CNET Editors' review
For professionals who need to design complex multilayer electronic PCBs, AutoTrax EDA Lite is a solid choice--we just can't say quite how solid. The developer claims it features multisheet schematic entry, circuit simulation, rule-driven PCB layout, fast autorouting, and 3D visualization. Unfortunately, the demo's 100-pin limitation kept us from testing all those features. However, those we did try worked without a hitch. The program does its primary job very well. The interface, however, looks good but takes a while to get used to. You'll need to spend some time figuring out how to access some functions. Also, be prepared for a massive 27MB download. Nevertheless, given this program's strong feature set, we'd recommend AutoTrax EDA Lite to anyone in the field of electronic design. Just give it a thorough tryout to make sure its quirky interface won't interfere with your work flow.
Publisher's Description
From Kovac Software:
AutoTrax is a complete, fully featured electronics-design system that includes schematic capturing, simulation, PCB design, 3D visualization, and CAM. You can take your design from concept via schematic capturing to PCB and final manufacturing. Drag parts from the parts library onto one or more schematic pages, connect them, and add virtual instruments such as function generators and oscilloscopes to simulate and verify your design. Use the integral PCB Design wizard to create your PCB. Use the autolayout and autorouter tools to help you complete your design. You can use the forward/backward annotation function to ensure design synchronization between schematic and PCB. Finally, view your PCB in 3D before it has even been manufactured and generate Bill of Material Files, Gerber plot files, and 2D/3D CAD/CAM files.
What's new in this version: Version 9.70 features PDF Export.
More Popular CAD Software downloads
- Free DWG Viewer
5,564 downloads
- ChemDraw Ultra
1,454 downloads
- PCB Artist
939 downloads
- AutoCAD LT
679 downloads
- DoubleCAD XT
628 downloads
-
All versions:
2.7 starsout of 3 votes
-
Current version:
3.0 starsout of 1 votes
-
My rating:
Write review
Results 1-1 of 1
-
"Counterintuitive, hard to learn, needs a better library"
Version: AutoTrax EDA 9.70
Pros
Haven't been able to spend enough time to create enough of a library to use it properly yet, Schematic drawing isn't too bad almost as good as using pencil and paper. Everything is basically there.
Cons
Creating parts in the library a right chore. Everything is counter intuitive, it is hard going . Not enough templates for creating components in schematic or IRL for PCB. Demo period not really long enough to properly evaluate properly.
Summary
I'm only persisting with it because its $6k cheaper than Altium, and it would appear to do what I want, maybe. It needs a better suite of components for its library. It needs better organised tutorials that are available to print via PDF, not some crap on "porntube". I didn't expect Altuim performance from a $200 package, but I did expect a little better than DesignWrite Lite 4. Now I'm just trying to draw up a board with 5 IC's and a fistfull of sundry resistors and caps Its taken me a week to to create the parts in the library alone draw the schematic and they're not 200 pin BGA's! If you have a lot of free time this might be worthwhile but if you have time constraints then try something else or stump up for Altium.
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
See more CNET content tagged:
Previous Versions:
