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== General == Airwires are to be seen only in the [[layout]] view (PCB). They represent the electrical connections (signals) between [[pad]]s and often intersect each other. They are disentangled later by the use of the [[autorouter]] or by [[place tracks|manual routing]]. A multitude of airwires are called ratsnest. A basic ratsnest might look like this:<br> [[Image:ratsnest1.jpg|none]] According to the standard settings of [[TARGET 3001!]] airwires appear in green. It is possible to adjust the color of airwires, controled by the edition of the [[signal]] which is the base for the airwire. There are two situations in TARGET 3001! where airwires appear:<br><br> *In a PCB '''without''' schematic<br> *In a PCB '''with''' schematic<br><br> == PCB without schematic == In a [[PCB]] without schematic airwires are placed directly in the layout:<br> by '''[w]''' or<br> by '''"Draw Air Wires"''' in menu '''"Elements"''' or<br> by the tool [[Image:DrawAirWire.jpg]].<br><br> Leave this mode...<br> with '''[ESC]''' or [[Mousekeys|'''M12''']]<br><br> Place the airwire by clicking [[Mousekeys|'''M1''']] from footprint to footprint. To "cut off" a [[pad]] from an airwaire again (delete an airwire), simply click the pad by [[Mousekeys|'''M11''']] (in pointer mode) and delete its [[signal]] entry. Alternatively, you can select the pad by hovering the mouse over it and pressing key '''[s]''' (for '''s'''elect) and edit it by pressing key '''[e]''' (for '''e'''dit). You can not click and edit an airwire itself!<br><br> [[Image:e_AirwDel.jpg|none|Deleting an airwire by deleting the pad's signal.]]<br><br> == PCB with schematic == In a [[PCB]] with [[schematic]] the electrical connections are made in the schematic by placing [[signal]] wires between the [[pin]]s of the [[component]] [[symbol]]s. After switching to the [[layout]] view and after importing the component packages, the connections made in the schematic come out as airwires. For the fact that those airwires intersect each other, this effect is also called a ratsnest. The control of an airwire happens in the [[schematic]]. That means that you can't doubleclick an airwire for editing or deleting it. If you want to release a [[pad]] from it's airwire, please switch over to the schematic, doubleclick the according [[pin]]s and delete their [[signal]] entries. Is the air wire visible after you disconnected the signal, then first do a '''"Reorganization"''' in [[Menu Actions]], then select "Compute air wires (Ratsnest)..." in the "Actions" menu.<br><br> From time to time it is necessary to recompute the airwires. Do so by the use of menu:<br> [[Image:e_menuCompAirwires.jpg|none]] After selection of this menu entry you'll get the following dialog:<br> [[Image:e_AirWrzDlg.jpg|none]] With the help of this dialog you can recompute the air wires. Choose an unrouted [[signal]] (only the unrouted signals are represented by an airwire) from the list. If there had not been an air wire up to now, it is appended at the end and made visible (upon Layer 27).<br><br> == Fade in fade out air wires == In the above dialog "Show air wires (ratsnest)" click the air wires you like to see. In the dialog the line in question will appear highlighted in blue. A further click turns the highlighting back, thus faded out. You can switch all or none as well. Preset is a highlighting of all air wires. == Airwires in different colors == Using the standard setting, all airwires come out in green. For an easy recognition of a complete [[signal]] it is convenient to assign a different color to it's airwire. Maybe you want to follow all connections of a signal optically due to a easier manual routing. As an example we want to color the airwire(s) of a GND signal. First we must highlight the complete signal in the [[schematic]]. Prior to this we choose in the pointer tool the highlighting of the complete signal when hitting it:<br> [[Image:SelComplSignal.jpg]]<br><br> On click upon any [[signal]] segment you now get the complete signal highlighted:<br> [[Image:luftlinien1.jpg|none]] A doubleclick on it opens the dialog "Change signals", which allows the setting of the airwire color:<br> [[Image:e_luftlinien2.jpg|none]] Tick the box "Color of airwires" and click on the button "Default" for deviating from it. The flashing color dialog opens the complete color spectrum:<br> [[Image:e_luftlinien3.jpg|none]] Choose eg a plain red and see the following result in the [[layout]] (excerpt): <br> [[Image:luftlinien4.jpg|none]] When routing by hand be guided by the color of the airwire for figuring out which parts of the airwire belong to the same [[signal]]. <br><br> == Compute Airwires new == This function in [[layout]] [[Menu Actions]] recalculates the display of the air wires (ratsnest) at any state of your layout. If your [[project]] had no "Air Wires" layer, a layer is generated and attached to the current [[layer]]s and displayed.<br><br><br> == Short airwires are three times wider... == ...to see them better:<br><br> [[Image:luftlinien_kurz.png]]<br><br><br> == Help!!! Some airwires lead to empty space and some don't fade even though the signal is deleted... == *Do a "Reorganisation" in [[Menu Actions]]. *If the airwire still remains switch on the x-ray view by pressing the hash key [#] for an examination of [[ Quickdraw|your layout in translucent view]]. *Are there any redundant track fragments placed by accident? If yes, delete them. *Do all parts of the track hit each other in the center? (Just slightly touching copper is not enough). *Drag them to the correct centered position. Set the [[Grid|grid]] smaller and delete the last misfitting track segment. Draw it new and hit the connecting part in the middle. *Look at the end of the "orphan" airwire or look at the pad where it starts from: Are there any parts of tracks placed by accident? For the selection of parts which overlap each other please press key [s] several times until a part flashes worth to be deleted (first press [Enter] to highlight it and then press [Del]).<br><br><br> [[de:Luftlinien]] [[fr:Chevelu]] [[category:modes]][[category:elements]]

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