Is there any way to specify a region (sub-polygon) within a tstop polygon where there should be soldermask?
I'm designing a series of Christmas ornaments to give away as gifts. I've created a number of simple motifs (example... snowflake) within AutoCAD and then imported them as polygons into EAGLE. By using multiple layered polygons and specifying cutout fills on a few of them I can successfully create the desired images within the copper layer. The issue is that I was wanting to have this copper exposed for gold surface plating and I am unable to get the proper effect with the soldermask restrict layers. Currently I am only able to make polygons on the tstop layer that remove soldermask, I am unable to make any sort of "cutout" regions where there should be soldermask, for example in the center of a snowflake. I'm not willing to leave these regions exposed since there won't be any copper there and the bare FR4 will be showing. (ugly...)
Likewise I can't simply leave the entire top layer of the board a copper pour and put the image in the tstop layer since the same issue with internal areas will still be there. (I would only be able to do an external outline of the motif...) Not to mention I will be placing numerous 0402 LED's around on the ornament, and the clearance between the pads and pour would make them more visible. I've tried using a number of copy-layer-to-layer ULP's but none of them have been able to replicate the cutout effect.
I know how to properly do this in KiCAD and Altium, but would rather use EAGLE over KiCAD and it feels funny using work software for personal use. :-) Not to mention I've already made the schematic and libraries for this project and don't want to have to redo it all with the tight timeline I have.
Thanks for your suggestions!
-Brent
