Author: Michael Koltai

In TINA you can convert any schematic diagram into a subcircuit called a Macro.

Watch our tutorial video 

to see how to create a Macro in Macro in TINA:

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get

1. One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA now running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
2. An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
3. Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

Creating Subcircuits from Schematics, part 2: Macro in Macro

Tina allows a hierarchical macro structure; that is, macros can contain other macros inside, and so on.

Note: The macros inside a macro can contain not only schematics but also Spice netlist and HDL code such as VHDL, Verilog, Verilog AMS and more. We will demonstrate the creation of such macros in other videos.

Let’s use our half adder macro created in our previous tutorial- Creating Subcircuits from Schematics, part 1 – to create a full adder Macro containing 2 half adder Macros

Insert the newly created Half Adder twice into a new circuit

then add the additional components and wires as shown on the picture

then add the additional components and wires as shown on the picture

Rename the labels as required

Add the OR Gate

Now create and save the new Macro with the New Macro Wizard from the Tools menu

Note: Although the automatic symbol creation is very convenient, you can also create your own schematic-symbols with TINA’s Schematic Symbol Editor and assign macros to them.

Let’s use this feature with an existing symbol.

We will show the creation of such a symbol in another video.

Select New Macro Wizard from the Tools menu

Enter the macro name: Full Adder

Select the suggested symbol from the library, then set the file name and press Save

Finally let’s insert the newly created Macro & its content.

If you double-click the Macro and press Enter Macro you can see and edit the content of the macro

Full Adder content

Creating Subcircuits from Schematics in TINA offline version, part 1

In TINA you can convert any schematic diagram into a subcircuit called a Macro.

Watch our tutorial video  

to see how to create a Macro in TINA:

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get

1. One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA now running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
2. An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
3. Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

You can also find below the script of the video:

Creating Subcircuits from Schematics

In TINA you can simplify schematics and hide clutter by turning portions of the schematic into subcircuits.

TINA automatically represents these subcircuits as a rectangular block (New macro) on your schematic, but you can create any shape you like with TINA’s Schematic Editor or select an already existing shape.

You can convert any schematic diagram into a subcircuit, called a Macro in TINA, simply by adding the terminals and saving the new circuit in the special (*.tsm) format.

Let’s see how to create a Macro in TINA

Load the Half Adder (Half_Add.tsc) example from the Examples folder of TINA

First, we will Delete the text and the diagram.

Let’s convert the Half Adder example into a Macro

Delete the old terminals and replace them by subcircuit terminals called Macro Pins in TINA

To select the portion of the circuit (terminals) click at the corner of the area to be selected, hold down the left mouse button then move the mouse and release the left mouse button at the opposite “corner”.

Press the Delete button

Select Macro Pin from the Special Toolbar

Rotate it by using the Rotate left or Rotate right Button, then connect it to the circuit

Double-Click the Macro Pin1 to be selected then in the Pop-up window rename the Label as it is shown.

Repeate this procedure for all deleted terminals

Next, create and save the new Macro

Select New Macro Wizard… form the Tools Menu

Set the name to Half Adder

Next, select the shape you want to assign

At this time we will select the “Auto generate shape”

then set the file name and press Save

Finally, press the Insert button

In the Dialog box the following message appears:

The macro file is ready for use, it can be inserted by selecting Insert/Macro or by pressing the Insert button below.

The Rectangular Schematic symbol – which has been automatically created – will be attached to your cursor and you can place it wherever you wish (on the workspace).

If you double-click the Macro and press Enter Macro you can see and edit the content of the macro

We will add „subcircuit” to the original name of „Half Adder”

(We will change the name from Half Adder into Half Adder subcircuit)

Note that by default this change will be stored along with the Macro in the TSC file.

If you want to save the changes also in the already saved Macro, invoke the New Macro Wizard again from the Tools menu

Here you have to enter the Macro name again (Half Adder Subcircuit), which allows you to change the old name (Half Adder)

Select Auto Generate Shape

Let’s Save the modified Macro under a new name: Half Adder Modified

The name change we’ve made is included in the name of the Macro

Let’s open the Macro to see the changes in the body of the Macro.

The changes we’ve made are indeed included.

Let’s check with an analysis the operation of the new Macro we’ve created

Now just let’s close the Macro, we have opened

Load the Half_Add.TSC circuit from the Examples folder of TINA again (without the text and diagram)

Insert the new Macro we have created

Using Copy and Paste, add the Generators and Outputs of Half_Add.TSC to the Macro.

Run Analysis

Digital Timing Analysis…

You an easily check that the new Macro provides the same result