{"id":1307,"date":"2013-05-13T10:18:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T17:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/jimmartens\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:20:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:20:03","slug":"pads-tips-and-tricks-building-a-pcb-decal-with-polar-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/2013\/05\/13\/pads-tips-and-tricks-building-a-pcb-decal-with-polar-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"PADS Tips and Tricks: Building a PCB Decal with Polar Patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many connectors and other components require decals\/footprints that have their pins laid out in a polar pattern. \u00a0In many CAD systems, this can be a time consuming effort to build these in the library. \u00a0It can be done very quickly in PADS!<\/p>\n

Bill Tkachuk CSD AE, recently\u00a0wrote \u00a0TechNote MG582079 that steps the user through building these devices. \u00a0If you have access to SupportNet, you can view a video demonstration of how to do this.<\/p>\n

To create a Decal with a distinct Polar pattern:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Go to Tools > Options > Grids and Snap > Grids > Radial Move Setup.<\/li>\n
  2. Define the Polar Grid origin (specifies the center location for the polar grid to originate from)<\/li>\n
  3. Define the Inner Radius value for how far from the center the pins will be placed. (Delta Radius is used when you have
    \nadditional concentric rings you wish to define).<\/li>\n
  4. Define the sites per ring (how many pins will be located in a given ring)<\/li>\n
  5. Define the starting angle (does the pin begin at the 0 degree mark, 90 degree mark, etc).<\/li>\n
  6. Click OK to the dialog<\/li>\n
  7. Type in the modeless command GP and press enter to make the polar grid visible.<\/li>\n
  8. Select the Add Terminal icon, click OK to the Add Terminals dialog<\/li>\n
  9. Begin clicking around the ring to place pins<\/li>\n
  10. Exit from the Add Terminal icon<\/li>\n
  11. Redefine the settings in the Radial Move Setup dialog if the additional rings require different parameters based on the footprint’s specification.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you have access to SupportNet, view the video and TechNote MG582079 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Jim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Many connectors and other components require decals\/footprints that have their pins laid out in a polar pattern. \u00a0In many CAD…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16541,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10361,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/10361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}