Altium Net Highlight

[Sebastian Thorndike]

Asthe design builds up it quickly becomes dense and detailed - the schematic busy with wiring and the board a maze of connection lines and routed nets. To help bring clarity and visibility, the designer can apply color to the schematic wiring, PCB connection lines, and routing.

The ability to selectively override the color of specific nets is known as Net Color Override. Color can be applied to schematic nets and those color settings transferred to the PCB, or color settings can be applied directly in the PCB editor.

The image below shows a complex high-speed design using net color to help the designer easily identify groups of critical nets. Further down the page, there is an image that shows the same board with and without color on the routed nets.

Select a command indicating color or choose the Custom command to set the specific color you want to use for net highlighting using the standard Choose Color dialog that opens. Click on a pin, wire, bus or net identifier (net label, sheet entry, port, power port or offsheet connector) to apply the selected color to that net (or all the nets in a bus). The command remains active after clicking on the first net, ready to color subsequent nets in that same color if required.

When a color is applied to a net or a bus, it overrides any previous color setting. Note that net color settings cannot be undone, to remove a color setting use the Clear Net Color command, or the Clear All Net Colors command (View Set Net Colors sub-menu).

Because a net is a compiled object, determined from the current arrangement of wiring and net identifiers, the color setting for a net is not stored with the various objects placed on the sheets. The color settings are actually stored in the project file as a net-level setting and are applied on each schematic sheet after it is opened and the background compiler has compiled that sheet.

Net colors are always applied to the connection lines. Routed nets can be displayed either in layer color, or net color. The display of net colors in the PCB editor can be controlled at the individual net-level and also at the editor-level, more on this below.

When the design is transferred from the schematic into the PCB workspace, default color settings are applied to all nets. All of the net connection lines are assigned the default Connection Lines color, as defined in the System Colors section of the Layers & Colors tab of the View Configuration panel (L shortcut). Net colors defined in the schematic will override this default.

The default behavior for routed nets is to display them using the color of the layer that the routing objects have been placed on. You can also use the net color for routed nets, by enabling the Net Override Color feature for the required nets, and also for the PCB editor.

The PCB editor can display the override color in a variety of ways, including as a solid override of the chosen color, or in a number of different override patterns. This behavior is configured in the PCB Editor - Board Insight Color Overrides page of the Preferences dialog.

The Base Pattern option determines how the routing is displayed when you are zoomed in. The pattern options are included so that you can still see both the routing layer color and the override color. This is useful if you are tracing a net that is moving through the layers, and you also need to keep track of which layer it is currently on.

The image below shows how well multiple sets of critical nets in a high-speed PCB design stand out once they have been identified using different colors. In this example, the Zoom Out Behavior is set to Override Color Dominates. Hover the cursor over the image to show the same layer with Net Color Override disabled.

An excellent example of the net color override feature being used to easily identify classes of nets in a high-speed design, hover to switch off the override feature.

(image courtesy FEDEVEL Open Source, www.fedevel.com)

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. Compare features included in the various levels of Altium Designer Software Subscription and functionality delivered through applications provided by the Altium 365 platform.

I have a chip that I'm testing voltages on. I can highlight the chip by alt-clicking on it, at which point the pads are highlighted. At this point, is there a command to highlight everything these pads are connected to? As opposed to looking up each trace one by one in the schematic.

Right-click on component > Component actions > Select Component Nets (highlights all nets, routed or unrounted). Select Component Connections will only highlight physically routed connections from the component. This is explained in the Altium Documentation.

Coming from the Altium world there is one thing I really miss in Allegro / Orcad PCB Designer: the ability to simply highlight a net by reducing the brightness of everything else. In Altium, there is a possibility to simply Ctrl-Click a net, everything else will go darker and the net will show more vivid. This way you can easily determine where the net is going, through all layers.

In Allegro/Orcad PCB Designer I have found the option to "highlight" a net which will make it a bit patterned, the rest will stay the same and it is really hard to distinguish it from the rest visible. I have found that you can give colors to a net which is slightly better but then I won't be able to determine the layers it is going through anymore. Also, the rest will still be bright, again - pretty hard to visually distinguish.

To get rid of the annoying bit-patterned highlight and make it solid and bright, go into User_Setup->Display->Highlight and select "display_nohiltefont".

The other trick for display contrast is as per steve's post.

Thanks, that makes it a bit better but I'd like to see the whole net to be highlighted, not just the tracks on the layer where I selected the Cline segment, including all involved Vias, CLines, Pads so you can easily see where the signal is going. Currently it will stop at the first via - is there an option for that?

Thanks, that definitely helps. It's interesting that sometimes I have a dialog popping up where I can actually select "No pattern" but the dialog on the Options panel only shows patterns without the "No pattern"

Altium Highlight Net PCB is a powerful tool that can help designers identify and troubleshoot issues with their printed circuit board (PCB) designs. With this software, designers can easily highlight and trace specific nets on their PCB, making it easier to identify potential problems and ensure that their designs meet all necessary requirements.

One of the key benefits of Altium Highlight Net PCB is its ability to quickly and accurately identify potential issues with a design. By highlighting specific nets on the PCB, designers can easily see where there may be problems with signal integrity, power distribution, or other critical aspects of the design. This can save designers a significant amount of time and effort, as they can quickly identify and address issues before they become more serious.

Overall, Altium Highlight Net PCB is an essential tool for any designer working on a complex PCB design. With its powerful features and intuitive interface, it can help designers identify and troubleshoot issues quickly and easily, ensuring that their designs meet all necessary requirements and perform as expected.

Altium Highlight Net PCB is a powerful tool that helps designers to highlight and visualize the connections between components on a printed circuit board (PCB). With this tool, designers can easily identify the different nets and connections on the PCB, which makes it easier to troubleshoot and debug any issues that may arise during the design process.

The Highlight Net PCB feature in Altium allows designers to highlight specific nets on the PCB, making it easier to trace connections and identify potential issues. This feature is particularly useful when working with complex designs that may have many different connections and components.

Altium Highlight Net PCB also includes a range of other features that make it easier to design and troubleshoot PCBs. For example, the tool includes a netlist viewer that allows designers to view the connections between components and the different nets on the PCB. Additionally, Altium Highlight Net PCB includes a range of advanced routing features that help designers to optimize the layout of the PCB and ensure that all connections are properly routed.

Overall, Altium Highlight Net PCB is an essential tool for any designer working on complex PCB designs. With its powerful visualization and routing features, this tool makes it easier to design, troubleshoot, and optimize PCBs, ensuring that designs are accurate, reliable, and efficient.

In conclusion, highlighting nets in Altium is a simple process that can help you better visualize your design and make it easier to work with. By following these three steps, you can quickly and easily highlight any net in your design.

Altium Highlight Net PCB is a powerful tool that can help designers save a lot of time and effort. With this tool, designers can easily highlight all the nets on the PCB, making it easier to identify and locate specific components. This feature is particularly useful when working on complex designs that involve a large number of components and nets.

In addition, Altium Highlight Net PCB can help designers quickly identify and fix errors in the design. By highlighting all the nets on the PCB, designers can easily spot any issues or errors that may have been missed during the design process. This can save a lot of time and effort, as designers can quickly identify and fix any issues before they become more serious problems.

Altium Highlight Net PCB can also help improve the accuracy and efficiency of the design process. By highlighting all the nets on the PCB, designers can ensure that all the components are properly connected and that there are no errors or issues in the design. This can help improve the overall quality of the design and reduce the risk of errors or issues during the manufacturing process.

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