Altium (likely) inspired by Interactive HTML BOM

Looks like Altium was inspired by the Interactive HTML BOM plugin. They have a beta app that runs in a browser and lets engineers build prototypes, where the left side of the screen is the BOM and the right is the board. They added a 3D view of the board and some other features, but it feels like they saw a good idea and made their own version:

https://www.altium.com/altium-365/whats-new#assembly-app-in-altium-365

From the page above:

The Assembly App helps reduce the time and increase the accuracy of the manual assembly of printed-circuit boards (prototypes or short runs). Engineers no longer need to flip through paper printouts or navigate CAD software while working on board assembly.

All the relevant design data, 2D and 3D board views, detailed BOM information, as well as the controls to track progress are brought together in one app specifically designed for manual assembly. The app is available through the web browser and can be accessed from any device without the need to install Altium Designer.

4 Likes

To be fair, I’ve seen the interactive bom style view actually implemented elsewhere, I definitely saw third party repair shops have something similar for Apple boards.

There is a program called “Boardview” that floats around in a bunch of different incarnations.

http://boardviewer.net/

https://openboardview.org/

Boardview is not intended to help with assembly, but it is geared towards repair. The openboardview site has a link to a 21 minute youtube video with some explanation. You can for example select a pad and then highlight a net to see what it is connected to.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.