Over the last few months, we’ve been running a beta group with hundreds of designers to better understand how they interact with SnapEDA and Altium Designer. “We created this new plugin based on feedback from the SnapEDA community. All models imported via the plugin are native Altium. After installing it, designers simply search for a part they need, and will be prompted to place, or save the part to a desired library, or project. Designers can also request CAD models via SnapEDA’s InstaPart service-a popular service among large OEMs-when they are unavailable. In addition to placing parts and saving parts directly, the plugin’s component database is also updated in real-time as soon as new supplier parts are added to the SnapEDA ecosystem. This means that engineers will no longer have to leave their design environment when adding CAD models into their designs, further streamlining their workflows. This new plugin removes the extra step of importing the CAD model, and then placing or saving it to a library folder, in addition to creating a native experience for searching directly within Altium Designer. Prior to launching this new plugin, designers would use SnapEDA’s web platform to download CAD models, and then import them into their designs. Altium Designer is one of the most widely-used PCB design tools today, and is the most downloaded format on SnapEDA.

Snapeda plugin for altium