New in Trace Plugin 2.0: link Trace Plugin to an Electronics design open in Autodesk Fusion, and the assistant works on its schematic, 2D PCB and libraries. It runs simulations and designs 3D-printable cases for Fusion boards too.
Before you start
- Trace Plugin 2.0 or later on Windows or on a Mac with Apple silicon. Fusion is not available in the Linux version of Trace Plugin. See Trace Plugin to install it and sign in.
- Autodesk Fusion with its Electronics workspace, signed in to your Autodesk account.
- An Electronics design open in Fusion. To start one, use File > New Electronics Design in Fusion.
Connect Fusion
- In Trace Plugin, under Design tools, choose Autodesk Fusion.
- Press Connect. The plugin puts its Trace Bridge add-in into Fusion's add-ins folder and keeps it up to date from then on.
- If Fusion is not running, press Launch Autodesk Fusion, or start Fusion yourself. Signing in to Autodesk can take a minute.
- Under Open projects, pick your design. Every Electronics design open in Fusion is listed. Use Refresh after you open another one.
- On a Mac, allow the Accessibility permission when the plugin asks (see below).
The first time, if Fusion was already open
If Fusion was running before you connected for the first time, the plugin shows Start the Trace Bridge in Fusion. Start the add-in once:
- In Fusion, open Scripts and Add-Ins from the Utilities tab > Add-Ins. On Windows, Shift+S opens it too.
- Find TraceBridge in the list and press Run. Leave Run on Startup ticked.
- Trace connects as soon as the add-in answers. Restarting Fusion does the same.
After that, Fusion starts the add-in by itself.
On a Mac: let Trace answer Fusion's questions
While a schematic changes, Fusion stops to ask questions in its own window, such as which name a joined net keeps (Connect Net Segments?), whether to join two nets, or a supply symbol's value. Trace can answer the ones its own edit brings up, so each edit runs straight through.
On Windows this works with nothing to set up. On a Mac, Trace Plugin needs macOS's Accessibility permission, and the Fusion screen shows a card titled Let Trace answer Fusion's questions (recommended):
- Click Allow…. macOS says Trace Plugin would like to control this computer using accessibility features.
- Click Open System Settings in that message. If no message appears, use Open System Settings on the card.
- In Privacy & Security > Accessibility, switch Trace Plugin on. Your Mac may ask for your password or Touch ID.
- Come back to Trace Plugin. The card goes away by itself once the permission is on. Nothing needs restarting.
It is the same permission Trace Plugin uses to reload KiCad's Schematic Editor, so if you already allowed it for KiCad, you are set.
With the permission, Trace answers only the questions its own edit brought up. Any other Fusion window is left for you, and the assistant tells you about it.
If you choose Not now
Trace still works, but each edit waits at every question Fusion asks until you answer it in Fusion, and one edit can ask many times. The top of the chat says what to answer:
| Fusion asks | Answer |
|---|---|
| Connect Net Segments? | OK. The name Trace keeps is already selected. |
| A yes or no question, such as Connect … and …?, Merge net segment …? or Rename net segment … by supply pin …? | Yes |
| Value, for a supply symbol | OK |
A different answer can join or split nets by mistake. To give the permission later, press Let Trace answer them (recommended)… at the top of the chat, or Allow… on the Fusion screen.
What the assistant can do in Fusion
Schematic
The assistant places and wires parts with Trace's own schematic engine, uses Fusion's full device names and gives power nets Fusion's supply symbols. Each edit is one step to undo in Fusion with Ctrl+Z (⌘Z on a Mac). It also reads Fusion's ERC. Warnings you approved in Fusion's ERC panel are left out. When the assistant saves the design, your hub gets a new version of it.
2D PCB
The assistant places parts and draws tracks, arcs, vias, copper pours, keep-outs and the board outline, and can fit the outline to your parts. Advanced placement and routing and basic routing both work, with tracks that meet pad centres and each other exactly. Each edit is one undo step in Fusion.
The board follows its schematic in Fusion. To add or remove parts, or change values, designators or a pad's net, change the schematic: the board picks it up by itself. A design with no 2D PCB yet needs one first: use Switch to PCB in the schematic.
After a routing run, run Fusion's DRC. A few tracks can come out narrower than your board's minimum and show as Copper Width errors; widen those before you order boards.
Checks and design rules
The assistant reads Fusion's DRC. Ask it to apply your manufacturer's limits and it raises Fusion's design rules to the fab's minimums without lowering any you set, then reads them back. You see the new values in the 2D PCB under Rules > DRC. It keeps your previous values, so you can ask it to put them back. Rules for single nets are named in the answer for you to set.
Parts and libraries
The assistant searches the libraries Fusion has. New parts it makes with Component Studio go into a TraceParts library in your hub, next to the design.
- On Windows, each new part comes with its 3D package: the real model from Trace's catalog, or a box sized to the package.
- On a Mac, new parts go in without a 3D package for now, and the assistant tells you so. You can attach one in Fusion.
Fabrication files
Ask for fabrication files and the assistant runs Fusion's own CAM processor for Gerber, drill and placement files. Fusion works from the saved design, so the assistant saves it first, and your hub gets a new version of the design. Unless you name another folder, the files go in a gerbers folder in Trace's folder for the design (see below).
Simulation
Ask the assistant to simulate your Fusion schematic, as in Altium and KiCad. Parts simulate from their values and the models the assistant finds for them. Simulation settings stored on Fusion library parts are not used yet. See Simulate a plugin project.
Trace Mechanical
Ask for a 3D-printable case and the assistant builds it around your board and its parts' 3D packages. If the design has no 3D PCB yet, the plugin makes one with Fusion's own command, which takes about half a minute and is left open in Fusion, unsaved. Open the Mechanical window from Mechanical cases at the top of the chat. See Trace Mechanical.
Ask the assistant to open the case in Fusion and it goes into a new 3D design beside yours in the hub, around a linked copy of your 3D PCB that follows the board. Asking again replaces the case as a new version of that design.
Where Trace keeps its files
Fusion keeps designs in your hub, not as files, so Trace Plugin keeps its own files for each design (project notes, artifacts, cases and exports) in a folder on your computer: Documents/Trace/Fusion, then the hub project and the design's name. Open a project… opens a design from there.
Limits in Fusion
- Length matching: the assistant measures lengths. Tune them in Fusion with Route > Meander. Matching by propagation delay is not available in Fusion.
- Layer stack: set the number of layers in Fusion's Layer Stack Manager.
- Teardrops: Fusion adds them itself, from Design > Teardrops in the 2D PCB.
- 3D packages on a Mac: new parts go in without one for now.
- Linux: Fusion runs on Windows and macOS only, so Trace Plugin on Linux cannot connect to it.
Troubleshooting
- Autodesk Fusion not found: install Fusion with its Electronics workspace, then press Try again.
- Autodesk Fusion isn't running: press Launch Autodesk Fusion, or start Fusion and open an Electronics design, then press Try again. If Fusion takes too long to start the add-in, connect again once it is open.
- Needs a one-time setup: start TraceBridge in Fusion's Scripts and Add-Ins, as described above.
- Fusion still runs an older Trace Bridge: restart Fusion so it loads the new add-in.
- No projects are open in Autodesk Fusion: open an Electronics design (or File > New Electronics Design), then press Refresh.
- Not saved in Fusion yet: the design has never been saved. Save it once in Fusion (File > Save) so Trace finds the same design next time.
- The design was closed: open it in Fusion again, then pick it in the plugin.
- Fusion was closed: the chat says Autodesk Fusion is not connected. Start Fusion again, or press Launch Autodesk Fusion on the Fusion screen, then press Reconnect at the top of the chat.
- The chat says Fusion is asking a question: answer it in Fusion as shown above, and Trace carries on. If Fusion is busy, Trace waits until it is free.