PCB Visualizer, one week after the beta release

We have recieved plenty of feedback. Thank you for your support !

During the first week after the launch we got a lot of praise, comments, questions and suggestions.
The praise was sometimes overwhelming – you can still see the smile on our faces 🙂

“Quite amazing” or “Great!” , “Very nice tool!,” Great tool!…

and sometimes more down to earth

“good”, “worked fine” or “everything seems correct”.

Very motivating for us to work even harder to improve and extend the PCB Visualizer functionality. The current version is still in beta phase which means that we work on stabilizing the software, improve its performance and further develop the analysis algorithms to increase the reliability and accuracy. It is important for us to continue to recieve your feedback about how you experience the PCB Visualizer. Our priorities for further development are based on your reactions.

What we learned during the first week.

 

1. It”s not clear what to do when the PCB Visualizer shows errors – can you proceed with your order?

  • Whatever the result shown by PCB Visualizer, you can place the order. When the import of the files was successful and a red flag is showing in the order details, we advise to check your design and your order details to avoid that you will receive an exception further in the process.
  • PCB Visualizer shows errors but you think your data was not analysed correctly. Please let us know through the feedback form what information is incorrect. We will analyse the problem and look for a solution. You can place your order, the data will be analysed by an operator independent from the PCB Visualizer result.
  • Import failed – PCB Visualizer works only based on Extended Gerber files as well as CadSoft EAGLE V6 files. All other file formats will result in an import failure. – However, you can place your order – older formats of CadSoft EAGLE as well as standard Gerber-files are still accepted.

2. From all our customers feedback, we learned that we need to improve on:

  • PCB Contour recognition – improve the success rate on contour recognition. We will publish guidelines how you can define contours so PCB Visualizer can detect the correct contour more easily .
  • Build-up recognition in case of single sided boards
  • Make the results of PCB Visualizer also available after an order has been placed. You will therefore also find it in your running orders.
  • Further extend the DRC functionalities. We show measured values now but not the location of the errors.
    We will build this functionality into a DRC check module that you can run after the PCB Visualizer is shown.
    We will keep you informed about the progress.
  • Endless ” data loading – please wait” – message. PCB Visualizer is not always loading as expected. This behaviour seems to depend on operating systems
    as well as browsers. Make sure that you are using the latest versions of your browser, that your internet connection bandwidth is sufficient and
    that your firewall is not blocking .png images. We are exploring the reasons for this loading problem. When you are confronted with this,
    try if PCB Visualizer works from another PC or another location.

3. What to do with the information in the plating section?

  • When we raise the red flag in the plating section of PCB Visualizer it does not mean that we cannot produce your boards.
    It means that the copper distribution over the surface of your board will not be even.
  • The values give a degree of inbalance of copper distribution over the board.
  • We do have possibilities to influence the plating when we construct the production panels and also during the production process,
    but the variation of copper thickness on your tracks and in the holes will be higher when the plating indexes are lower.
  • Designing your board with the plating indexes in mind will result in a higher reliability of your boards.