Library · Boards, rendered from the stack
PCB Viewer
A WebGL board viewer built on deck.gl. A flat plan view for reading routing, a full 3D perspective for reading the physical board. The geometry comes from the PcbDoc binary itself, so what you see is the design as it was drawn.
SidebandLoading 3D board…
The frame above is the real renderer drawing one captured land pattern: six pads, two plated 0.8 mm holes. Drag to orbit; the themes and measure tool work too. Whole boards, with BOM, nets, schematic and stackup, live on Boards & BOM.
Geometry
Parsed straight from the PcbDoc
The viewer parses the PcbDoc binary and draws the primitives themselves. Tracks, arcs, pads and regions arrive as lossless coordinates with their net and component metadata attached, so zooming never blurs and hovering always knows what it's over.
PcbDoc binary → geometry
- layers 11: copper ×2 · mask ×2 · silk ×2 · paste ×2 · mech ×2 · dielectric
- tracks 12 · arcs 2 · regions 1
- pads 6: coordinates kept in millimetres
- holes 2: ⌀0.800 mm · round · plated · L1 → L32
✓ lossless, no rasterising on the way in
Projections
A plan view and a perspective
A flat 2D plan when you're reading routing; a full 3D perspective, with an inertia orbit, when you're reading the physical object. Both render the same parsed geometry; nothing changes between them but the camera.
Flip top to bottom and the camera swings around the board while the far side dims, so the side you're reading stays legible.
Layer stack
Every layer at its true height
In 3D the stack is built up with real depth: copper, silk, mask and paste each render at their real thickness, with the dielectric between them. Tilt low over a pad and the mask opening stands above the copper, the way it does on the bench.
Cross-section, top to bottom: each layer sits at its own Z in the 3D view.
Themes
CAD colours for working, finishes for sharing
Five themes. Altium's CAD colours when you're working, the per-layer palette your eyes already parse. Then four finished-board looks (green, black, blue or white soldermask over gold pads) for the screenshot that goes to someone who doesn't read CAD colours.
- Altium (CAD) per-layer colours, for working
- Green / White ENIG-gold pads
- Black / White matte black mask
- Blue / White blue mask
- White / Black white mask, black silk
Drilled holes
Real barrels, with an open bore
Through-holes and vias come from the actual drill table and render as what they are: copper barrels through the stack, with an open bore down the middle. Look through one of the hero's 0.8 mm holes in 3D and you see straight through to the far side of the board.
From the drill table: round · plated · L1 → L32.
Components
Real bodies when you have them
Attach a 3D model to a footprint and the component renders as its actual body, placed on the board. Without one, a hidden-line silhouette stands in, so you can see what's placed without pretending to know its shape.
Measure
Point to point, in millimetres
Click two points, read the distance in millimetres. It stays correct on the mirrored bottom view, where a flipped axis would be easy to miss.
Honesty
Approximations are declared up front
Live FPS, GPU, CPU and VRAM readings show what the renderer is spending. Anything it can't draw exactly, such as a blind via drawn full-depth or an unsupported hole shape, goes into a warnings panel so you know where the render approximates.
Warnings: 2 approximations declared
- Blind via L2 → L3: drawn full-depth
- Unsupported hole shape on one pad: drawn round
Put every part on one data model
Download Sideband for Windows and give your whole team one source of truth. Free 30-day trial — no card required.
Beta 1.0.0-beta.4 · Windows · free