DIY Layout Creator - software for easy drawing PCB, vero and perfboard layouts

[bancika]

It appears that I'll soon go to USA for 6 months...I hope I'll have spare time to work on this. I'll be hardly making any pedal/amp projects so I'll probably work on this and practice my Java.
Cheers

[ambulancevoice]

any chance of getting the program for a Mac OS X?

[bancika]

yeah, Java version will work on any OS with java installed

[ambulancevoice]

excellent thanks

[ambulancevoice]

where can i get the java version?

[ulysses]

hey bro

thanks for the app i use it quite a bit for personal layouts and some public ones i have posted on my layouts page

one feature i really miss is the ability to drag over an area of the board and have it select the parts that i have dragged over

also - right selecting parts can be quite difficult. ie, not enough "hit area" for the object to be selected. i find this is much more noticable when there are many components on the board and not so noticable when there are not many parts on the board. feels like the program is scanning for mouse movements and becomes more cumbersom when the board is heavily populated.

other than that, i love it.. if you are writing it from scratch you may want to add the following features

- user addable parts - user can add a jpg as a set size part - i used photoshop to add a halo inductor - id be happy to send you the psd if you want it - check my vox v846 wah layout in my gallery
- export in full page scale - ie, export letter and a4 page sizes - then the user can print the correct scale straight to their printer

cheers
ulysses

[bancika]

java version is just at early stage of development so it's not ready for public (not even close).
ulysses, I'll definitely think about adding libraries in next version
Cheers

[alextheian-alex]

What did you use to write the WIN version?  if the source code is available, i could try to get it to compile on a Mac... depending on the GUI, etc.

[bancika]

It's written in Delphi which has only compilers for linux and windows and this app can be compiled only on win. I can give you source if you need it though 

[alextheian-alex]

It's written in Delphi which has only compilers for linux and windows and this app can be compiled only on win. I can give you source if you need it though 

Well, I have a Delphi compiler for PowerPC that will inegrate with Xcode that I can give it a shot in... only thing is that until I get my bummed hard drive replaced, I don't have any of my Apple software development packages installed, but if you want to send the code over to ALEX (at) ALETHEIAN (dot) com, I'll work on it whenever I get my system back in shape.

[ANDYEFFECT]

where it has PCB GT2 format DIY Layout Creator ?

[rockgardenlove]

I was just wondering, has the slow speed issue been resolved?

[bancika]

nope. Performance upgrade requires changing technology for drawing scene. I don't want to make some major changes to current version because I plan to move on to Java anyway (as far as this app is concerned). Still don't have time to do it...

[hw2nw]

I'd love an OSX version. Maybe I'll have to get Parallels up and running on my MacBook so I can run this.

[calculating_infinity]

Sad to say, I have Windows Vista (was the only option at best buy) and I am having problems running DIY Layout Creator.     Anyone get it to work with Vista?  I'm trying to do something productive while I cannot solder.      Sorry for the 3x emoticons

edited to say these are the 2 errors that I got: "Failed to set Data for"" and "No Active Document"

[pyrop]

Sad to say, I have Windows Vista (was the only option at best buy) and I am having problems running DIY Layout Creator.     Anyone get it to work with Vista?  I'm trying to do something productive while I cannot solder.      Sorry for the 3x emoticons

edited to say these are the 2 errors that I got: "Failed to set Data for"" and "No Active Document"

32 or 64 bit version?
It may help someone help you.

paulw

[calculating_infinity]

Hey my OS is a 32-bit one.  Hope you can help!

[remmelt]

{test: (download a couple of random images on your computer with right-click and open them in Photoshop then click on IMAGE then sub-menu IMAGE SIZE... you'll see the image size indicated in inches X inches (or pixels X pixels) and under that you'll see the resolution of the image (72 dpi usually on the web)}

Your explanation is spot-on, but this part is what confuses a lot of people so I thought I'd explain a little further.

For pictures on the web, THERE IS NO RESOLUTION IN DPI THAT MAKES SENSE. A picture that is going to be displayed on a screen has pixels and pixels only. Inches don't come into play. For example, a picture that is 800x600 pixels large will be displayed on a monitor at 800 by 600 pixels. There is no inherent DPI. It's not like us web users are measuring our displays (the inch part of the DPI equation), is it?

The confusion is furthered by Photoshop and similar software that is geared for print. Take an image, open it in Photoshop and it will tell you a DPI value. This is ridiculous. Again, there is no inherent DPI value in a pixel by pixel image. What's more, you can CHOOSE YOUR OWN! It's almost unbelievable!

An example: let's say we have a 300x300 pixels image. This image is displayed on a screen as 300x300. Some screens have larger real pixels, so the image might be larger or smaller, but that's besides the point. It's just 300x300.
Now we're going to print the image. Photoshop will be helpful. We can choose a desired print size, 10 inch by 10 inch, for example, and PS will tell us the DPI value: 300 pixels / 10 inches = 30 DPI. This is very low, the printed picture quality will be bad.
Now let's set the print size to 1 inch by 1 inch. This will increase the DPI to 300 (300pixels/1inch) and the quality will be pro, BUT WITH A SMALLER PRINTED IMAGE.

What's more: create a new image in Photoshop. Make it 300x300 pixels. Set DPI to 72. This will make the image 300x300 pixels. Now make another new image, again 300x300 pixels, set the DPI to 720. Lo presto, the image is 300x300 pixels. The actual printed image will be tiny, but the thing on screen is the same, and that's what the web users look at.

So, saying an image for the web is good enough if it is in 72 DPI means nothing, except that you're stuck in the print world for ever

(Sorry for the rant, this is one of the most frequent issues I have when communicating with print and graphics people and it's really annoying, mostly because they think they know better. And eh, only one can really know better. Ahem)

[wampcat1]

Sad to say, I have Windows Vista (was the only option at best buy) and I am having problems running DIY Layout Creator.     Anyone get it to work with Vista?  I'm trying to do something productive while I cannot solder.      Sorry for the 3x emoticons

edited to say these are the 2 errors that I got: "Failed to set Data for"" and "No Active Document"

If it's any consolation, I have win vista too. It sucks, I can't stand it. Oh, it's prettier, but does it work better? NO. Many of the programs I used with XP don't work or have a ton of errors with Vista.
Why WHY WHY can't M$ just make a freaking OS that actually works worth a crap?

Also, the windows mail program (replacement for outlook express) stinks on ice. It does have a cute little icon though. 
Firefox barely works on vista (you have to "run as administrator" and even then it's slow).

Moral of this rant: If you buy a computer, try to get XP with it. If you already have vista, many of us are having the same problems.

*stepping down from soapbox* 

bw

[bancika]

yeah, I hate when MS introduces "improvements" that make 50% of software useless. I had problems with any of their updates with at least one of my programs: IE7, SP2, Vista...damn
Good news is that we got some computers with Vista where I work so I'll be able to test it there and hopefully fix it.
Cheers,
Bancika