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I am new to PCB designing and I've finished creating the my first prototype board. I want to send it to get printed but I'm worried that I haven't done my traces correctly because they do not show up in the 3D viewer. Looking at other renderings from Altium I can see the traces on the top layer. Have I done this incorrectly or is there a setting I need to turn on to see them?

2D View: enter image description here

3D View: enter image description here

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  • \$\begingroup\$ If the first picture is a screen shot of your finished board, it looks to me like the grey ones aren't routed. (Not an Altium expert). \$\endgroup\$
    – Tyler
    Feb 12, 2016 at 2:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah I didn't route those because I'm going to just use thick wire to connect them. Have to support 15ish amps going through and I believe the trace width would have to be enormous (I'm not EE though, I'm SE that's dabbling in EE) \$\endgroup\$
    – Joe Jankowiak
    Feb 12, 2016 at 2:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ I think the traces don't show in 3D view. That saves a lot of complexity in the rendering. You should be using 3D view more to make sure your connectors don't clash and your tall parts aren't too tall; not to check on where traces are located. \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Feb 12, 2016 at 3:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ Actually I'm wrong. If you look closely at your picture, you will see the traces do render. They're just very faint where they're covered by soldermask. Look closely at one of the pads with a trace entering it and you'll see it. \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Feb 12, 2016 at 3:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Maybe check your Gerbers to be sure. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tyler
    Feb 12, 2016 at 3:13

2 Answers 2

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There are several 3D display modes:

Display Modes

And there's other controls too, in the View Configuration screen (press L):

View Config

In particular, the Solder Mask can either be turned off, or its opacity turned down to reveal the copper tracks under it.

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If you change to Single-Layer-Mode (Shift S) you can see them as well.

enter image description here

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