Overview

Before we begin, it’s important to know what Copper is, and is not. Copper is an application to visualize, analyze and finalize a PCB layout created with EAGLE or exported from another EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software.

Copper helps you finding problems in your design, it tries to prohibit mistakes by providing a clear interface that let’s you double and triple check your footprints and signals. Copper also  allows you to find the right (real) parts for your design and helps finding the best combination of distributors.

Copper itself is not a PCB layout software. You cannot create PCB layouts with Copper! Copper currently also focuses on PCB layout, it does render or display the schematics of your board. Copper comes into place after you have created your design with EAGLE and before you consider ordering parts and PCBs.

The application window is divided into sections that provide you with quick & easy access to everything you’ll need.

Toolbar

The toolbar at the top of the window contains the share button, a status view and buttons to toggle Inspector and Part/Signal browsers.

Canvas

The central portion of the application window contains the contents of the currently selected viewer/editor. You can switch the editor every time by clicking on one of the icons above it. Some editors/viewer provide more controls at the bottom part of the window to control the viewer, like zoom and toggling features on and off.

Copper currently features these editor/viewers:

twoD@2x 2D Viewer

twoD@2x 3D Viewer

partDataIcon@2x Part Sourcing

bomIcon@2x BOM Management

datasheet@2x Datasheet Viewer

Parts/Signals Browser

A very important user interface element is the Parts/Signal Browser. The Signal Browser shows a list of signals the PCB consists of. For each signal the number of Vias and the total trace length are also shown. Clicking a signal in the list selects it. It is displayed highlighted in the Canvas (2D and 3D).

The Part Browser displays the parts name, the value and a few signals that show if additional items like a 3D part or a part number are attached. Clicking on a part in the list also selects and highlights it.

Part and Signal selection are shared throughout the application and both browser have a small search field that can be used to filter the list by name or value.

Inspector

You find the Inspector at the very right side of the application window. It allows you to inspect and change attributes of your PCBs components like signals and parts.

Following the same navigation style as the main canvas viewer/editor small icons at the top let you change to different sections of the Inspector.

The Inspector is separated into these groups:

twoD@2x Inspect the PCB Board

twoD@2x Inspect selected part

twoD@2x Inspect selected signal

twoD@2x Inspect and setup 3D scene