Description

In this tutorial, you’re going to learn how to add pin-out information to component layout views and create dedicated pin-out blocks for components.

Topics covered

Pin-out, layout, connection point, port, wiring diagram, wire, point to point, add pin-out attribute.

Main content

In this SkyCAD tutorial you’re going to learn how to add pin-out information to component layout views to enrich your panel layouts with wiring information (see black text below)

and how to create dedicated pin-out blocks for components to show how the components are wired, which you can insert on any sheet (see below).

You can do whichever of these you like, or both.

(Note: this pin-out information is not intended to replace schematics, but to supplement them.
Many pin-out attributes use information from the schematics to populate.)

To add pin-out information to a component’s layout view

1. Open the component’s layout view
2. Go to the Layout Tools tab and select Add pin-out attribute
   
   
    
3. Choose the connection port about which you want to show information and click OK
   
   
    
4. Choose the attribute you wish to show and click OK
   
   
    
5. The attribute appears at the insertion point (commonly in the middle or corner of the component layout)
   
   
    
6. Move the attribute to the desired position (it may be easier to turn off Axis Snap from the Drawing tab)
7. If desired, change the appearance of the text by right-clicking on the text, choosing Explore Text and changing the properties you want. (To copy the appearance of the text to other texts, use the Format Painter described in this tutorial at 8:44)
8. Repeat steps 2-7 until satisfied
9. If you always want this component to show that information in layout views, right-click on the component in the tree view and Save. (Close and re-open the project to update all instances of that component if required.)

To create a pin-out block for a component

1. Select the component in the tree view, go to the Create/Add tab and select New Layout Block.
2. Optional: if your component already has a layout view and you want the pin-out block to look like the layout view:
   1. Select the component in the tree view, go to the Show tab and select Layout
   2. Right-click on the layout in the tree view and choose Copy
   3. Right-click on the component in the tree view and choose Paste
3. Expand the properties of the new layout and check the Pin-out block property found at the bottom
4. Change Width and Height properties if desired
5. Use Drawing tools, add an image, or import a DWG/DXF to create the appearance of the pin-out block
6. Go to the Layout Tools tab and select Add pin-out attribute
   
   
    
7. Choose the connection port about which you want to show information and click OK
   
   
    
8. Choose the attribute you wish to show and click OK
   
   
    
9. The attribute appears at the insertion point (commonly in the middle or corner of the component layout)
   
   
    
10. Move the attribute to the desired position (it may be easier to turn off Axis Snap from the Drawing tab)
11. If desired, change the appearance of the text by right-clicking on the text, choosing Explore Text and changing the properties you want. (To copy the appearance of the text to other texts, use the Format Painter described in this tutorial at 8:44)
12. Repeat steps 6-11 until satisfied
13. If you always want this component to have this pin-out block, right-click on the component in the tree view and Save. (Close and re-open the project to have all instances of that component have available pin-out blocks.)
14. To insert the pin-out block on a sheet:
    1. With the pin-out block open/selected, go to the Layout Tools tab and select Insert Layout, choose the sheet on which you want the pin-out block inserted and click OK, then place it on the sheet
    2. Select the component in any list view (tree view, parts list, etc.) or any of its symbols on the sheets, go to the Pin-out info tab, select Insert pin-out block for selected item, select the pin-out block and click OK
15. The pin-out block can be scaled by selecting it, going to the Drawing tab and selecting Scale with mouse scroll or Specify scale factor