What's new in GC-Prevue 31.2
Oct 11, 2023
- New and Improved Features:
- Lock/Unlock Layers:
- Layers can now be locked so that they cannot be editedThe idea is to prevent unintentional editing of layers to prevent changes to completed workRight clicking on a layer in the Layer List (Physical or Data) now gives the option to Lock a LayerThe Layer List is updated with a ‘^’ to indicate that a layer is ‘Locked’ and the layer can only be Unlocked using the pop-up menuIf the Layer Status is set to Edit for a Locked layer, then a message is displayed to confirm that the Edit status is intended.
- Added Plugin functions:
- A number of plugin functions have been added to enhance the customization of the productDetails can be found within the Intellisense for the plugin.
- Items Fixed since v31.1:
- Conversion of Custom apertures in RS-274X into Rounded Rectangles incorrectly set the radius.
- Fixed.
- User Interface has been updated to display co- ordinate information to six decimal placesThis is achieved through a checkbox under Tools > Customize > Options called ‘High Precision Coordinate Display’.
- Excellon Import updated to now correctly import the data output on Track #768.
- Excellon Drill output updated to correctly generate Feeds rate in the correct units for both Imperial and Metric outputs.
- Fixed an issue in the Data Creation process that resulted in the current active point changing following a specific set of steps.
- Import of Rout program resulted in large complete circlesFixed.
- Old GWK loads at 2x size(see Track #760).
- Gerber-X output of large area datasets using high precision has been fixed to give the correct information in the generated file.
- Added a user verification step to the Combine function to warn users that the function cannot be undone.
- Old CWK file loaded at twice the correct sizeThis was a side-effect of the recent larger available area changes that had been implemented.
- Updated the draw engine to better handle polygon-fill for very large diameter arcsPreviously, the fill followed a straight line rather than the arc pathThis was a display issue only but caused confusion for users.
- Saving the Import BOM format to reuse in a future situation now correctly saves the Delimiter value.
New in GC-Prevue 31.1 (Mar 22, 2023)
- New and Improved Features:
- Added Plugin functions
- A number of plugin functions have been added to enhance the customization of the product. Details can be found within the Intellisense for the plugin.
New in GC-Prevue 29.1.6 (Mar 4, 2021)
- Support for Gerber X3 Better dialog handling
New in GC-Prevue 27.2.6 (Oct 2, 2019)
- Automatic Bed Size adjustment
New in GC-Prevue 26.1 (Feb 27, 2018)
- Items Fixed since v25.3:
- This list is customer reported issues fixed for this release.
- #559 Windows Update #1709 caused the 32 bit version of products to crash when importing data. Hot fix
- was issued and updated version released.
- #558 Internal rules were tweaked to better address very small arc segments in Gerber data. If the length of the arc segments is less than one micron but greater than
- 1 nanometer a straight line segment is created and a warning is generated in the Import Results.
- #557 Updated the NC Rout import to contain all drill locations specified in the file. Previously, certain holes were not being created when auto-identification of a file
- labelled the file as a Rout file.
- #542 Fixed an issue when importing step and Repeated data in the Gerber X2 format. The result has been verified.
New in GC-Prevue 25.2.8 Build 2017033110 (Apr 13, 2017)
- This list is customer reported issues fixed for this release.
- Very shallow arc became a straight line in the 64bit build of the application. Fixed.
- Added a list of option to the Options Tab under the Help > About dialog.
- The application now releases Gerber files once
- New Job has been run.
- The Gerber files are locked to ensure Reloading of a file is consistent but previously the file remained locked until the software was closed.
- Updated the Status bar to smoothly should progress. Previously the status bar was difficult to read due to flickering
New in GC-Prevue 23.4.6 Build 2015102116 (Oct 27, 2015)
- Adding Layer names to Printouts
New in GC-Prevue 23.2.6 Build 2015042410 (Apr 25, 2015)
- New Features:
- Merge Job:
- A new option has been added to the Merge Job function to make it easier to Merge two or more GWK files depending upon the process required.
- Merge Job for Production:
- This is the functionality previously available. The merging of jobs to create working panels containing different PCB boards requires a single Top Signal
- Physical layer containing the data layers of the individual PCB boards. Using this method data layers from like physical layers will be merged into a single physical layer. For example the data layers for the Bottom Silkscreen from the job being merged will be added to an existing Bottom Silkscree
- n physical. This results in a single Bottom Silkscreen physical layer containing data from multiple boards.
- Merge Job for Comparison:
- In other cases data from two different GWK files is required to be compared in order to find differences between revisions or original v modified data.
- In order to aide in this task the Merge Job for Comparison function simply adds new physical layers to the existing GWK. The physical layer type and other attributes are retained upon merging allowing Layer Comparison
- to easily identify.
- It is important to understand that Merging data using the comparison method possibly results in multiple physical layers which can negatively affect many other functions (Extract Netlist, DFM etc). It is advised that GWK files
- created as a result of this function are used for comparison only and not for generating production data.
- Network Lock File:
- An option has been added to create a lock file when opening a file from a network location. The option is located under Tools > Customize > Save and is simply an On / Off checkbox.
- When this option is On, opening a GWK from a network location will generate a Lock file alongside that GWK preventing another user from overwriting that file. The second user will receive a message when opening the GWK informing the user of who is editing that file. The Save button is then de-
- activated (the GWK can be saved with a different name however). Once the original user closes down the GWK, the lock file is removed.
- Fixes:
- This list is customer reported issues fixed for this release.
- Importing a ZIP file, then importing a second ZIP file resulted in a Disk Full error. This has been resolved by correctly flushing the temporary files.
- The Apply Layer settings now correctly applies Layer colors using the RGB settings
New in GC-Prevue 22.3.6 Build 2014071015 (Jul 12, 2014)
- Added a warning to the user when aperture macros incorrectly missed the 0 f
- rom negative variable values. Simple values ( -2, 0.005) do not require a 0 but if using a variable, the 0 is expressly required as per the specification (0-
- $3).
- Fixed a bug that caused an incorrect or missing print image when the data was scaled by a value of less than 1.
- An RS-274X aperture macro with the first element defined as exposure off no longer cuts the underlying data as per the RS -274X specification clarification. However, because a number of CAD exports incorrectly assume that it will, an option has been added to the Tools > Customize > Settings to allow for
- the intended image to be generated. This option is grouped with other non-standard aperture macro options to try and help users generate
- the intended (although incorrect as per the specification) image.
- As with Track #266 a custom macro that results in nothing (for example a small exposure on round pad and a larger exposure off square) has no effect on the image generated by the Gerber file.
- Following the clarification of the RS-274X specification and the Gerber X2 development a number of ambiguous issues were resolved. Now, custom macros containing exposure off commands (creating a hole) no longer affect any previously drawn data. The exposure off within an aperture macro only cuts data within the macro.
New in GC-Prevue 22.2.8 Build 2014041714 (Apr 25, 2014)
- DWG import updated to correctly display amitered joint in specific dataset.
- Resolved an issue where data tagged as Hidden within a DWG file was being incorrectly displayed.
- Now correctly displaying custom apertures within the panel edge of an ODB++ Panel Step.
- Fixed an issue with incorrectly rotated text strings on the bottom side. This was happening in a panel step of an ODB++ file.
- Filter Selection was not previously allowing Parts to be selected based on the Part Number shown in the drop down box of the Filter Selection Parts tab. This has now been resolved.
- Fixed an issue that resulted in an empty Parts layer when loading a specific ODB++ file.
- Added warning message to Gerber import if an arc drawn with a square aperture is detected. This is not allowed in the Gerber specification. The square aperture is replaced by a round aperture of the same size as the original square aperture.
- Modified error message to read correctly