The scheme was made by any person who did at least something more or less complicated in electronics. But drawing them manually is a long time, besides, any oversight will spoil the workpiece. Therefore, special programs for designing circuits are used for this. What are they? What opportunities are provided? First, several commercial projects will be considered, and then free ones.
Software from Mentor Graphics
It is a successful company that develops its products - PADS PowerPCB and Expedition PCB. A lot of their success has contributed to the orientation to the design environment for Windows. PADS PowerPCB package offers a relatively cheap and high-quality solution when creating motherboards. So, here is the autorouter, which supports all the necessary functions for high-frequency boards. Also in the package there are modules of posttopological and pre -topological analysis. This is useful when working with the constraint control system. The Expedition PCB package is more advanced and one of the most powerful solutions in the field of design. The system is based on the AutoActive environment, which allows you to analyze the integrity of the system, take into account the requirements and special technological limitations. Also here it is convenient to simulate the guidance. The programs for schema design that are available here will help create a quality project. We can note only one significant drawback - its high cost.
Software from Cadence
As an easy and cheap solution for creating electronic circuits, they offer the OrCAD package. It is considered as a priority project input system. The last version added the ability to synthesize and simulate digital logic circuits. The editor has three different configurations, each of which is characterized by its own special functionality. In the project, you can create up to thirty layers. Also there are built-in means of autorouting and autorestation. For more expensive works PCB Design Studio is offered. It is convenient to create high-speed multilayer circuits, in which high density of components placement. It is also possible to conduct an analysis of electromagnetic compatibility and preliminary verification of the project being developed. But, being guided by our realities, it's hard not to notice that the most popular are free computer programs where you can create electronic circuits.
EasyEDA
This program is based on cloud technologies and WEB. It has a functional input description, a layout of electronic circuits, as well as a mixed simulation mode. And with all this you can work in your browser. Oh, yes, this program for creating electronic circuits is completely free. The resulting result can be made open to all (or vice versa - to close it). If necessary, libraries and ready-made schematics from Eagle, KiCad, LTspice and Altium can be imported. In addition, if necessary, the resulting result can be exported to many formats. Considering that other programs for designing schemes (let it be, and not directly) can work with it, this software can pretend to be universal.
ExpressPCB
This editor supports the manual creation of two-sided printed circuit boards, which can contain details with pin and planar outputs. Here you can import the target list, as well as highlight the contact pads that are not connected. To simplify the search and purchase of electronic components, they are numbered with a digital code (though not all). Also here you can place the components on the diagram with high accuracy. After the creation of the finished project, it will tell you the approximate cost of the elements and even help you place an order. At the same time, this program for creating schemes is completely free. But it was developed by a small group of American volunteers, so it has several shortcomings. So, here there is no function of checking connections for the selection of the optimal placement of parts, Cyrillic symbols are not supported, and there is no autorouter. In general, it is designed to quickly solve various production problems by quickly creating a high-quality two- or four-layer electronic circuit.
DipTrace
If you need free and good programs for designing electrical circuits, here's one of them. It consists of several modules, each of which is responsible for a certain functional. An important advantage is that it is a domestic development. Therefore, this software and accompanying information in Russian. Thanks to this, it will be easy to understand the nuances of creating schemes here. During operation, there is a backlight for the editable objects. Thanks to this, it is possible to visually assess the state of affairs. The existing autorouter does a good job of coping with multi-layered complex boards, on which various types of parts are placed. What is important for inexperienced people is that here your project can be launched under numerous checks, so that detection and correction of errors occurs on the fly. To have an idea of the final result, there is a built-in modeling program in three-dimensional space. True, for the sake of justice, it should be noted that the free version is slightly limited (as opposed to paid). But even such a functional makes it possible to work comfortably and highly efficiently.
Eagle
This is a full-fledged software package that has a paid and free version (they differ in the size of the created schemes). It includes three main components that allow you to draw electronic circuits using standard elements, create drawings yourself and conduct the tracing without engaging the user. If you are just starting to design electronic circuits, this program can be of considerable benefit due to its wide functionality. But the size limitation makes it unlikely that it will be used to create complex products.
Conclusion
So we reviewed commercial and free programs for the computer. It should be noted that the former, as a rule, have a broader functional. And it's not surprising - after all, these programs for designing schemes bring profit to their developers, so they are the first and get different innovations.