How can I use the air wires most efficiently?

At first look the PCB, components and air wires/rats nest can appear a daunting task to route, however they aid the PCB layout process significantly. The following techniques will also assist easier routing on 4K displays.

As you move the components around the air wires dynamically show the connections you need to track, positioning the components to keep the air wire lengths to a minimum will provide the minimum copper track lengths.

Referring to the schematic for the required groups of components during component positioning on the PCB while also observing the net lengths will provide an optimum solution.

On small compact PCBs with a high density of components the air wires can be overwhelming at first, but again refer to your schematic and place components on to the board in groups related to the function instead of all the components at once.

While routing a net, to aid visibility use the interaction bar (shortcut F9) to highlight the net.

Click the "Add Track" icon in the tool bar, now select the required net in the Interaction Bar (Goto - Net) to highlight it and all the connected pads. Now route the copper track as normal.

Further enhancements can be made for improved visibility by making the net connections a less prominent colour and also making the selected highlighted net more prominent for your colour scheme.

Launch the Colours menus (shortcut C) and select the "Settings and Highlights" tab, change the "Connections" and "Selection" colours to your requirements. These can be dynamically changed as you work on different aspects of your design.

The PCB net you are working on is now more visible.

Further customisation can also help to highlight pads from the silkscreen using the Colours menu "Layers and Layer Spans". Select a colour box in the grid to change the colour and "Apply to Row" as required. Below the silkscreen has been made less intense.

This provides greater clarity for routing.

Use the Colours options for the task being performed, however it is worth taking a screen capture of the defaults should you wish to restore them.