Bug...or feature? Constant crashing panelizing board layout with "detect board shape enabled"

[justinJSCBZ]

Working with an approximately 2.5" X 4.5" 4-layer board layout, being panelized into a 2 X 4 array.   All 8 instances of the board have been pasted, trying to make final small changes to the panel   Any command being executed, ie. move, delete, etc... causes Fusion to become unresponsive at which point has to be closed manually. 

Reset layout, did not help.  Reinstalled, which did not help.  Installed on a second PC, which did not help.

What did stop the crashing was disabling "detect board shape".

We have been moving our PCB design to this software since the announcement that Eagle was being discontinued (Eagle user since V5).   After struggling with constant bugs, syncing issues between board and schematic, chronic input lag/poor performance, and counter-productive design choices, we've decided to move to different software.   I share this bug "fix" for anyone who might be stuck on this particular issue.

System Specs:   Windows 10 64-bit, Ryzen 7700X, 64GB DDR5, RTX 2080, SSD 980 PRO

[CGBenner]

@justinJSCBZ 

Welcome!  I'm sorry that you are having issues.

@HelenChen-AutodeskQA @jorge_garcia do you all have any thoughts on this?

[Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele · Accepted solution]

Thanks for letting us know. Unfortunately, multi-board is not yet supported in EAGLE or Fusion Electronics. With the introduction of board shape detection in EAGLE 8.3.0 it is recommended to turn off "detect board shape" when using a ULP for panelization.

[melisa.kaner]

Hey @justinJSCBZ , 

Thanks so much for your time on the forums. @Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele has given the best immediate step for you. Long term however, We totally understand that native panelization is as important need and I'd love to hear more about your specific workflow needs so we might be support this natively in the future. 

I'll send you a quick DM to see if we can jump on a quick call together. 

Best regards, 

Melisa (Electronics Product Management)

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @justinJSCBZ,

Just to detail @Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele response a little more. In order to panelize in Fusion you have to do the following

1) Save a copy of the board, that you will adjust in order to make the panel. You don't want this copy linked to the schematic.

2) Disable the Detect Board Shape feature

3) Run the panelize.ulp, this will copy all the designators as plain text to a new layer, that way all of the copies on the panel can have the same reference designators.

4) Make sure all the layers are on and start making your copies

5) When you go to make you're gerbers you have to make sure to include layer 20 in your profile gerber output.

6) If you have content on the milling layer make sure to export it to it's own gerber

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

Best Regards,

[justinJSCBZ]

Hello Jorge,

Thank you for the reply.

Having panelize hundreds of boards using various versions of Eagle, your list is basically the steps I follow, with the addition of making sure "spin" is enable on all text that will be on the top & bottom silk in order to orient correctly if boards are rotated within the panel.

Again, just in case someone is skimming this thread, the key is go to Preferences > Electronics, and disable "Detect Board Shape".    "Detect Board Shape" was causing constant crashing on the several machines I tried panelizing on.

Regards,

Justin