2.9 Feature - Allegro Board File and Multi-Display support

InspectAR 2.9.0 come with two major features for new users. Projects can now be created using an Allegro .brd file directly, bypassing the need to export and upload manufacturing exports from your design tool for Allegro/OrCAD users. Our second feature is still in beta, but we’d like to see what you think of it so try and out and let us know. You can now run inspectAR across multiple displays at once, so you can separate your camera feed from inspectAR’s menus.

To regular users, the largest change in this release will be our new blue background and integrated SSO login flow. You can now log in with a username and password directly inside of inspectAR without needing to use your browser on both mobile and desktop platforms. Enterprise users will still have access to their own single sign on if needed.

Allegro .brd File Integration

As a result of our tight integration with Cadence Design Systems, who acquired inspectAR last August we are excited to announce the first major step of our integration to the Allegro PCB Designer. InspectAR users can now create an inspectAR project directly using the .brd layout file for a PCB designed with Allegro.

There will be no difference between projects created using an IPC2581B file & BOM versus a project created with an Allegro .brd file. As this integration grows there will be more direct integrations between inspectAR and Allegro, especially for cloud customers.

This feature is not available locally on desktops – it is exclusive to cloud customers and enterprises who host their own instance of inspectAR. This is part of a larger plan to discontinue desktop-only project creation in the near future and go all in on a cloud native experience.

For our customers who cannot use the cloud, this is not a step backwards at all. In January we released a self-hosted version of inspectAR which has seen remarkable success so far. Desktop-only project creation was a workaround for customers who could not access the self-hosted version of the tool and also could not upload design IP into the cloud. With the success of our self-hosted version this workaround has become redundant. As it is removed, we will be taking the opportunity to create a more unified and intuitive project creation and sharing flow in future releases.

Multi-Display Support (Beta)

You can now connect more than one display to inspectAR. Using an external display, you can now display the video of your circuit board on one screen, while your inspectAR menus are displayed on another. This is not available on mobile devices, it is a desktop only feature.

This is a major ergonomics and usability feature that we have been working on for awhile. It definitely still has some way to go, but we’d like to see what people think of it. To enable multi-display support you’ll need to enter our settings from the dashboard and enable it. Once you are in multi-display mode keep in mind that you’ll need to restart the application to return back to single display mode.

Once you are using both displays, you’ll notice that one display remains blank. You can still drag windows alongside the video feed of your board, right-clicking them will allow you to send them over to another monitor. You can actually connect more than one extra monitor to inspectAR if you’d like. We’ll let you add up to eight (seeing how this is a beta) but we really advise that you have a dedicated GPU if you’re going to connect more than one display. And we recommend multiple GPU’s if you wish to hit the maximum of 8. Please send us a photo of this if you do.

Calibration Adjustments Can Now Be Added to Save States

Our ‘Save States’ feature allows you to save and share a group of overlays so they can be loaded again later instantly. We now have the option to save a calibration adjustment used at the time the save state is created. If you are viewing the board under identical lighting conditions later this will save you the time and adjustment of creating them.

Dynamically Change Camera

You can now dynamically change the camera you are using directly from the AR scene without needing to go back to the dashboard. If you suddenly unplug your camera, you can now reset the situation immediately without having to exit back to the dashboard and go through a loading time tore-launch the project.