> I know what you mean.
>
> I have been practicing with QCad for a few weeks now and have come
to
> the conclusiton that I just input all the components, spread them
out
> a lot, then autoroute. I get a MESS !
>
> Then I LOOK at the components and the board and figure out where I
> want the connections and some of the major components. move them
> around then autoroute again.
>
> then I go back and move all the related parts like caps and
resistors
> so they line up better.
>
> I do find that you can place an LED in one of 4 directions, 3 of
> which will cause traces to go off into odd directions and
not 'flow'
> ditto for resisrs and caps.
>
> I move those type around until the traces are shorter and the
lines
> more straight.
>
> When it is done, I have forced the autoroute to put traces where I
> want them to a large degree and the board looks better.
>
> I have a board that looks like heck as all of one side of the PIC
> pins were connected to things on the opposite side of the board
and
> all the pins on the other side had to weave themselves around.
very
> cluttered.
>
> Dave
Yep, I no longer use the "representative" schematic parts. I make
all my schematic parts identical to the chips themselves just so I
don't end up with what you describe. The entire time I'm doing the
schematic I'm also working out PCB placement. If I have to use lots
on 90 degree corners in the schematic I know its time to rethink
what I'm doing. Makes it a lot easier to decide which pins to use on
MCUs and the like as well.
For instance, I was using the default '4050 schematic part and
didn't realize just what a mess the '4050 makes on a PCB. Once I saw
this, I dumped the '4050 and went with a '245. Extra pins, but its
very tidy - all inputs on one side and outputs on the other.