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TINA-TI Basics

Matt Mishrikey
Intellectual 445 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TINA-TI

I have a few hopefully softball questions about TINA-TI.

1) Is it possible to annotate a schematic with basic graphic elements like boxes, and arrows?  All I can add right now is text and wires.

2) If I put a graphic (png) in a schematic, then put some schematic text on top of that, the text gets lost behind the graphic when I click on the graphic.  There doesn't seem to be a send-to-back feature.  Is there a better way?

3) One of my subcircuits/macros specifies a voltage meter (and uses this voltage internally).  When I run the full simulation, these voltages show up in the diagram window though they are not desired.  Unlike a voltage source I place myself graphically, simply set the output to 'None' in these macro specified sources.

4) I can create a macro from a netlist, and place that inside a schematic.  Is it possible to create a macro from a schematic and place that in another schematic?  I think the answer is no since macro pins are only available in TINA Pro?

5) For diagram outputs, it would be nice to order the curves.  The way I do this right now is I prefix the name of each element with a number, e.g. 0_Vgen, 1_I_load, 2_Vout, etc. Is there a better way to do that?

Thanks,
Matt

  • 0
    Intellectual 445 points
    6) I noticed that if I export a curve as text, the sampling in time is almost perfectly regular, but not exactly perfect. Is there a setting that would allow it to be perfect sampling? This would be helpful when taking Fourier transforms of outputted data outside of TINA-TI.
  • 0 in reply to Matt Mishrikey
    TI__Mastermind 39210 points
    Matt,

    Have you taken this short training course on TINA-TI. It has some really useful information and may answer many questions. If some questions remain unanswered, let us know and we can get back to you.

    training.ti.com/tina-ti-video-training-series
  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 41310 points

    Matt,

    1. A couple of the items are probably not covered in the training series. Annotation is limited to text and graphics. There is also a Block designer for making system level schematics (Insert-->Block...) You can look at this if you wish. The GUI is more focused on simulation than documentation.

    2. The graphics and text are individual objects and cannot be combined. The last one that was active is promoted in the schematic.

    3. If you do not want to see the internal voltages, simply click on the Draw Excitation box in the transient analysis and they should disappear. Your external sources will ALSO disappear, however... You can set your preferences (Analysis-->Options...) not to save all analysis results by removing the check from the box, however, you will then not be able to see anything other than the waveforms you have specified with meters.

    4. Actually, there is an easy to get macro pins. Simply import a .MODEL file using the New Macro Wizard (a diode, for example). Once you create the .TSM (remember, the display goes blank for a .MODEL in the symbol creation), when you descend into it (Enter Macro), the symbol with macro pins will be there. Use ctrl-c to copy and ctrl-v to paste the macro pins into your schematic. You will then have to export the macro before you could place it into another schematic.

    5. This should be in the video series using the :1, :2, etc. for separating curves automatically and ordering them.

    6. We do get this question occasionally. Unfortunately, there is no way to make TINA-TI export out a fixed time step (not sure I would want that either, since the simulator controls the time step for convergence). You would have to use another tool to quantize the data and extract at fixed time steps. I am not sure if other simulators allow this or do this for you.

    Hopefully the video series answered what I have not...

  • 0 in reply to Britt Brooks - Online Design Tools
    Intellectual 445 points

    Very useful tips, thanks.  Also, it's nice to put a voice to a name from those videos :)

    Regarding number 4, I tried to follow your instructions, but was flummoxed when Tools | Export Macro... was grayed out.  

    I tried a different approach - Export | Netlist | For Tina to make a .CIR file, and then run New Macro Wizard on that.  Unfortunately, that .CIR file seemed to contain models for all the subcomponents of the circuit, but no top level circuit with the new macro pins as the inputs/outputs.  

    I will retry to see if the Export | Netlist | For Pspice behaves any differently.  

    Thanks,
    m

  • 0 in reply to Matt Mishrikey
    Intellectual 445 points
    Pspice export is a simulation netlist as well, not a model that can be used as a macro. Both of these ignore Macro Pins, and they put in simulation options, so you can't use these with the new macro wizard to build a macro.

    Also, I figured out the Export Macro is only selectable if you select a macro that's already in a schematic.
  • 0 in reply to Matt Mishrikey
    Intellectual 445 points
    Oooh, Tim Green to the rescue, again! I think my answer is here - e2e.ti.com/.../8726.How-to-Tina-MacroModels_5F00_revA.ppt