How Quilter works with board files
Quilter's AI designer works within native PCB design files, and a board file is the only mandatory input for Quilter to do its job. Quilter is currently compatible with Altium (.PcbDoc), KiCAD (.kicad_pcb), and EAGLE (.brd) file formats.
NOTE:
By default, Quilter will attempt to place and route all components that are not placed within your board outline / perimeter. All components and traces that are placed and routed at the time of upload will be treated as fixed and will not be modified.
Preparing your design file for upload to Quilter
The less of your design that you pre-define (pre-place or pre-route), the more control you give to Quilter design agent to explore and generate candidates. That said, we recommend that most users take the following steps to prepare their board file for input:
Define your board outline to establish an acceptable area for Quilter's design agent to worok within.
Define any major mechanical features like mounting holes or keep-out zones that are defined by major mechanical or electrical features.
Pre-place your connectors. This ensures that connector placement complies with mechanical specifications and also ensures Quilter's agent will not place connectors in bad locations like the middle of a PCB.
Simply leave any components that you want Quilter to place and route itself off the board, and upload your file for auto-layout.
Below is an example of our OpenMV H7_R2 Computer Vision board file, prior to uploading to Quilter for layout.
