Chapter 4
Working with Parts
©
National Instruments Corporation
4-5
Tools to Assist Part Placement
The following sections tell you how to use the tools that Ultiboard provides
to help you place parts and other elements on the design.
Working with Ratsnests
A ratsnest is a straight line connection between pads, indicating their
connectivity. The ratsnest identifies the pads which should be connected
according to the netlist, but which are not yet connected with traces.
Because these represent logical connections, and not the physical copper
connections referred to as traces in Ultiboard, they are just straight line
connections that can overlap parts and other ratsnest lines.
In Ultiboard, ratsnests are represented by colored lines, although they can
be dimmed so that they appear gray. They appear by default, exist on their
own layer, and can be controlled through the
Information
section of the
Layers
tab in the
Design Toolbox
. Refer to the
section
of Chapter 3,
, for information about dimming and
hiding ratsnests in the
Design Toolbox
.
Tip
You can also show or hide individual ratsnests from the
Show Ratsnests
column in
the
Nets
tab of the
Spreadsheet View
, and also from the
Net Edit
dialog box. Refer to the
section of Chapter 5,
Working with Traces and Copper
, for more
information.
The figure below shows the ratsnests as they connect pads in a design
without regard to running through parts.