PCB Artist

What's new in this version: Version 1.4 adds and expanded measuring tool, the ability to edit all component values within a design and expands DXF export to include more layers.

• All versions:

  4.0 stars

  out of 26 votes

  • 5 star: 11
  • 4 star: 7
  • 3 star: 6
  • 2 star: 1
  • 1 star: 1

• Current version:

  3.0 stars

  out of 2 votes

  • 5 star: 0
  • 4 star: 1
  • 3 star: 0
  • 2 star: 1
  • 1 star: 0

• My rating:

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• 2.0 stars

  "Very hard for a beginner to use."

  April 26, 2011  |   By sandyclariss

  Version: PCB Artist 1.4

  Pros

  Huge libraries had every I needed to complete the schematics

  Cons

  While the libraries were huge, the specific components were not clearly marked so there was a lot of hunting with going back again and again until you finally hit on the correct one.

  Summary

  It was a lot harder than I was led to believe from the program descriptions.. "Easy to use". After several weeks I started looking for a replacement for this program.

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• 4.0 stars

  "Laborious to learn."

  April 15, 2011  |   By vanrenway

  Version: PCB Artist 1.4

  Pros

  Once you figure it out, it's a very effective program.

  Cons

  The manuals are laborious. They are written at the expert level with little regard to what it's like for a person who has never used this type of software. I followed the instructions step by step, to no avail..

  Summary

  I almost gave up on it and uninstalled it twice. After about 60 hours I was finally able to get it to do what I needed to do. I am impressed with it once you get it to cooperate and figure out how to make it work. If I hadn't needed the extra layer capabilities, I would have gave up. I considered buying design software, but was afraid I would pay for software that was even harder to use than this. It would be nice if the provider had a remote library, where you could download a part and it install it automatically in the PCB and Schematic Library. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to figure out how to get the part from the downloaded condition, to the moved to the library condition. When you work by yourself and have to teach yourself, this software is not very user friendly. However, it certainly isn't the worst. I have been able to do some pretty amazing layouts now that I am starting to understand the multitudes of paths one must go through to get to where you need to be.

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