Blog

This update offers faster performance, useful new tools, and practical improvements for your daily work. Tasks become easier and results more precise. V16.1 is built to support your projects reliably and help you work more efficiently with PCB designs and data.

What the V16.1 can offer you:

1. PCB-Investigator:
   • Polarity Marker Highlight (New)
   • Image Library (New)
     • A new image library allows storing images either in the design itself or in a separate Lite-DB or PCBI-365 location
     • Realistic component images can be generated directly from STEP files and linked to the 2D drawings of components
   • New Demo Designs
     • A selection of additional demo projects is now available directly within PCB-Investigator
   • Component Manager
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • API extensions
2. Importer/Exporter:
   • 3D PDF Exporter
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Cadence Fabmaster Importer
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • CCZ Importer
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • DPF Importer
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • DXF Importer
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Fabmaster Importer
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • GenCAD Importer
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • IPC2581C Exporter
     • 3D STEP files can now be embedded in the exported file
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Step Exporter
     • New option to reduce the size of the exported file
3. Analysis:
   • DFM Analysis
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Bare Board Analysis (DRC)
     • Ability to add comments to each reported issue in the results dialog, which will be included in the extended design report
     • Option to exclude routing layers from analysis
     • Net short reports can be exported
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Boundary Scan Analysis
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Creepage Analysis
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Stencil Analysis
     • New analysis for pad2pad distances of adjacent components
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
4. Fabrication / Production Control:
   • Essemtec Pick&Place Exporter (New)
     • Connect your Essemtec machines and generate recipes and jobs in eData directly from PCB-Investigator, ensuring maximum precision and security for placement positions and angles
   • SAKI AOI/SPI Exporter (New)
     • New export function for SAKI AOI/SPI machines
   • Soldering Path Editor (New)
     • Enables automatic, rule-based generation of soldering paths for selective soldering, helping optimize process planning and reduce manual effort
   • Virtual BOM Export (New)
     • New interactive HTML report featuring a BOM and zoomable component views (requires a separate license)
   • BOM Expert
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Stencil Generation
     • Many new features and improvements
   • Test Coverage Report
     • Enhanced reporting features and clearer summary tables
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
5. Miscellaneous:
   • Component Report
   • Extended Design Report (HTML)
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Production Tool Editor
     • Minor improvements and bug fixes
   • Solution Explorer 365

If there are any questions concerning the latest release, please feel free to contact us.