Multisim and Ultiboard Idea Exchange

Hi,

Multisim Live allows for the export of .ms14 files but will not import them.

Multisim will not export .msjs files

So there is no way for the tools to be used interchangeably.

This topic has been on the forum for several years(10-25-2017) so clearly there is a strong argument for not implementing it.

Proposal:Could you either:

Add MAC OS support

Allow Multisim Live & Multisim to work interchangeably by importing/exporting of suitable data files.

Thanks & regards...

We are a user of Multisim and Ultiboard and have been for many years. We have appreciated that there are user fields in the data base that we can populate with our company specific information including Part Numbers and descriptions.

Here is the Good idea . . . We would like to be able to have our Part Numbers display on schematics and appear in BOM reports and also transfer to Ultiboard. Transferring to Ultiboard is important so that the Part Numbers appear on the Centroid Output. Currently this can be done in Multisim by copying and pasting the PN into the Label field however, this a very tedious task and it leads to errors especially on large schematic designs. As for BOM reports, it is also a very tedious task that takes a long time.

With Ultiboard, this is also a manual process of copying the Part Numbers from the schematic to the Centroid output for our machine machine programs. (SMT)

This seems like these would be very useful tools for an operation who is using your software for both design and manufacturing. Please consider adding this feature to the next update.

I've recently switched from using RS Design Spark to the NI Circuit Design Suite. In Design Spark, I used component models from componentsearchengine.com and imported them using a piece of software called Library Loader by SamecSys.

I was more than a little disappointed to learn that NI Multisim/Ultiboard is one of the few EDA's with which it is not compatible, and it's made me question whether switching to Multisim was the right choice for me.

I've contacted SamecSys to ask if there are any plans for compatibility with Multisim, and had a reply from Mark saying that he would love to make Library Loader compatible with Multisim/Ultiboard. He is ready to go with the project, but requires the co-operation of NI.

I've also contacted NI Technical Support and received the following response:

The best way for you to further this issue would be for yourself to post on the MultiSim/Ultiboard Ideas board which allows for our R&D department to see the requests of our customers. I believe a few people may have already posted about this issue but the more people that post the more likely it is for the issue to get raised!

I'm posting this request here in hope that it is seen by the right person.

Mark at SamecSys is ready to get to work with making Library Loader compatible with Multisim, he's just waiting for somebody at NI to get in touch with him and co-operate.

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Exporting on as .png file is limiting in the sense that you actually have to crop the exported figure to have it fit nicely in a word document. Scaling of the figure also leads to a loss of quality. The grid in the background should also be removed on request.

As Microsoft word is largely used to create documents for students, the possibility to export as metafile would be useful to teachers.

p.s. Word does not fully support svg files but "export as .svg" would still be a nice option.

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1. Increase Width of all traces together in the grapher.

2. Option to choose axis variables in the grapher, for example instead of time in the x-axis, I need some circuit voltage, for this option the simulator should simulate for all circuit variables, and after completion of simulation, the user could change the axis variables as desired. ( In PSPICE it happens the same way, and its useful)

3. When inductors are coupled using Inductor Coupling Block, then those inductors should be assigned dot polarity, same should also be done for the transformer models.

4. When I perform Transient, DC Sweep or Parameter Sweep analysis, all the selected output variables are plotted on the same graph, this is good for most of the times,
but sometimes I desire them to be plotted on 'Different Graph but on Same Graph Page' and I know this can be done by copying the original graph and paste it on the same page and then deselect the unwanted variables, which is tedious work. So there should be an additonal option to plot the variables on 'Different Graph but on Same Graph Page'. Also user should be able to change the bottom axis range of all graph together for easy comparision.

5. Is it possible to incoporate the datasheet of components within the multisim, without visiting manufacturer's webpage?

6. I desire the multisim to create backup of all custom setting made to it (for example Keyboard Shorcuts), so that I could restore it in case of new installation.

7. Multisim Viewer for viewing the schematics and simulating them

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Utiboard has some windows and fields to create net, buses and component groups in the "Group Editor" tool. The bus groups are required if you want to autoroute a particular bus. However, there's no creation of a bus group when you create a bus in Multisim, so this have to be done manually in Ultiboard, and the back annotate it to Multisim. So I think that is a good idea to have the same "Group Editor" window in Multisim, and also automtically add Buses to Bus Groups. Also, another related enhancement could be the creation of component's "Room Property" (like OrCAD) for components that need to be near in the PCB as passive components for medium to high speed IC's, and use this property to automatically create a component group, and also aid Autorouters to impose particular constraints for this group, like trace length, impedance, and maximum via count. This can increase success and speed of ultiboard Autorouter, or make manual placing and routing much faster.

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I was not aware that Msim needed a template for a user db. My original user db was created under Msim V10.1. The Same Machine was used for several years. Parts were added to the user db over time. The Same Machine went through several upgrades to Msim ending at V14.0. Whenever Msim was run and the user db was chosen as the source for components, all components were always available for insertion.

A new machine was purchased. V14.1 was installed. The old user db (".usr") was copied from the old machine and placed in the V14.1 database directory. When running Msim, it was discovered that the user db was "Blank", no parts, even though it was over 500kb. I tried convert db from v13 to V14. That failed with the message: "Problem: Database version .[User Database]. The User Database cannot be accessed. Features using the User Database will not be available."

I tried everything from V9 to V13 for conversion option with the same failure. I created a new part using the 14.1 Component Wizard and saved it to the user db hoping that might somehow transform the DB. When the user db was selected for the component source, Only The New Part appeared and all else was blank. The user db swelled to 750kb also. I tried to merge the user db to create a corporate db hoping to get a whole new db. Same result. Only new part was shown and the corp db was over 700kb.

I opened the user db for a look. Early in the file header "Standard JET DB" appeared. I wondered why Msim didn't have or look for the common Jet DB drivers (ADO?). It should have been able to read the user db and get all the component data. At least it should have been able to present the user with a field map to set up a current version user db (like excel does with a txt or csv file). That wasn't the case.

I went back to the old machine to look more closely at what files V14.0 was using to work with the user db ".usr" file. I stumbled upon "UsrCompTemplate_S.usr" under All Users/Application Data/...

I took a chance and copied the template file and dropped it in the new machine V14.1 database directory. I lit off Msim and the User DB was there, all parts ready for use. Apparently when Msim was upgraded each time in the old machine, the template was automatically carried forward into the new database or template directory for use with the user db. That's why the parts were always avalable and there was no reason to suspect that since V14.0 worked fine with the user db, that V14.1 would not work.

There was no prior installation from which to bring in a db template so the user db couldn't be accessed. BUT, if Msim was smart enough to look for the template file in the first place, why didn't it inform the user that a template was needed and that no template was found???? That would have saved me a lot of time and grief. Perhaps during a new installation Msim should ask the user if there is an existing user db AND it's required template to be imported. I don't recall that taking place if it did.....

Proposed Solutions:

1. Msim acquire and install Jet DB drivers so that a template is not an issue. (lot of work)

2. Msim Automatically Export the Entire User DB as a PRZ file Everytime there is a change to the db with a reminder to the user. (perhaps a little less work but a good enough solution)

3. Msim Notify the user that a template is missing and is needed to use the db (Lame lazy solution)

4. Msim Always Install Templates for All Versions of Msim when a new installation is done. We are only talking a few MB and implementation should be trivial. This may also permit an Automatic Upgrade of the User DB to current installation version. (Best Alternative?)

I think options 2 and 4 should be implemented.

Robert Phillips

Just Plain Bob

There is an error on Table Type Source manual.
Examples are not working.....
I attach correct examples.

TABLE Type Source
Instance declaration syntax:
Exxx o_node_p o_node_n TABLE{expression} < = > (x1,y1) (x2,y2) < (x3,y3) <...>> <uselim>

Example
E1 5 0 TABLE(V(1)**2) (-5,-5)(5,5)
GD99 2 13 TABLE {V(2,13)}=((-100,-1p)(0,0)(1m,1n)(2m,1m)(3m,1))
************* possible syntax ***************
E_U1_E90 U1_DROPOUT 0 table= { V(ISENSE)-V(0) }
+ ( (20m,1.5)(200m,1.62)(500m,1.75)(1,2)(1.5,2.25) )

E_U1_E91 U1_DROPOUT 0 table= { V(ISENSE)-V(0) } ( (20m,1.5)(200m,1.62)(500m,1.75)(1,2)(1.5,2.25) )

************* impossible syntax ***************
E1 5 0 TABLE(V(1)**2) (-5,-5)(5,5)
GD99 2 13 TABLE {V(2,13)}=((-100,-1p)(0,0)(1m,1n)(2m,1m)(3m,1))

E_U1_E92 U1_DROPOUT 0 table= ( V(ISENSE)-V(0) ) ( (20m,1.5)(200m,1.62)(500m,1.75)(1,2)(1.5,2.25) )
E_U1_E93 U1_DROPOUT 0 table= { V(ISENSE)-V(0) } { (20m,1.5)(200m,1.62)(500m,1.75)(1,2)(1.5,2.25) }
E_U1_E94 U1_DROPOUT 0 table={ V(ISENSE)-V(0) } { (20m,1.5)(200m,1.62)(500m,1.75)(1,2)(1.5,2.25) }
E_U1_E95 U1_DROPOUT 0 table=( V(ISENSE)-V(0) ) { (20m,1.5)(200m,1.62)(500m,1.75)(1,2)(1.5,2.25) }

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I'd like to have an option for automatically exporting simulation results to a selected file format, including automated resampling to a desired sampling rate. This is related to this previous idea. Preferably Multisim would also automatically discard the exported results from the memory.

I'd like to be able to set a large number of simulations to run, possibly including a wide range of parameter combinations through the parameter sweep analysis, and have the simulations run and be automatically exported to a selected output format without user interference.

Due to the memory handling issue I mentioned in the post linked above, I can currently only run simulations one by one manually saving the results in between. With an automated export I could leave the computer to run the desired combinations during nighttime and have it discard the exported results from memory, allowing the next set of simulations to run.

The Idea: It would be nice to be able to set a desired sampling rate for a transient simulation before starting the simulation.

Background: We need to run longish transient simulations with a reasonably small TMAX. But we don't need all the intermediate time points used solely for helping the integration to converge. Multisim claims to run out of memory after occupying somewhere around 1 GB of memory, sometimes less. This is not a OS or hardware limit, but something intrinsic to Multisim's memory handling. This behavior is more bug-like than a real limitation of the software.

The capability for resampling/interpolating is already available through the export to .lvm files (see attached figure). Although I think the memory handling issue should be solved separately, allowing Multisim to discard irrelevant time-points on the fly would spare precious memory during more demanding simulations.

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Multisim and Ultiboard Idea Exchange

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Import of Multisim Designs into Multisim Live

User fields in the data base

Library Loader Compatibility

Searchable PDF Silkscreen

Export/Import Multisim Configuration Files

Add "Export as" for Word to help teachers create documents for students

Add export OBD++ option to UB

PDF/SVG/LaTeX PGF Export Multisim Live

Multisim: possibility for SPICE options copy-paste to other analyses.

My Multisim Feedback List

Import Eagle Parts

Error Utilboard.

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Ultiboard Gerber output

Netlist import

Msim Auto Convert User DB to PRZ or Install Earlier Versions of User DB Template

Multisim - Table Type Source Syntax error

Automatic exporting of analysis results and discarding of exported results.

Multisim: option for setting a desired sampling before running the analysis.