Just think of it as a drawing program, the main tools you will use along the left horizontal toolbar are Add Pad, Add Track, Add Text, and Add Shape. For example click Add Pad, now you can move your mouse pointer around the screen and drop solder pads by left clicking your mouse. It will remain in this mode dropping pads until you press Escape or alternatively right click your mouse and select Cancel from the menu.ChrisM wrote: Hmm ok
This is my first PCB software so I'm not too familiar.
This works the same for tracks (copper traces) or drawing shapes, text, etc. press Escape when finished to exit that tool and go back to the regular mouse pointer. You can click on objects you have created and drag them with your mouse to move them around. You can also press and hold the left mouse button then lasso/select a bunch of objects and move them as a group. You can select an object or group of objects then right click on them and select Horizontal or Vertical to move them only in this direction, this is very useful.
Select Settings, Grids, this is where you setup your snap-to grid. I usually use a .050 (50 thou) grid and set the snap to mode to Half Grid so as I move things around they move in .025 inch steps. Very easy to quickly move things around and line them up exactly.
Most objects and actions have features that popup if you right click your mouse, get in the habit of doing that until you learn your way around. For example if you right click on a solder pad and select Properties you will be able to set the size of the pad and the size of the hole, even the position on the screen. For example for the turrets I use my pad is .200 inch with a .100 inch hole. The turret shank is .090 so this leaves me with .010 wiggle room. Don't go making your hole sizes the exact same size as the component leads. For example the PCB manufacture I use gives a tollerance of +- .005 for hole sizes. If I specified the hole size as .090 and the hole was undersize .005 the turrent wouldn't fit. So give yourself some wiggle room.
I'm no expert in PCB design and that would be a huge topic but I can share one tip others gave me, your copper tracks should use 45 degree turns, avoid 90 degree turns or any oddball angles, 45 degree turns are the ticket. The software in fact defaults to this. Click on Add Track, now click on a pad, as you move the mouse around the track follows your mouser pointer making 45 degree turns, rick click your mouse, hidden menu options appear on the popup one of which is Segment Mode, this only appears when you are in the active process of laying down a track (poor software design), notice that Miter e.g. 45 degree is selected.
When you first start the software and create a new board (File, New...) it will draw the edges of the board in green, this is your board but you can use the rest of the screen as a work area. Sometimes I grab a section of board and go off where I have more elbow room on the screen to re-position things and when I have it the way I like it I drag it back over to my board.
NOTE: Read the instructions for setting the origin of your board. The work area is big enough for a huge board, 45x45 inches. Your board will be much smaller and you need to set the origin of your board in this space, in simple terms you are going to put a pointer in the lower/left corner of your board to tell the software and PCB manufacture that this is where location 0,0 is. After you set the point of origin as you place components their location will be in relation to this point of origin e.g. location X0, Y0. Your solder pad might be centered at location X2, y1.25 inches if you placed it 2 inches to the right of the point of origin and 1.25 up from the point of origin 0,0.
WARNING! Don't go trying to reset the point of origin once you set it. I have seen a bug in this software where trying to reposition the point of origin results in component locations jumping out of whack a few thousandths, not really an issue for manufacturing but it should not happen with snap to grids enabled hence its a bug.
There that should get you started.