EAGLE v9.4 Release

[edwin.robledo]

Today we have released Autodesk EAGLE v9.4 and, as in previous major releases, its loaded with lots of great new features and enhancement that will streamline you design time and increase productivity. 

New Routing modes 

In addition to the single airwire routing mode we now have two new modes that have been docked with the Route icon, Multiple airwires routing and Differential pair routing. 

 

Multiple Airwires mode allows you to route multiple airwires at once while still leveraging the benefits of push and walkaround obstacle modes. If you are routing less than 16 airwires you can press enter to invoke quick route to finish off your traces in no time. 

EAGLE has had differential pair routing for a long time, but with this release we have overhauled the differential pair engine so that it can leverage the assisted routing tools fully. 

Object Inspector and Selection Filter 

In the words of one of our developers, “the object inspector is the INFO command on steroids”. The object inspector allows you to see and edit the properties of single items as well as groups. When working with groups it will allow you to edit common properties of the group. For example, it becomes really easy to replace all of your 0603 resistors for 0805 resistors and vice versa. 

The Selection Filter gives users complete control over object selection. Let’s say you only want to select devices, select that type in the filter and form a big selection, EAGLE will pick only the devices. You can further filter based on the layer the objects are on. This will really minimize ambiguous selections saving you time. 

Assign 3D models in the Board and Schematic Editors 

It is now possible to assign 3D models without having to use a managed library. Besides assigning models it is also possible to override the 3D model used by the part on a design basis should that need arise. This workflow will help users get done quickly and lessen the learning curve once it’s time to use managed libraries. 

Copy components from a design straight to your library 

This one has been a long time coming, but now you can right click on a component in a design and copy it to your library. You have complete control, you can copy just the symbol, the full device, the footprint even the 3D model to your personal library. 

Bus routing, assigning 3D models on the design, repurposing assets to your own libraries, and an elaborate selection filter minimize design time and enhance the electromechanical workflow.  

[ImDaveM]

Thanks for this update!

I will test out the new device / library features today.

Dave

[hanakp_BUT]

The Route Multiple mode is a neat little function, but control of the trace spacing is quite cumbersome.  Probably the biggest problem is that you can't set it to a given value and instead you have to rely on grid spacing. But since some packages have metric pitches and other packages have imperial pitches, setting the requied value may be tricky in practice. IMO the best solution would be to add a pulldown menu for trace spacing, similar to Diameter - the user could select the spacing manually or set it to Auto, in which case the spacing would be set according to current design rules (like MINSPACING).

Another problem is that the airwire selection is confimed by right mouse button. That blocks context menu when Route Multiple is active, but not in other modes. It's confusing.

Also, I must say I was disappointed that you've neglected to fix bugs in other Route modes which have been there for quite some time now:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/eagle-forum/9-3-0-bug-quick-route-doesn-t-obey-layer-selection/m-p/85...

[Anonymous]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong... but I can no longer create drill files with imperial units.  No matter what options I select, they only come out in metric.  Does anyone else have this issue?

[abrarashraf20]

Thank you, Sir, But Align to Grid option in the schematic window is disappeared.

[edwin.robledo]

Hi Jeffrey,

We greatly appreciate your participation on the Autodesk EAGLE forums. I'm generating a report in this regards, you can certain it will be resolved by the next update.

Best Regards,

Ed

[jorge_garcia2]

Hello @abrarashraf20,

I hope you're doing well. The align command isn't currently available in the schematic, hence why that option isn't available. However there are ways to get items on grid in the schematic. One way is to hold the ctrl key when picking an item to move. Holding the ctrl key will put it back on grid. You can also run the snap-on-grid.ulp that comes with EAGLE. It can put all of your components on grid at once.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,
Jorge Garcia

[engineeringNCMXB]

CTRL+S is for SAVE 
ALWAYS.

FOREVER.
AND.

EVER.

What bizarre reason has that been assigned to SIGNAL in BOARD mode?

[engineeringNCMXB]

I tried a few of the new tricks....

Multiple airwire routing:
Jury is out, it seems kind of neat, but when I tested it on some real designs it was cumbersome. When I got to the end and hit enter - it never really completed the way I wanted so I had to delete those segments and finish each one individually. Perhaps I will get better over time, but I learned that routing individually gets me exactly what I want the first time with little need to fiddle, delete, and adjust. 

Differential Routing:

The update to differential routing is appreciated, but still leaves me manually routing in the end. The highlighting is great, the push/shove support is great. It is still difficult to match length. The biggest challenge with differential routing is NOT the initial route, which is generally done fairly early in the process to prioritize the signal integrity. The real challenge is to make changes to the route AFTER it was initially laid down while preserving the spacing and length matching. The is especially difficult with radius turns common to high-speed/frequency designs where impedance control is critical. 
I tried this and it is neat, but solves about 10% of the challenge.

Copying from PCB design to Library:
Yay. Not sure this helps me, but perhaps others need this?

Object Inspector:

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!

Really nice to have this granular control over the selections and a persistent view of active layers. Fantastic. 

Assign 3D models from layout and schematic:
Yay. Not sure this helps me, but perhaps others need this?

I am very curious about what drives the priorities of new feature development. 

[Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele]

Good catch! Not sure what happened here but I created a ticket for it and it will be fixed for 9.4.1.

As a temporary fix you can change the line (in default-assign.scr):

ASSIGN C+S SIGNAL;

back to what it was before:

{{{win,linux ASSIGN A+S SIGNAL; }}}
{{{mac ASSIGN C+S SIGNAL; }}}

and re-run default-assign.scr. C+S should only be assigned to SIGNAL on mac basically (like it has always been). 

However be aware that this will override the INCSPACING option. It might be best to leave SIGNAL unassigned if you do not use it that often. 

[abrarashraf20]

Hi jorge.garcia

Thank you for your reply, its helpful.

[engineeringNCMXB]

There is a fresh new bug now....
When I turn off the TOP COPPER layer - it also turns off the tStop and tCream layers (perhaps more)

Reverting back to the previous revision until this is resolved. 

[abrarashraf20]

Hi @engineeringNCMXB @edwin.robledo 

Confirmed, The designs I made from the previous version is showing perfect everything in this 9.4 version, but the new one I made in this new version is turning off the layers with the TOP layer. 

The new version should release quickly.

[abrarashraf20]

Sir, The Last Grid settings should be saved with the design, its irritating to set grid every time.

Thank you .

[bae9cf5e]

I tried it out last night as well and was very confused. It wasn't impossible but it was confusing enough that it took me 3x as long to route single nets -- about a third of which was reclicking the net button because I don't have a habit of it being a dropdown menu, about a third of which was having to now manually click on the dropdown to switch between corner modes (right angle/45 degree/etc), and about a third of which was it now being even harder to get a trace to bend the right way (say, go straight then 45 rather than go 45 then straight). I used to only have to click the right mouse button a few times to make the traces do anything under the sun. =(

I was most excited about improved differential routing so I tried to reroute a USB line (90 ohm differential). I set it up in the net layers to have a specific distance from the same signal and a different one from ground or other signals to do a differential coplanar waveguide and let's just say it was clumsy. Is enter supposed to do something in differential routing mode?

Maybe it will grow on me but after this one I'm nervous about the stability of this software. It's getting harder to recommend for commercial use which is really unfortunate.

[rachaelATWH4]

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

I tried it out last night as well and was very confused. It wasn't impossible but it was confusing enough that it took me 3x as long to route single nets -- about a third of which was reclicking the net button because I don't have a habit of it being a dropdown menu, about a third of which was having to now manually click on the dropdown to switch between corner modes (right angle/45 degree/etc), and about a third of which was it now being even harder to get a trace to bend the right way (say, go straight then 45 rather than go 45 then straight). I used to only have to click the right mouse button a few times to make the traces do anything under the sun. =(

The shortcut for flipping the bend direction has been changed from Cmd(Ctrl) + right click to just right click and now the original shortcut is used to cycle the bend styles. So nothing has been removed in this regard, just the shortcuts reversed so the more common bend direction flip has been made the quickest shortcut.

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

I was most excited about improved differential routing so I tried to reroute a USB line (90 ohm differential). I set it up in the net layers to have a specific distance from the same signal and a different one from ground or other signals to do a differential coplanar waveguide and let's just say it was clumsy. Is enter supposed to do something in differential routing mode?

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So, now the differential routing has object avoidance and push&shove modes so that is a significant step forward. Pressing enter is supposed to finish the route with quickroute but I think that maybe there are some issues they need to fix there and hopefully that will improve in subsequent releases. 

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

Maybe it will grow on me but after this one I'm nervous about the stability of this software. It's getting harder to recommend for commercial use which is really unfortunate.

---

Well, the .0 releases are usually where new features (and bugs) get introduced and then they get improved (i.e. bugs fixed) over the subsequent point releases. The changes to the routing tools in this release are huge so once they get them more polished and the bugs fixed it'll be a really impressive step forwards. The selection filter, object inspector and changes to the library / 3D model ability, CAM processor, etc all combine to make this a very significant upgrade. Hopefully once they've released some fixes you'll be able to get to like it a little more 🙂

Best Regards,

Rachael

[bae9cf5e]

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@rachaelATWH4 wrote:

The shortcut for flipping the bend direction has been changed from Cmd(Ctrl) + right click to just right click and now the original shortcut is used to cycle the bend styles. So nothing has been removed in this regard, just the shortcuts reversed so the more common bend direction flip has been made the quickest shortcut.

Oh, I see, that's not so bad. Thanks for the explanation, it wasn't clear what the right click was doing but with your explanation it makes more sense.

Well, the .0 releases are usually where new features (and bugs) get introduced and then they get improved (i.e. bugs fixed) over the subsequent point releases. The changes to the routing tools in this release are huge so once they get them more polished and the bugs fixed it'll be a really impressive step forwards. The selection filter, object inspector and changes to the library / 3D model ability, CAM processor, etc all combine to make this a very significant upgrade. Hopefully once they've released some fixes you'll be able to get to like it a little more 🙂

Might I suggest calling it an alpha or beta then? If you versioned it as 9.4.0beta and 9.4.0 instead of 9.4.0 and 9.4.1 it would at least be obvious that it's a beta version. All I saw in this post for it was that it has new features and was ready for use.

That said I really want to like it. Hopefully the Fusion 360 integration gets fixed soon, I get to decide whether to re-up my subscription for that in 3 days and given that my Eagle boards aren't pushable anymore I'm skeptical. I really hate this instability for features I'm paying for and need to rely on them working. I doubt it's Eagle 9.4.0's fault though, the integration with Fusion has been regularly breaking for a month, it's hard to even consider it a feature given how rarely it works.

Anyway, thanks for the explanation about the right clicking! And from now on I'll consider .0 releases to be your way of indicating beta software.

[rachaelATWH4]

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

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@rachaelATWH4 wrote:

The shortcut for flipping the bend direction has been changed from Cmd(Ctrl) + right click to just right click and now the original shortcut is used to cycle the bend styles. So nothing has been removed in this regard, just the shortcuts reversed so the more common bend direction flip has been made the quickest shortcut.

Oh, I see, that's not so bad. Thanks for the explanation, it wasn't clear what the right click was doing but with your explanation it makes more sense.

If it's any consolation, I didn't realise it had changed at first either and it took a short while for the penny to drop as to what was going on. It does make it a lot easier when the shortcuts to these features are working as you expect!

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

Well, the .0 releases are usually where new features (and bugs) get introduced and then they get improved (i.e. bugs fixed) over the subsequent point releases. The changes to the routing tools in this release are huge so once they get them more polished and the bugs fixed it'll be a really impressive step forwards. The selection filter, object inspector and changes to the library / 3D model ability, CAM processor, etc all combine to make this a very significant upgrade. Hopefully once they've released some fixes you'll be able to get to like it a little more 🙂

Might I suggest calling it an alpha or beta then? If you versioned it as 9.4.0beta and 9.4.0 instead of 9.4.0 and 9.4.1 it would at least be obvious that it's a beta version. All I saw in this post for it was that it has new features and was ready for use.

Well I don't think they are releasing deliberately with known bugs in and there aren't many issues in 9.4.0 as far as I can see so I don't think it's beta quality, it's just occasionally things get discovered afterwards when a larger portion of the user base starts to get hold of the tool and all the corner cases and oddball use cases get exercised! They're pretty good at getting these types of bugs fixed quickly and the point releases out though so it usually works out pretty well.

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@bae9cf5e wrote: That said I really want to like it. Hopefully the Fusion 360 integration gets fixed soon, I get to decide whether to re-up my subscription for that in 3 days and given that my Eagle boards aren't pushable anymore I'm skeptical. I really hate this instability for features I'm paying for and need to rely on them working. I doubt it's Eagle 9.4.0's fault though, the integration with Fusion has been regularly breaking for a month, it's hard to even consider it a feature given how rarely it works.

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What's the problem with the Fusion 360 integration? I've been using it extensively for months on complex boards and it's not skipped a beat once. Have you started a separate thread about your issues with it?

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

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Anyway, thanks for the explanation about the right clicking! And from now on I'll consider .0 releases to be your way of indicating beta software.

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Two final things:

1) I am an EAGLE user, not an Autodesk employee. It seems I confuse a lot of people as I am mistaken for one often! 

2) The .0 versions are really not just beta quality, they are definitely much better than that. Yes they do occasionally have issues but usually they're pretty solid. You can install them alongside your existing installation anyway so can easily test out the new features whilst keeping earlier versions around in case of issues.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[bae9cf5e]

Haha, thanks for the explanation! I did assume you were an employee because you know so much about it!

The Fusion problem I did start a separate thread for. It seems to be on one board but not others so I think it's on the Eagle end. It does ridiculous things like give me a HTTP error code of literally zero with no other information.

The integration has been working great for me up until about a month ago. Since then it's broken badly three times and each time it took a forum post to get a fix. At this point I have an updated board design for a project that I made over a week ago and have yet to be able to open in Fusion even with breaking of the link and creating a new project. But that's all in the other thread, hopefully an employee will help me figure out how to fix it soon. I really like being able to show my clients quasi-renders of the PCB rather than trying to get the PCB layouts clear enough to communicate the design.

[rachaelATWH4]

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@bae9cf5e wrote:

The Fusion problem I did start a separate thread for. It seems to be on one board but not others so I think it's on the Eagle end. It does ridiculous things like give me a HTTP error code of literally zero with no other information.

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I've spotted your other thread now, I'll take a look through and will reply in their later if I have anything useful I can add. I suspect it's likely a problem with a particular part from a particular library causing it to fall over. As I said, I've been using it a lot for months on complex designs and it's not skipped a beat with the way I have things set up.

Best Regards,

Rachael