Although Altium Designer features its own topological autorouter (Situs), we appreciate that you may wish to perform automated routing tasks using an external autorouter. One such powerful autorouter, and instantly recognized by those involved in PCB layout is the Specctra® autorouter. Install this plugin to export the active PCB document as a Specctra Design file (
*.dsn) for use with a Specctra-compatible routing product then, once routing is complete, import the resulting Specctra Route file (
*.rte) back into the active PCB document.
Export can be performed using either the
File»Save As command, or the
File»Save Copy As command. Various options can be defined at the time of export, such as grids, protection of pre-routes, via styles and layer directions. The export will result in a set of three files:
- DesignName.cctpref - containing the via styles and layer directions preferences.
- DesignName.dsn - the PCB design stored in Specctra design file format.
- DesignName.do. containing further instructions for autorouting the design.
Import is performed using the
File»Import command. Essentially the routing information contained in the
.rte file is merged with the active PCB document to arrive at the final routed PCB.
See Also:
Important!
This plugin is only available for Altium Designer 13.0 or older versions.
Altium Designer 14.0+ Users: You can install this plugin in the Extensions & Updates section in Altium Designer.
