Placemate Changelog and Release Notes

0.4.0 2026-10-22

Select ⋯ » Send feedback… in the HTML file to report a bug, request a feature or send other feedback. The dialog shows the technical details that go with the message: versions, browser, window size, view, board name, revision, variant and counts. You can change or remove them. The file sends no data: Continue on placemate.io opens the new feedback form https://placemate.io/feedback/ with your text in a new tab. Send by e-mail instead opens an e-mail to contact@fermium.ch. The help dialog (?) also has the command.
The Generate dialog in Altium has the link Send feedback.... It opens the feedback form in the browser, with the Placemate version as the technical details.
The part labels have a new layout in the 2D and 3D views. A label goes above, below, to the side of or diagonally next to its part. Each leader line is vertical, horizontal or at 45°. A leader line does not go over another selected part, and two leader lines do not cross when a better place is free. Labels and leader lines stay off the other parts when free space is near.
In the 3D view, the marker pin points along the leader line, and the leader line ends at the head of the pin. Before, the line went over the pin to its tip.
In the 3D view, the labels keep their places while the view turns. When the view stops, the labels can move once to better places.
The marker pins in the 3D view are solid again. Before, most pins showed as outlines, as for hidden parts.

On lines with many parts, the part labels stay clear. A label does not cover another label, a part, a polarity mark (K, + or 1) or a leader line, and no leader line goes over a label. In the 2D view, the leader line ends on the nearest edge of the part.
The arrow of a label for a part outside the view stays inside the view.
The 3D view shows a line on the bottom side at an angle with the parts up, as it shows a line on the top side. The view turns the board over around its Y axis, as the 2D view mirrors the bottom side.
You can turn the board in the 3D view in all directions. Before, the view stopped at the bottom view.
With many boards, the board buttons in the header stay on one line. Scroll the line to see all boards. The − and + buttons of the build quantity stay at the end of the line.
With many boards, the board columns of the guide scroll. The designator and the Skip button stay in view. In focus mode, the board buttons of a part go on more lines.
The ⋯ menu stays in the window on a narrow screen.

A placement order of the designator prefixes replaces the Later phase. The order sorts the lines in each phase. The default is C, R, L, F, D, *, U, J. Set the order in the Generate dialog, in placemate.json (phases.order), with the CLI option --order, or in the settings of the HTML file for one build.
Skipped parts come again at the end of the guide, in Skipped.
Placemate finds the mount type of a part first from a mount parameter of the supplier data (Mounting Type, Mount Type), then from the plated lead holes. Tented holes and thermal vias in an exposed pad do not count. The Parts tab shows the reason.
Old placemate.json files and old state files with Later rules still load.

The first release.

The Placemate menu in the PCB editor of AD26 and Altium Develop makes one HTML file from the board. The file has a 2D view, a 3D view with the STEP models of the parts, and a guide that goes from line to line.
The guide shows the cathode, the plus pad and pin 1 when the pad name or the name of the schematic pin tells the polarity.
The file supports variants, alternate parts, more boards in one build, skip, undo, focus mode, and the export and import of the state.
The command line tool placemate.exe has the commands build, check, models warm and demo.
Setup installs the extension into the Altium installations that you select.