On 02:55 PM 2/07/2002 -0700, Mike Leachman said: >All, I am trying to import a file supplied by an IC supplier that contains >library of schematic and footprint date. the type is .dfx, protel pukes when >I try to open it. Any thoughts? mike
The technical term "pukes" is well understood - however it covers a wide range of possible problems. More details? I have found DXF/DWG import works fine on some files and woefully on others. I have sent a number of files to Protel/Altium for investigation and not received a whole lot of acknowledgement that there are issues. The massaging I do to make it more likely to work is: 1) Break all large radius arc into polylines or lines - Protel cannot handle anything outside the positive (1st quadrant) 100"x100" workspace. This includes arc centres. 2) Delete as much as possible from the import. I usually delete everything except the details I need plus a couple of dimensions, one in the X and one in the Y directions (these are used to confirm correct scaling during import). 3) Explode everything to a basic set of primitives - Lines, small circles and text - though text can sometimes be an issue. Dimensions are exploded to the free entities. 4) I have had polylines fail to import - I have also had simple lines fail to import but less often. 5) Some 3D-capable CAD packages add in lighting blocks on the DXF export that can exist way off the details you want - these can affect the Protel import scaling. Try to delete them or set the import to ignore them. 6) Some CAD packages do not mark the units (mm/imperial) in the DXF file correctly - Protel now provides an option dueing import to force the units. 7) Only import those layers you actually need - keep the amount of data you are importing to the smallest possible amount. 8) Try shifting the data in the mech CAD package into the 1st (positive) quadrant - this sometimes helps Protel scale and shift. 9) Even doing all the above and more I have found some entities on trivial DXFs fail to import. It seems that anything past a DXF entity that Protel chokes on is not imported. I have one file that will not import three simple lines (not even polylines) but it will import all the other arcs and lines and dimensions OK. 10) Protel is rather stupid in that it attempts to scale the DXF file to fit in the legal workspace. This would rarely be the correct behavior and is a source of scaling errors. I think it should report that the import is too large but not scale it. It would be nice at times to have a manual scaling factor that can be applied during import - you have to do any scaling required in an external Mech CAD package. I have always found dxf/dwg import intermittent and so keep a Mech CAD package around to help do the massage. Ian Wilson ************************************************************************ * Tracking #: 31C42DEB5B225A45A2877F6D578F44594CE45D3F * ************************************************************************ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
