ZenitPCB CAD software

Zenit PCBis another useful software that can help you to design printed circuit boards . Zenit PCB is designed by Stortini Mirko Bruno and is completely freeware for personal or semi-professional use, limited to 800 pins . Zenit PCB is a flexible easy to use CAD program, which allow you to realize your projects in a short time . Zenit PCB has three main parts : Zenit PCB , Zenit Capture and Zenit Parts .
If you will start a project in Zenit PCB you will see that the circuit diagram is very easy to draw , but maybe you will not found all needed components .
If you try Zenit PCB you will see that the software is almost perfect , some useful features like :auto place component and auto router are missing .
To see how Zenit PCB works we prepared a small video tutorial .
Main steps to design a circuit using this software are very simple and require a few documentation , but on the package you will find a very good help file that show you all needed steps to design a printed circuit board from zero . Also on the developer website you can find some video tutorials that helps you to design a circuit .
The software can be downloaded for free from this link or from the zenitpcb.com website .
The most important steps that needs to be followed when you design a printed circuit board in Zenit PCB are :
1. Place components in Zenit Capture
2. Route all components
3. Package parts
4. Create Nets list
5. Open Zenit PCB
6. Place Board Outline
7. Import Nets list
8. Route the circuit
The first thing that must be done before you place components and create Board outline for the PCB is to set the options for the circuit respective for the board .
What I don’t like at this Printed Circuit Boards software ? If you will place for example three resistors R1 , R2 and R3 and you delete R2 from the circuit , the software doesn’t have any option for Auto annotation . This is not a big problem for a small project , because you have an option to rename components , but you’ll need to do that with all components one by one .
Another interesting feature that is missing is zoom , I didn’t find shortcuts for zoom in and zoom out ( in Zenit Capture ) . In Zenit PCB you can use Page UP and Page Down for Zoom in and out or mouse scroll. Also I didn’t find a list for keyboard shortcuts , which is very useful when you design a circuit , because if you are using keyboard shortcuts , the design time can be reduced very much .
Because of some missing options and some existing bugs , is a little difficult to design a circuit with this software without using a mouse . Zenit PCB window also has some important missing features , but maybe in the future this software will be improved by his designer . With all missing features this software is more better than some other paid circuit design software .
Source: http://www.hqew.net/circuit-diagram/ZenitPCB-CAD-software_6144.html