Just found Upverter

Upverter Support Getting Started
#1

Just learned about Upverter, and it looks sweet! Seems simplified, but looks to have everything I’d need for boards. I haven’t done much in it yet, but the parts creator looks like it could hold its own. It’s no Altium, but it looks handy.

However, googling it and looking through the forum doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in the longevity of this thing… If I’m going to invest my time learning this tool, and lock all my schematics into this ecosystem, I want to know it’ll be around in 10 years at least.

So from users of Upverter, do you think now is a good time to jump into Upverter, or should I continue to look for alternatives of Eagle that won’t leave me high and dry in a few months?

Thanks for your help.

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#2

Hi there!
I’m glad you found Upverter and your question is a valid one. Upverter was acquired by Altium last year and had some growing pains as a result. Now that it’s settled in, it’s back in the main production pipeline here. I know you’re specifically asking users, but as a representative of Altium, I can assure you that, not only is Upverter going to stick around and continue to be free to use, but you should also start to see some new features, performance improvements and bug fixes in the coming weeks, months and beyond.
WRT your design files, further export options are in the works. Obviously, as a member of the Altium family, Upverter will want to export to Designer.
Play with Upverter for a bit before you import your projects and see how you like it. Feel free to tag me in a forum post if you have any questions or concerns.

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#3

Hello,

I have used Upverter for a few years now, making some relatively simple boards for production. The basics are there and work well enough.

But given the state of Upverter over the last year or so, I transitioned to another platform after fundamental bugs(modules just in general not working) kept me from progressing, and those bugs persisted for months (maybe still?).

Also, if you want to move to another platform, you won’t be able to do anything with the files Upverter generates, I’m not aware of anything that can import/export to Upverter’s format.

Also, some things advertised just never materialized like version control. Instead they said just fork a new version, which works I guess, but because it is all organized on their site, and their site isn’t really designed for looking at many projects, let alone a bunch of forks of the same project, the view quickly gets cluttered and hard to navigate.

Initially, one of Upverter’s draws was their large library of parts, but that niche has quickly been filled by other companies like SnapEDA.

From a purely speculative point of view, Altium owns CircuitMaker, which was previously a competitor of Upverter. I don’t see the purpose of Altium keeping both.

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#4

Thank you for your feedback Justin.

You are correct that several known bugs were left unattended for extended periods of time, but the dev team is back on track. Keep your eyes peeled for bug fixes, new features, and performance improvements in the near future.

There is also the concern with exporting design files, which is an added feature we’d all like to have added. Rest assured that exporting to Altium Ddesigner, at the very least, is a priority.

I can understand your frustration with respect to version control. It would be nice to have features like PRs, diffs, etc. but this has been a huge challenge in the world of ECAD since the dawn of VCS. The fact that you can collaboratively edit a design in real-time with your team is a feature that’s pretty unique to Upverter. Also the fact that your edit history dials back to 0 is pretty cool.

I get what you’re saying about SnapEDA. Upverter still has the EE consierge service, and Octopart integration, which means that parts that aren’t in the library are easily accessible.

To your last point, one of the main advantages of Upverter over other free EDAs is that it’s entirely broswer-based, and thus platform-agnostic and download-free.

If I may ask, when you transitioned to another tool, did you choose a $0 app, or move on to a paid license?

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#5

Hello Keith,

Thanks for the reply and it is nice to see interaction here again. I moved back to KiCAD which is where I came to Upverter from originally. It gave me control over my design files which was my primary concern. There was a time where upverter.com seemed to be completely abandoned and I was concerned it might just go offline sometime soon.

Since you seem to be in a good position and you asked: I have been interested in moving to CircuitStudio. Despite what may have come across as an anti-Altium post here, I recognize the prevalence of Altium and its position in the industry. Maybe you can comment on the general consensus of this thread, which strikes the same vein of why keep Upverter around.

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#6

That’s quite the thread. I’m not as in-touch with the CS team as with the UPV team so I can’t speak to any of the discussion there, but I CAN say that it’s definitely not “abandonware.” There is concern in that thread that Altium doesn’t have a well-defined roadmap, but that’s definitely not true.

What I can say about Altium is that it’s committed to “the engineer.” With Geppetto (geppetto.gumstix.com, drag and drop modular board design), and Upverter added to their software suite, alongside CircuitStudio and Designer, an entire path to advanced ECAD from uninitiated to experienced, from free to $1000’s per seat, is available and being improved with its primary end-user in mind.

Wow. That reads like a scripted promo. Sorry. Try and trust me that this is an honest opinion from me.

I personally am excited about making Upverter a great EE training tool and have been writing educational content around it targeted at high school students. I do understand the concerns about design file ownership, but I think even while that remains an out-standing issue, Upverter has a place with Altium for the long haul.

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#7

I use Designer at work, and actually really like it. So I decided to use Circuit Maker. Hated it. I want control of my parts. But because of my good impression with Altium, I decided to look into Circuit Studio and Upverter. From my initial point of view, Circuit Studio definitely seems abandoned. Upverter seems to be targeting the same audience as Circuit Maker, and I find it hard to believe both will survive. I’ve come to the conclusion that Altium Designer is the only one getting attention. Of course! That’s where the money is.

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#8

The thread Justin mentioned pointed out that there is a beta test starting for the next release of CS and I hear it’s a big push. AD definitely has all of the extra bells and whistles, and is on the most aggressive release schedule, but these mid-to-entry level tools are integral to Altium’s goals, and will not be mothballed.

I hope I’ve been able to answer your question about the future of Upverter.

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