *not* "mirror" properly (and that indeed is also a problematic >aspect with the alternative concept of "inverting" PCBs). However, as a PCB >file has to be re-mirrored again at a later stage (to restore all components >to an un-mirrored state), the associated problems are of a temporary nature >(but re-check the locations and properties of any Coordinate objects >following the second mirroring). > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
