DIFFICULTY LAYING / ROUTING TRACES ON MULTILAYER PCBS

[RCBakerBorn]

ALL LAYERS EXCEPT TOP LAYER IS DIFFICULT TO LAY AND ROUTE TRACES DUE TO LACK OF CONTRAST BETWEEN TRACE AND BACKGROUND.

I'M DEALING WITH A 4 LAYER PCB AND LAYERS 2, 15, & 16 HAVE NO TRACE TO BACKGROUND COLOR CONTRAST LIKE THE TOP LAYER DOES.

VERY DIFFICULT TO ROUTE TRACES CORRECTLY THE FIRST TIME.

HUGE TIME WASTER.

PLEASE HELP.

[panpan_fan · Accepted solution]

Hi @RCBakerBorn 

I hope you are doing well!

For your question, you can use the Display Panel to help.

You can hide top/bottom layers when you route on other layers.

Or you can change colors for other other route layers.

Please have a try to see if it can help.

Regards,
Panpan Fan

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @RCBakerBorn,

Just to add to @panpan_fan 's suggestion. It's worthwhile to hide the polygon pours that will hide much of the visual clutter you are running into. You can do this from the polygon menu in the Design section.

Another thing that can help is single layer view, it will grey out the other layers but leave the color of the layer you are routing on active so it will improve the contrast greatly no matter what color the current layer is.

Hope these tips help.

Best Regards,

[macleesj2]

I created a pcb from existing gerber files BUT the drill holes did not show up (looks like a cobweb in the corner) and the stuff that I want in my assembly drawing (silk screen and traces) do not show in my drawing (traces can be seen only by changing the visibility of the board)

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @macleesj2,

I hope you're doing well. Working from gerber files is generally not worth the effort because you are only getting artwork, net names won't necessarily match what was originally designed. Gerbers are useful for replicating something like an antenna design, but for general recreation they require a lot of work.

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

Best Regards,