The Shaughnessy Report: Showing Some Constraint
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Rein in Your Design Constraints
Target Condition: Are Autorouters Friend or Foe?
Nexar Announces Massive CAD Model Marketplace
June 16, 2022 | Nexar, a business unit of Altium LLCEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Nexar, a business unit of Altium LLC, announced today the launching of the Octopart CAD Model Marketplace, a free database made up of a massive repository of computer aided design (CAD) models for electronic components. Octopart, part of the Nexar ecosystem, is an electronic component search engine powered by part data and intelligence from the Nexar API. Octopart’s new CAD Model Marketplace simplifies PCB design and part selection workflows to create a single unified user experience that aggregates CAD models.
“As the industry’s leading search engine for electronic parts, Octopart continues to simplify the part search and discovery journey by introducing our CAD Model Marketplace feature,” says Daniel Schoenfelder, Head of Nexar Sales and Octopart. “Octopart users can eliminate the drudgery of locating and accessing CAD models. By using Octopart’s powerful search capabilities, users can access 10 million electronic component CAD models that are compatible with all major PCB design tools.”
Octopart.com simplifies and streamlines workflows by providing a central hub to search for parts and their available data and models. Users no longer have to search in various locations for CAD models. They can now preview symbols, footprints, and schematics from partners like Ultra Librarian and SnapEDA on a single platform, making their Octopart experience a one-stop-shop for free CAD models. In the future, users will also have access to 3D models from TraceParts, Nexar’s newest partner.
To start searching the CAD Model Marketplace or to find out more about Octopart, visit Octopart.com.
About Altium
Nexar is a Business Unit of Altium, LLC (ASX:ALU). Altium, LLC, is a global software company headquartered in San Diego, California, who are accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. For over 30 years, Altium has been delivering software that maximizes the productivity of PCB designers and electrical engineers. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Digital Twin Concept in Copper Electroplating Process Performance
07/11/2025 | Aga Franczak, Robrecht Belis, Elsyca N.V.PCB manufacturing involves transforming a design into a physical board while meeting specific requirements. Understanding these design specifications is crucial, as they directly impact the PCB's fabrication process, performance, and yield rate. One key design specification is copper thieving—the addition of “dummy” pads across the surface that are plated along with the features designed on the outer layers. The purpose of the process is to provide a uniform distribution of copper across the outer layers to make the plating current density and plating in the holes more uniform.
Meet the Author Podcast: Martyn Gaudion Unpacks the Secrets of High-Speed PCB Design
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007In this special Meet the Author episode of the On the Line with… podcast, Nolan Johnson sits down with Martyn Gaudion, signal integrity expert, managing director of Polar Instruments, and three-time author in I-Connect007’s popular The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... series.
Showing Some Constraint: Design007 Magazine July 2025
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamA robust design constraint strategy balances dozens of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we focus on design constraints—the requirements, challenges, and best practices for setting up the right constraint strategy.
The Shaughnessy Report: Showing Some Constraint
07/14/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy -- Column: The Shaughnessy ReportWhen we first decided to cover strategies for setting PCB design constraints, one designer we spoke with said, “They’re not really constraints; they’re more like guardrails that prevent your design from going off a cliff.”
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Rein in Your Design Constraints
07/10/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonI remember the long hours spent at the light table, carefully laying down black tape to shape each trace, cutting and aligning pads with surgical precision on sheets of Mylar. I often went home with nicks on my fingers from the X-Acto knives and bits of tape all over me. It was as much an art form as it was an engineering task—tactile and methodical, requiring the patience of a sculptor. A lot has changed in PCB design over the years.