>>>>>>>Are the EIA/JDEC dimensional specifications more complete than what
>>>>>>>is
[quoted text clipped - 47 lines]
>
> Bob
What I do is model all my components up with the SMT or TH pads attached.
After placing the component models, I then apply a .gif of the silkscreen
and traces to the surface of the board. Looks very nice fully rendered, and
keeps the file sizes under control. I've done some samples of manually
created models of the traces, and I think applying a graphic of them and the
silkscreen looks more realistic. Once I have a real board in hand, I can
flatbed scan it and apply the graphic of the real thing. Also, having the
pads modeled lets me apply a metallic surface to that part of the model, as
they are not covered by soldermask. I use IronCAD which does a nice job with
photorealistic rendering. Not familiar with how AutoCAD 2005 works for
this...
I've also looked for quite some time for a method of converting the gerber
data to .dxf or preferably .sat or some other 3D format (adding a slight
extrusion to the traces) but have not had much success in finding anything.
Protel99se has a "board in 3D" feature, but cannot export the file. Newer
versions of the Altium software can export, but I'm not upgrading just to
get that feature. This would be faster than working with the graphic images
for quick stuff though.
Chris
sycochkn - 21 Jan 2008 06:39 GMT
>>>>>>>>Are the EIA/JDEC dimensional specifications more complete than what
>>>>>>>>is
[quoted text clipped - 69 lines]
>
> Chris
Flashes are blocks. The aperture name is defined by the block name. The
aperture definition is defined by the name of a block nested in the aperture
name block. The location of the flash is defined by the insertion point of
the block What appears in your drawing is arbitrary.
Traces are polylines. The aperture definition is determined by the width of
the polyline. The start and end points of the traces is determined by the
vertices of the polyline. The name of the gerber file is defined by the
layer name. for gerber RS274D the apertures are defined in a seperate file.
for RS274X the apertures are defined in the gerber file and rest of the
header information is entered manually. The Excellon file is defined in a
similar manner.
Component definitions are done manually using blocks made with the aperture
blocks. When you insert a component The component model, the top assy, the
silkscreen, the solder mask, the pad stack etcb all come with it. What ever
is left over is done manually.
Bob