Measure and Move

The DRC system enforces minimum clearances, but it cannot handle user-specified spacings, mechanical fitting constraints, or the many situations where you need to know and control the exact gap between two objects. Common examples include:

• Connector body to board edge for case aperture alignment.
• Rework access between tall components such as electrolytics or transformers.
• Fiducial placement at a precise distance from each nearby board edge for pick-and-place vision systems.
• Heatsink clearance to neighbouring objects with space for spring clips or thermal pads.
• Testpoint spacing relative to other testpoints for in-circuit test fixtures.
• Silkscreen clearance from pad edges to avoid soldermask issues at manufacture.

Previously, these tasks required setting a false origin or switching to a fine grid and counting grid steps — an error-prone workflow. Measure Mode provides a direct, dedicated tool for all of them.

Measure & Move is selected from the mode toolbar in the 2D Graphics group. When active, the normal object selector panel is replaced by the Measure & Move Panel and the cursor changes to snap to object edges and boundaries rather than just centres. The snap system recognises pad edges, trace edges and vertices, component centres and courtyard boundaries, zone edges, 2D graphic edges and vertices, and room boundaries.

To make a measurement, click on the first object (object A), then move the cursor towards the second object (object B). A green measurement arrow tracks from the snap point on object A to the current cursor position, and the Measure Panel updates with live distance readings. Click on the second object to lock the measurement in place. The arrow and panel readings persist on screen until a new measurement is started or the mode is left.

The Measure Between group in the Measure Panel provides four modes that control how the distance is calculated from the two snapped shapes. In all modes the full geometric shape of each object is used, so the result reflects the physical geometry rather than just the click positions.

Original Points — Measures the distance between the exact snapped points where you clicked. Useful for pad centre to pad centre, vertex to vertex, or any specific feature-to-feature measurement.

Closest Points — Calculates the absolute shortest distance between the two shapes regardless of where you clicked. This is the true minimum clearance between the objects, equivalent to the gap a DRC check would report.

Nearby Closest Points — Similar to Closest Points but constrained to the neighbourhood of your click positions. This is the most practical mode for edge-to-edge measurements where you want the minimum gap in a specific area without jumping to a distant part of either shape.

Octo-linear Aligned Points — Constrains the measurement to the nearest of eight compass directions (horizontal, vertical, and the four 45° diagonals). This is the natural choice for axis-aligned layouts where you want a clean horizontal or vertical distance reading.

Once a measurement is established the Move group in the Measure Panel becomes active. Choose a direction — Along Arrow, Horizontally, or Vertically — enter the required distance in the New Distance spin box, and click Move. The object at the arrow tip (object B) is re-positioned so that it lies at exactly the specified distance from object A. The panel updates immediately so you can verify the result and make further adjustments if needed.

If you want to move the other object, click the Swap Direction button first to reverse the arrow. The move operation is recorded in the undo history, so CTRL+Z reverses it if the result is not what you intended.

When both ends of the measurement arrow land on the same object — for example two pads on the same connector or two points on the board outline — the Move group switches to Move By mode. Instead of positioning the object relative to a second object, Move By offsets the entire object as a rigid body by the entered amount. This is particularly useful for nudging a component by its own pad pitch: measure the pitch between two adjacent pads, read the distance, then enter that same value in Move By to shift the component by exactly one pin position.

Measure Mode is designed to handle the real-world positioning tasks that arise throughout PCB layout:

Connector to board edge — Use Nearby Closest Points to find the perpendicular clearance from a connector body to a diagonal or straight board edge, then move the connector to the exact clearance specified by the enclosure drawing.

Fiducial placement — Click on the left board edge, then the fiducial pad, select Octo-linear Aligned Points, and move the fiducial to the required horizontal distance. Repeat for the vertical distance from the bottom edge.

Component body clearance — Use Closest Points to find the minimum gap between two electrolytic capacitor courtyards and move one to achieve the required rework access clearance.

Testpoint spacing — Check pad-centre to pad-centre pitch with Original Points, then switch to Closest Points to verify the copper-to-copper edge gap meets the probe clearance requirement.

Mounting hole spacing — Measure centre-to-centre distances between mounting holes with Original Points and move holes to match the enclosure specification.

Silkscreen clearance — Use Closest Points to check the gap between pad edges and silkscreen lines, then move the silkscreen to achieve the required manufacturing clearance.