Andrew's Guides

Introduction

Hello, welcome to my page! I'm Andrew, one of the undergraduate students working on the Clemson Cadence Project. On this page, I'll be posting guides for the different Cadence training courses as I complete them. My interests focus on board and chip design, so I hope to get some guides up soon on courses related to these topics and which make use of Cadence's Allegro PCB Editor software as well as their digital design tools.

Starting Out

First of all, if you haven't checked out the Getting Started page for how to get the proper accounts and software installed, that should be the first thing you do! The most important information there will be regarding the VPN download and the OrCAD and Allegro software package download. Personally, most of the courses that I'll be writing guides for will be using software from that OrCAD and Allegro package download, and if you're accessing this software from home, you MUST use the Clemson CUVPN to be able to launch the apps.

Module 1

The first module of this course just contains some basic overview information and some FAQs and help links. The important part for this module as at the BOTTOM OF THE PAGE - the button for the Database Downloads. For any course you're taking, you NEED to download these files, as they have all the practice and demo files that you'll be using in the labs to work through the practice problems. You'll need to click this button for Database Download, and then hit the Lab Database button under "Click to download the Windows Lab Database" on the next page.

I suggest creating a Cadence folder on your computer and then saving these downloads into a seperate folder within this folder for each of the training courses you do. This folder will serve as your home directory for the course. Nicholas does a good job of showing this on his guide for the Allegro Design Entry course.

Module 2

Another useful portion of this module is the slide showing the common shortcut keys. These will be extremely useful if you use this software frequently and want to be able to work a little more efficiently.

Other than this, the labs are what you're going to want to focus most of your energy to. The videos for each of the modules give in-detail information and the demo videos are nice for seeing things in action, but personally, I've found that the best way for me to learn using these Cadence training courses is to skim the videos for keywords and important info and then to jump right into the lab assignments.

The labs for Module 2 are really straightforward and just have you work through different navigations and setups for the software to get you ready to move onto more in-depth topics.

Module 3

This module works through the different preferences that you can use to set up your software's environment in the way which works best for you. One of the important parts about this module is the video on the Title Block Tab, which is extremely for making sure all the right info is on your project if you're turning it in for some assignment. Other than that, I suggest paying attention to the "Creating a Design Template" demo video and then working on the labs, which will step you through the same process shown in the demo video for setting preferences and making your design template.

Module 4

Module 4 introduces you to the concepts of libraries in Capture. Libraries are where are the parts that you may want to use will be stored, so it's important to understand this concept if you plan on making any sort of schematic designs with Capture. The most important sections of this module are the ones detailing how to copy parts from one library to another, as this will be a lot of help in creating any of your own libraries.

Additionally, understanding how to create your own parts is EXTREMELY important for any sort of schematic work. It's also key to understand the differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous parts: a homogeneous part is a part with ONE symbol defining it that contains either one part only or multiples of the same part, each with their own pins (single-section). A heterogeneous part has multiple, unidentical parts within a single package (multi-section). The differences between these two classifications becomes more clear if you follow through the videos and the demos for creating the two different types of parts.

The next important section of this module is the "Generating a Part from Imported Data" section, which basically describes how to use manufacturer information as a shortcut to create parts automatically. This sort of method will come up again for creating entire schematics from spreadsheet data.

Module 5

Module 5 brings together a lot of the previous information to show you how to begin creating your own schematics by hand. It'll cover a lot of the interfacing methods and UI options for schematic creation, as well as some tips and tricks to make this process quicker.

Module 5 also covers Design Rules Checks, which is one of the more important tools in the Capture software. This will allow you to automatically check your schematics and your work to ensure that everything is connected properly and is within your defined specs. It's super useful for double-checking work before you turn something in or move on to the next stage of a project.

Module 6

Module 6 is one of the modules where the Labs are key. Since most of the videos for this module cover technical processes like how-to's for creating schematics, it might be easier to just start on the labs right away and then reference the videos for help if you run into any trouble. The videos still contain a lot of useful information on the specifics of how things work for this type of schematic creation, but the Labs are where you'll get the really useful practice of working through these examples on your own.

Module 7

Module 7 covers part properties for parts in schematics. Other than actually creating your schematic design, I feel like knowing how to manage the properties of your parts in your design is the next most important thing. From my experience in personal projects, I've found myself spending a majority of my time on Capture editing and changing around part properties, since these control the different values for components as well as their physical properties, which come into play a lot when you are creating a PCB off of one of your Capture schematics. This will also come in handy a ton when creating your Bill of Materials (BOM) for a project, since this will be created directly off of your part properties.

Pay attention to the labs regarding using spreadsheet information for part properties - this is a trick I wish I knew about when I was designing some of my own schematics, as it can cut down hours of time to minutes since using this skill will eliminate the need to manually change each part's properties.

Module 8

Module 8 covers creating hierarchical designs. Hierarchical just means that you have a design which contains sub-circuits consisting of other schematic designs. Think of it like how your computer may have a main design for the motherboard, but then sub-designs for each of the components connecting to the motherboard like the CPU and the RAM. Hierarchical designs are super important for modularizing your projects, especially if you repeatedly use certain sub-circuits in your designs or have a large schematic.

The other important section of this module is the section regarding netlists. A netlist is how you'll be able to create a PCB from your schematic, and if you have errors or mistakes in your part properties when you create your netlist, it may lead to lots of issues and errors down the road for your design process.

Module 9

Module 9 is just a simple summary of the topics covered in the course. Once you've gotten here, congratulations! You should be all done with this training course, and all you have left to do will be to complete the course evaluation and take your badge exam.

Badge Exam

Regarding the badge exam, don't worry! These are usually really easy if you did all of the labs for a course, and the exam will allow you to review your missed questions at the end and reattempt them as many times as necessary to get a passing score. They're all multiple choice questions and shouldn't take more than 10 minutes or so if you paid attention during the course.

Also, feel free to post your badge to your LinkedIn profile and connect with David Haeussler (https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-haeussler-559392). Once you've received your badge, let Dave know, and he will gladly repost your digital badge to help maximize its visibility. Don't miss out on this chance to amplify your badge's reach and showcase your accomplishments to a wider audience!