Coordinate

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Modified by Admin on Nov 6, 2013

The Coordinate Dialog.

Summary

This dialog allows the designer to specify properties for Coordinate object.

Access

The Coordinate dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the PCB Editor - Defaults page of the Preferences dialog (DXP >> Preferences). This allows you to change the default properties for the object, which will be applied when placing subsequent Objects.

During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in the following ways:

Double-clicking on the placed object.
Placing the cursor over the object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
Run command Edit >> Change, then click an existing object.

Options/Controls

Line Width - Specify the line width of the coordinate marker.
Size - Specify the size of the coordinate marker.
Text Width - Specify the line width of the display text.
Text Height - Specify the height of the display text.
Location X - Specify the X location of the coordinate marker.
Location Y - Specify the Y location of the coordinate marker.

Properties

Layer - Specify the layer on which the object is placed. The drop-down list will list out all stack-up layers in current active PCB document.
Unit Style - Choose a unit style from drop-down list: None, Normal, Brackets.
Font - Choose Font for the display text. There are two Font types available:True Type, Stroke.
Locked - Check this box to lock the object. If you attempt to graphically modify an object that has its Locked property enabled, a dialog will appear asking for confirmation to proceed with the edit.

Select Stroke / TrueType Font

Depending on whether TrueType or Stroke fonts have been selected, a number of different options will be available.

Font Name: Stroke

For Stroke Fonts, the Font Name drop down list will offer Default, Sans Serif, and Serif fonts for selection. The Default style is a simple vector font which supports pen plotting and vector photo plotting. The Sans Serif and Serif fonts are more complex. The provide a more natural looking text display but they will slow down vector output generation such as Gerber. Stroke-based fonts are built into the software and cannot be changed. All three fonts have the full IBM extended ASCII character set that supports English and other European languages.

Font Name: TrueType

If TrueType Fonts are selected, the Font Name drop down list will be populated with the names of the True/Open Type fonts found in the \Windows\Fonts folder.
Note that the list will only include entries for detected (and uniquely named) root fonts. For example, Arial and Arial Black will be listed but Arial Bold, Arial Bold Italic, etc will not. Use the Bold and Italic options to add emphasis to the text. This feature also offers full Unicode support.

To ensure all fonts used in your design are available wherever the design is loaded, use the save/load options on the PCB Editor - TrueType Fonts page of the Preferences dialog to enable embedding of TrueType fonts within the design, and for nominating a substitution TrueType font for files using TrueType fonts that are not installed locally.