Anyone ever created a good set of IC shapes for Visio?

[Brian Hoskins]

I'm trying to use some Integrated Circuit shapes that came with Visio and they are completely inadequate. The pin numbering is all wrong and there's no way to change it, and the pin labelling is limited to a'n' for the inputs and b'n' for the outputs. No way to change that either. Obviously these shapes were not created by an Electronics Engineer!

I've never created complex shapes which allow property changing before, so I've downloaded an Ebook and I'm working my way through it. Anyone ever done it though? No point in me reinventing the wheel...

Brian

 

[Hero999]

Why not use a real electronics CAD program?

 

[Brian Hoskins]

Mainly because Electronics CAD programs are specialist and not likely to be found on general use computers, whereas Visio is a general CAD program and is part of Office so I'm more likely to be able to share documents with other people.

Brian

 

[3v0]

Brian,
Go with a program that has schematic capture. People tend to get stuck on the first program they use, so start with a program that has schematic capture.

A lot of people gripe about Eagle and for the most part what they say is true. But if you can wrap your head around it you will be way ahead. Eagle has a new version in beta that solves many of these problems.

 

[Brian Hoskins]

Out of interest, which "real" electronics CAD program do you use?

 

[3v0]

Mainly because Electronics CAD programs are specialist and not likely to be found on general use computers, whereas Visio is a general CAD program and is part of Office so I'm more likely to be able to share documents with other people.

Brian

You can use an electronic CAD program and still share you files in a general format. Today I shared these pdf's made with eagle in the magic switchboard thread. Depending on your browser you may need to right-click then open to see the pdf.

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_sch_2b-pdf.17578/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_foil_2b-pdf.17579/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_top_reverse_2b-pdf.17580/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_top_2b-pdf.17582/

 

[Hero999]

Out of interest, which "real" electronics CAD program do you use?

I use LTSpice myself.

 

[Brian Hoskins]

Thanks for your input both. I have downloaded the freeware version of Eagle - I'll give it a try. I'll also give LTSpice a try. 3v0 - your diagrams look very professional actually, more so that I feel I could accomplish with Visio even if I did create some custom shapes that work the way they are supposed to.

Thanks again,

Brian.

 

[Hero999]

Sorry, I didn't mention that I also use Crocadile Clips and OpenOffice.org (a free equivalent of MS Office).

 

[3v0]

Thanks for your input both. I have downloaded the freeware version of Eagle - I'll give it a try. I'll also give LTSpice a try. 3v0 - your diagrams look very professional actually, more so that I feel I could accomplish with Visio even if I did create some custom shapes that work the way they are supposed to.

Thanks again,

Brian.

You will like LTSpice. I do not work with analog very much. But when I do it is great/fun.

Regarding Eagle:
There is still a lot I have to learn about Eagle. I am a CS type but love tinkering with the hardware.

The resistors, cap, and inductors are in the RCL library.

I am thinking you dowloaded the release/free version. It is a bit harder to use then the beta/free but you can find several tutorials for it. Make use of them. Ask questions here.

Eagle can do a lot for you. I use it to create Bill of Materials, and generate the files needed to drill boards on a CNC. There are loads of User Language Programs that do useful thnngs. DRILL-AID fills in the center of pads leaving just a small hole to center the drill. Lot of useful stuff.

Have Fun

 

[Brian Hoskins]

You can use an electronic CAD program and still share you files in a general format. Today I shared these pdf's made with eagle in the magic switchboard thread. Depending on your browser you may need to right-click then open to see the pdf.

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_sch_2b-pdf.17578/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_foil_2b-pdf.17579/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_top_reverse_2b-pdf.17580/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/switchboard_top_2b-pdf.17582/

Ok I've been playing with Eagle. I don't think I've even scratched the surface yet but I've managed to draw the schematic that I was getting frustrated with in Visio. One thing I'm lacking (and actually you can't do this in Visio either) is the information box you sometimes get at the corner of a schematic. The information box will show schematic version, Engineer aproval name, company name etc etc. You can do them in Multisim and there are some nice templates for it. I can't seem to find anything similar in Eagle? Perhaps because the software isn't ideally suited to schematic drawing (but rather proper CAD drawings).

Alternatively I could just do copyleft statements like you 3v0 ;-)

Brian

 

[Brian Hoskins]

Of course I could just draw the info box myself by hand...

 

[3v0]

I found the info boxes somewhere. Let me take a few minutes to look.

 

[3v0]

Check in the frames library. At least on has a file name field that updates itself and reads as UNSAVED when the schematic is modified.