I need to draw this pinwheel antenna pattern in altium designer. But I have no idea how to do it (drawing spirals) with altium equipments. Do you have any suggestion?
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1\$\begingroup\$ Altium can import vector drawings, maybe this could help newelectronics.co.uk/electronics-videos/… \$\endgroup\$– bobfluxJan 4, 2020 at 21:01
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\$\begingroup\$ Does Altium have to ability to draw a spiral inductor? Your antenna is a lot like one of those. \$\endgroup\$– SteveShJan 4, 2020 at 21:52
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\$\begingroup\$ @SteveSh is it? I don't thing so. \$\endgroup\$– Marcus MüllerJan 4, 2020 at 23:02
2 Answers
1- Go to Menu/Place/Arc/Arc(Edge),
2- Place an Arc close(but not necessarily accurate) to the desired dimensions,
3- While the arc is selected, On Properties panel, adjust all sizes including thickness, start angle, End Angle, Radius ,...
4- Go to Menu/Tools/Preferences/PCB Editor/General,
5- Change the Rotation Step to correct value. For example if your spiral has 5 wings, rotation step is 360/5=72,
6- Back in PCB editor environment, select the previously placed arc, then copy (ctrl+c), then paste (ctrl+v), then hit the space bar for one rotation step,
7- Repeat until you get your spiral,
8- You can even select your now complete spiral, then go to Tools menu, and click on Outline Selected Object, then hit the Delete key so the original spiral will be deleted and it's outline remain!
If you mean to draw this pattern on a PCB on alitum, it’s possible to draw spirals track on a PCB ( shift + space ). Then if you mean modelise this antenna as it is, i suggest you to use CAD drawing software then to export it into altium
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\$\begingroup\$ How does "shift + space" allow you to draw spiral tracks? It shifts the trace-drawing mode, but none of the modes draw spirals. Some modes draw half or quarter circles, but neither of those options will allow you to draw smooth spirals. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 5, 2020 at 16:13
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\$\begingroup\$ My apologies, you might start using the arc function and draw a circle first then if you double click on it you will be able to place the track on the desired layer. You can adjust the diameter and the length of the circle ( quarter , half , full ). \$\endgroup\$– DelpheskJan 5, 2020 at 18:45