Circuits 360

[roambotics_scott]

This relates to the Routing 360.. basically I'm imagining something that can do professional board design (think Eagle but without the horrible UI; closer to the 123d circuits but for more serious / production board design)

The ideal would be something that integrates into assemblies, lets users design the board (including layers and silkscreen), place the connectors and components (in a way that can be exported for production with a pick-n-place) and then let components integrate with cable / harness routing.

Ideally down the road it would dovetail into a complete mechatronics system that would let users build working simulations of products that behave like physical systems (all the way from an ARM (/other) CPU simulator to actuators and mechanical linkages).

Even more pie-in-the-sky would be to eventually include thermal and acoustic simulations in the cloud.

[Oceanconcepts]

I realize this is fantasy now, but I did hear some rumors about a connection with Altium? This almost seems like a separate product module, but I second the desire for simple board layout tools that have a decent UI. Integration of CAD and electronics would be a plus for the future.

[herzinj]

I see the added benefits of this, though it is a large request. We're going to put this to future consideration, as I would like to see how others continue to weigh in on the benefits and see if we can get more support behind it to move it up the list of ideas. Thanks!

[roambotics_scott]

Yeah I definitely can't argue there.. it would be amazing to have F360 eventually become a one-stop for building and simulating integrated mechatronic systems

[paullryan]

A tool that rivals Altium and didn't keep me locked into windows would be an incredible boon. One I've even thought of building myself.

[roambotics_scott]

Funny I've thought about building it too. 

I've had an Altium sales droid tell me that they're thinking about / maybe working on a Mac version but I believe that about as much as the SW sales droid who said the same a few years back (though I so wish both were true).

A year plus on from this, I do have to say that Eagle is at least not as terrible as I originally thought and 123d circuits gets very annoying very quickly.

[chudodey]

I think Autodesk should buy Upverter and merge it with A360 🙂

https://upverter.com/