Switching layers quickly to keep up with my rapid fire routing

[engineeringNCMXB]

I need access to rapid layer switching if I have any hopes of meeting my schedule demands.
What is the best F360 has to offer on this?


https://youtu.be/LpyPuwr6gz8

[ImDaveM]

Hi Carlos,

I never liked the Layers Window, there are better ways to do this, So I don't bother with any layer settings except doing it manually.

I did find this post which other people have tried to help with the same issue

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-electronics/layers-preset/td-p/9438075

I don't see why having keyboard shortcuts for the layer sets is that hard to do for Autodesk?

[ImDaveM]

What we need is the ability to ADD custom BUTTONS ( which can be assigned shortcuts) and we can place these on the toolbar anywhere we like!

I can do this in my ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE! but i can do it in  Engineering Software! (i.e Fusion360)

I think Autodesk ( Fusion ) have a HUGE TO-DO LIST!

[engineeringNCMXB]

@ImDaveMIn fairlness - Eagle is late to the party and Fusion had already established the keyboard and shortcut system.

With that said, I just want a solution. Something, anything. When I am working on high-lay count designs - the inability to very quickly adjust the visible layers is simply too slow. I have not worked on professional software of any kind in the past 30 years that did not map every single important function to the keyboard.

I have been trying the "S" search box more and more. It is way better than mousing around, but not nearly as fast as a dedicated key.

I dream of a contect sensitive macro pad in our modern world. Something like a Stream Deck.

@jorge_garciais there an API for this kind of thing so I can use a StreamDeck to control layer visibility and tool selection?

[ImDaveM]

I need this feature too, ( i.e shortcuts)

The best I could get working was to assign the "L" Key to call up the Layers Dialog.

I was trying to have a look at the scripting features, ( it's been awhile since i wrote any code for eagle) and haven't found anything yet. 

we just don't know how long to wait for such a OVER  REQUESTED Feature, But at least we got (3D Slicing?)

[engineeringNCMXB]

This. Give me an API and I will code myself.

[ImDaveM]

Are you aware that Fusion 360 has an API?

I haven't looked into this yet, too many basic things to learn first

I want to integrate fusion into my Accounting package. it will be a bit of work!

[engineeringNCMXB]

Yes - I have been fiddling with it to export data and save versions as .f3d files.
Not sure yet if I can use it to make a StreamDeck work.

I would love to hear from a knowledgeable API developer.

[ImDaveM]

ask on the API forum!

[jorge_garcia]

Hi everyone,

For now, you are doing it as well as it can be done. Like you mentioned Fusion 360 has it's own shortcut system, enhancing it will require somework but I feel it's something that could benefit the entire Fusion community not just electronics users. We'll keep pushing for it.

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

Best Regards,

[engineeringNCMXB · Accepted solution]

@jorge_garcia @ImDaveM 

This is a major step in the right direction.....
I did a crude Stream Deck integration.

[ImDaveM]

very cool Carlos!

I can see the script for the layers settings, so how did you get your streamydecky thing to talk to eagle?

If you can get an external device to run scripts in eagle then could you get something om your computer to do the same?

is it just a paste into the command line that happens when you press on the streandeck?

I want to see if i can do this on a mac,

regards

Dave M

[engineeringNCMXB]

It is quite crude at the moment....

The streamdeck just spits out a text macro like shown below. The '/' invokes the command line in the interface and then it enters the command followed by an <ENTER> key press.

/scr layer16_on.scr

<layer16_on.scr>

DISPLAY 16;

Using the ULP API can allow this to get as sophisticated as I want. For now, this is pretty handy.

<top_b.scr> My default TOP view without any text

#Display top-origins-text-unrouted
#Clear display
DISPLAY NONE;

#Display top-origins-unrouted NO TEXT
DISPLAY 1 17 18 19 21 23 29 49 51;

[ImDaveM]

cool!

I am going to see if i can do this on a mac, but i want to have it "triggered" by a key.

I think there are some key mappers/shortcut apps free for mac , 

we will see..

by the way, there is a new video released today which covers some of the issues we have been experiencing, it clears up some things but i need to investigate other matters further! you might want to watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tClWJg8zxZc

Thanks

[ImDaveM]

On a Mac,

I mucked around with automator and also accessibility options and services, and it can sort of be done with this, but i need to look into it more, haven't got time at the moment to figure it out yet.

[josh276MS]

I use the keyboard, like in Eagle: type '/' to get the command prompt, then 'disp' to activate the DISPLAY command, then 'a_top' to activate the layer set. Shorter and less-modifier-key-requiring layer set names are easier to use like this.

[loicR9RXB]

Dear Jorge,

Is there any news on this feature? Being able to switch to the visible layer with a single keyboard shortcut is an essential feature. I'm currently routing a very large and complex 4 layer PCB (we specially moved from Altium to Fusion360 to benefit from the electronics/mechanical integration) and it is now proving very tedious to finish this routing job without a fast way to switch active visible layer with a shortcut.

Thank you in advance for helping us out with this.

Best Regards,

Loic

[silvio3105]

It would be nice to see something like this:
Using top number row(1 to 0, not numpad) user can select layer.
If user holds Shift, selected layer will be toggled(on or off).
User can customize slots, so slot 1 can be Top Layer or maybe Bottom Layer.

[loicR9RXB]

I totally agree, in our case numbers 1,2,3,4 would map to Top, internal layer1, internal layer2, Bottom respectively. Would make work so much quicker.  I tried to do this with the legacy Eagle "assign" command in the command line but this seems broken for now.

@jorge_garcia  Could you please share a general timeframe for hotkey management in Fusion360 electronics?

Thank you in advance.

Cheers,

Loic

[joefreddiemoore]

I've gotten pretty fast with displaying layer sets using AutoHotkey. 

I've made scripts for 4 layer, 6 layer, and 8 layer, and bound the display commands to the numpad, so that I can toggle numlock when I don't want the hotkeys to be active. It works pretty well so far!