Rake trace how to

[ekeyser]

I’m sure I’m missing something but how does one use the rake tool? Clicking on the rake tool didn’t do anything nor did it trigger a dialog. I saw something that mentioned requiring a bus (maybe the high-speed interfaces feature page) which I thought was odd but whatever. I converted my indirect connections to bus connections which made the schematic page more complex than it needed to be. That didn’t seem to register any different behavior with the rake tool though.

I then tried to select an existing trace and then clicked on the rake tool which triggered a dialog about requiring exactly one open end. Hmmm, OK, that makes sense but why didn’t I get a dialog when I originally clicked on an open pin.

Then I tried selecting multiple (2) single open ended connections with stub traces and got the rake to trigger at least some behavior but only one trace was laid down. Hmmm, uh whaaaa??

I guess what I’m really wondering is if there is a tool to use then shouldn’t there be documentation that supports the tool?

On a related note, I think the overall impression I’m getting with some of the tools in upverter are seriously over promised and under delivered. Look, I understand this is difficult stuff but there is a lot of hunting around for documentation. I’m still not sure what it means when upverter says there is an api/scripting interface. And one would think there would be a minimal feature built into the trace tool for obstacle avoidance and walk-around. I mean, christ, that seems like an obvious feature. Again, maybe I’m not doing something right but geez it sure is bizarre the lack of documentation. There’s not even a link to “documentation” anywhere on the site. WTF? What am I paying for?

[BurtHarris]

I agree there doesn’t seem to be enough information easily available on how to use the rake tool. Anyone know of online video illustrating it?

[ekeyser]

The lack of response from upverter regarding this is frustrating to say the least.

[StephenHamer]

The rake tool is intended to help route multiple traces while maintaining their initial separation.

The way to use the rake tool is to first select the traces that you would like to route together. All of the traces that you’re routing together should start out with the clearance that you’d like to maintain. To get the best results all of the starting segemnts should be facing the same direction (roughly parallel), this is so that their initial clearance can be determined.

To make the initial setup easier we recently deployed changes to show snap guides for where to route traces next to one another to satisfy the clearance rules setup in the design.

There is no documentation for the rake tool yet. All of the other documetation the tool can be found at http://resources.upverter.com/h/c/205964-help-layout-editor. Under the “Upverter Help” drop down at the top of the page you can find sections for the different pieces of the site.

You can find documentation for the API/scripting at https://upverter.com/apidocs/

There is an example script in the tool to re-number reference designators in your design.

[ekeyser]

Thanks. That’s quite a change from before.

Seriously - thanks.

[ekeyser]

spoke too soon - maybe there is no change. ugh. this is painful.

[ekeyser]

Now I’m getting a “rake traces must have exactly one open end message” which I’ve seen before but I don’t understand that message in the context of what I’m attempting. First of all I don’t think it should be required that a multi-route have stub trace to attach to but whatever. I’ve got 2 vias with 2 traces begun, both of which are parallel to each other and what appears to be exactly the same length. As soon as I click on one end to start the rake it just sends out a single trace.

Are rakes not allowed from vias? If it’s a clearance rule violation then why not show that as the error?

Is this why there’s not doc for the tool - because it’s not working? Seriously, it’s a bit concerning that there is so little doc or reply on issues related to stuff that you guys sell. wtf?

[ekeyser]

shouldn’t be a clearance issue. I don’t think anyway.

[StephenHamer]

You’re right, it shouldn’t be a clearance issue.

You should be able to select the two parallel trace stubs, switch to the trace tool and press the “rake mode” button to start raking those traces. Here is a screen shot of a similar situation to the one in your screenshot.

I don’t see why you would be getting the “rake traces must have exactly one open end message” error message. That should only come up when the selected traces are all interior. If you could take a screenshot of what is selected when you get that message that would be helpful.

[ekeyser]

first set of pics is of rake single trace behavior.

second pic is of “rake trace open end failure” albeit without clearance verification (don’t see how it would be). It’s hard to see at first but it’s the upper right differential pair with hanging traces.

[StephenHamer]

After a bit of experimentation I think I’ve found why this is happening.

The stubs that are getting viewed as “internal” are shorter than 2x the width of the trace. For these short traces both end points look like they overlap with the previous segment. Because of this overlap the rake tool views these segments as not having an open endpoint to start raking off of.

For the time being you can increase the length of the trace stubs to start raking off of. I’ll take a look at the “internal segment” logic and see if I can improve the heuristic in this situation.

[StephenHamer]

I’ve just deployed an update to the heuristic for deciding which traces in the selection should be present in the raking. It should include the small segments that are part of longer traces.