2.13 Release Blog – What’s New Inside inspectAR

Outer Layers Board Object

Users now have the option to launch inspectAR by only using the outer layers. This will improve the load time and latency of the application, making it easier to repeatedly switch between projects in a fast-paced environment.

One important note: the outer layers option is only available for projects created after the 2.13 update. You can still use older projects just not with the outer layers option.

Once a project has been created you will notice a toggle switch near the Calibrate/Launch button which enables the outer layers option. You may notice a slight delay as the project is re-downloaded in the new format. Once this has been completed you can launch/calibrate the project just like before. AR scene functionality will remain the same however you will notice that none of the internal layers are present in the search menu. When you display a net that crosses multiple internal layers, only the portion of it on the outer layers will be present.

End of Support for KiCAD and Eagle Formats

We have been generously supported by users of the KiCAD and Eagle communities who have used the inspectAR tool since it was launched in 2019, providing us with valuable feedback which we have carried forward and used to improve the tool since then. We are extremely grateful for this.

As inspectAR has matured and evolved over the years we have been able to add support for more intelligent manufacturing outputs. Similarly, the Eagle and KiCAD products have themselves evolved, adding support for different types of intelligent manufacturing data. As a result, support of the native formats has become redundant, and to improve our focus on intelligent manufacturing data we are ending support for them.

Any projects created using KiCAD and Eagle will remain fully functional in inspectAR for the foreseeable future, there should be no disruption to users with existing projects. What will change in 2.13 is the ability to make new projects, the upload options for KiCAD and Eagle will disappear and be replaced with intelligent manufacturing data formats.

Sub-Region Calibration UI Improvements

We have tightened up the sub-region calibration UI, it is now possible to confirm pad locations and advance between quadrants using only hotkeys. It is also possible to rename specific sub-regions so you can associate them to what is present in that region of the board. So, you can make different sub-regions and name them “power supply”, “memory management”, “core processor”, etc.