Component Body Manager

Parent page: PCB Dialogs

Summary

This dialog allows the designer to manage 3D bodies of the components, both interactively or batch updated.

Access

• Run command Tools >> Manage 3D Bodies for Components On Board to access Component Body Manager dialog. Or,
• In PCB Editor, right click a component, choose Component Actions >> Manage 3D Bodies to access Component Body Manager for Component dialog.

Options/Controls

Components

This top region of the dialog lists each component footprint in the active library (in the actual design this would be a list of all components on the board). For each entry, designator (available on design side only), footprint name, height and source library information is displayed.

Interactive Tab

Existing and Potential Component Bodies

This region shows existing and potential component bodies. Click the arrow in each column header to re-order items.

• Description - Component body description of the selected component. 

• Body State - Click to add or remove bodies from the current selected component, also to check if a body is in the current component or not.

• Standoff Height - Click the cell to specify standoff height for each item.

• Overall Height - Click the cell to specify overall height for each item.

• Body Projection - Click to specify which layer the item is projected, Top Side or Bottom Side.

• Registration Layer - Click to choose a registration layer for the item.

• Body 3-D Color - Click the cell to open Choose Color dialog, in which to choose an expected color for the item.

• Body 3-D Opacity - Click to specify the opacity of the 3D body for the item: Solid, Hide, 25% Opacity, 50% Opacity, or 75% Opacity. 

Component Bodies in

This area shows the component bodies preview for the selected component.

Selected Body

This area show the selected component body preview on Mechanical layers.

Batch Update Tab

The Batch Update tab provides a facility for quickly adding 3D body objects to all or selected footprints in a library, or all or selected placed footprints in a design. 

Grid Area 

In this region the designer can define search criteria for detecting and creating 3D bodies, and for defining 3D body properties, such as Projection Side (also referred to as Body Projection), Registration Layer, Standoff Height, Overall Height and 3D Body Color.

Each entry in the list provides a different scope in terms of the layers that will be searched when detecting and creating possible 3D body shapes. Each search is individually enabled using the Enabled column option. Multiple searches can be enabled, but bear in mind that a 3D body will be added for each successful search. Typically, you would enable a search on one particular layer - or layer set - depending on where you typically place the primitives or component outline information for a footprint.
By default, a search of All Layers will be performed.

The Detection Method field allows you to control how each 3D body shape is defined:

• Bounding Rectangle - use the bounding rectangle of the footprint.
• Closed Shapes - use polygonal closed shape created from component footprint primitives.
• Both (Prefer Closed Shapes) - detect either a bounding rectangle or a polygonal closed shape based on the footprint's primitives. If both are detected, use the polygonal closed shape. 

The Prefer component height if not 0 option allows you to control whether or not the height attribute defined for a component footprint is used as the Overall Height for the 3D body. With this option enabled, for each component with a defined height attribute greater than zero, that height will be set as the added 3D body's Overall Height and its Standoff Height will be set to zero.

The Body 3D Color specifies the color to render the 3D body in. Click on the color to change it via the Choose Color dialog.

Options

• Apply Only To Selected Components - Enable this option if you want to apply the 3D body criteria to only a selected group of footprints. Ensure that those components are selected in the top region of the dialog (use standard CTRL + Click and SHIFT + Click features to multi-select). If this option is disabled, the batch add process will be applied to all footprints in the library (or all components on the board).
• Delete Existing Bodies In Components - enable this option to remove any currently defined 3D bodies for the footprints targeted by the batch process.
  Use the preview window at the bottom-right of the tab to get an idea of how the added 3D body will look, based on the currently selected component footprint and currently selected (and enabled) search entry.
  After defining all options for the batch process as required, click the Execute Batch Update button. The search will proceed for each footprint included in the process and, where a 3D body shape is detected and created, that body will be added to the footprint using the defined property criteria.

Batch Operation Preview

The designer can preview of the defined 3D bodies in different layers in this area.