I recently switched from Mentor Graphics Expedition to Altium 14. I really like a lot of Altiums features but efficient routing still eludes me.
In mentor my typical workflow was:
- Place components roughly where I want them
- Route priority nets, and rearrange as necessary
- Route lower priority items rearranging as necessary
The issue I'm having is that Mentor would automatically shift traces (while keeping the same general shape) when I dragged a component that was already routed. As a result, I could move something without needed to fix the traces (for the most part). In altium if I want to nudge a component even a few millimeters I need to rip up the traces and reroute them so that they don't end up crossing over and shorting or having little nubs left over in the process of moving a part.
Is there something I'm missing? Can such a feature be enabled in Altium, or is there a better workflow I should be following?
I appreciate any suggestions, this is really killing my productivity with Altium.
Best Answer
When you select interactive routing and begin routing, press TAB. This will open up the following dialog box.
You'll see Current Mode (under Routing Conflict Resolution). Change that another option such as Push Obstacle. If a track is in your way, it will move the tracks out of the way (so long as it meets your DRC rules).
If you want to manually move a track, you can click and hold, and just move your mouse.