How to generate RS-274X G36/G37 outline fills?

>I would like to draw a complex vector logo on the silkscreen of my boards.

>I would like it to be output as an RS-274X Outline Fill, with the commands

>G36 and G37.

>I've tried drawing the logo (through a script) using the Polygon command on

>the tPlace layer. But when exporting the silkscreen with a custom CAM job

>using the GERBER_RS274X device, it seems that the polygon is stroke filled.

>I may have missed something. Is there a polygon property, a CAM job option,

>or any other way to have my complex polygon exported as a proper G36/G37

>Outline Fill?

Afaik, Eagle does not support this. Eagle fills all its polygon with wire

with width set in the polygon attributes before exporting to gerber. This is

a drawback when working with huge complex boards, as it slows down eagle a

bit.

I once made my own gerber export to get smd's to be flashed instead of being

drawn, and I tried to use the gerber fill for polygons, but my gerber

knowledge was and is rather limited, so I could not resolve how to make gaps

(negative fill) in the polygons. Let me know if you know how to do that.

It would be nice if a future version could do this for example when polygon

width is set to 0. It would make screen drawing faster too.

I once made my own gerber export to get smd's to be flashed instead of being

drawn, and I tried to use the gerber fill for polygons, but my gerber

knowledge was and is rather limited, so I could not resolve how to make gaps

(negative fill) in the polygons. Let me know if you know how to do that.

How did you write such an exporter? Can you add your own CAM drivers to EAGLE?

Jérôme Vuarand <noreply-119775@element14.com> wrote:

I once made my own

> gerber export to get smd's to be flashed instead of being

> drawn, and I tried to use the gerber fill for polygons, but my gerber

> knowledge was and is rather limited, so I could not resolve how to make gaps

> (negative fill) in the polygons. Let me know if you know how to do that.

How did you write such an exporter? Can you add your own CAM drivers to EAGLE?

Its done with an ULP, not the cam. An ULP have direct access to most

parameters. I did this because the manufacturer of a HDI board wanted all

pads to be flashed. I guess it enables better HDI-DRC.

Guest wrote:

 

Jérôme Vuarand <noreply-119775@element14.com> wrote:

How did you write such an exporter? Can you add your own CAM drivers to EAGLE?

 

Its done with an ULP, not the cam. An ULP have direct access to most

parameters. I did this because the manufacturer of a HDI board wanted all

pads to be flashed. I guess it enables better HDI-DRC.

Can you share that script? I'm very interested by such a tool, but it seems to represent a lot of work so I'd rather not start from scratch.

>Can you share that script? I'm very interested by such a tool, but it seems

>to represent a lot of work so I'd rather not start from scratch.

I attach it here.. I do not take any responsibility if it fails with your

design.

IMPORTANT:Run RATSNEST before running it! Orelse the polygon fills won't

show up.

Doc is undone, but the general usage is:

run gerber-RS274x -L];

Options can be any order.

For output filename you may use  %N in the string to be replaced with

boardname.

fillmode:

e for eagle fill (default)

f for flash gerber fill (only works on polygons with no negative contours or

arcs or width!=0, in other words not many. NOT TESTED AT ALL!)

The gerber output will also contain some gerber comments.

Also, this is not tested on Ealge 6.

Feel free to clean it up and improve.

Example:

Here I add my patch layer 53 to top and output as myboard_L1.gbr

run gerber-RS274x -L1,53 -o%N_L1.gbr -dTopLayer;

I can't see a link to the file (I'm using the element14.com forums to see this conversation). Did you forget to attach it or did it get lost somehow?

>I can't see a link to the file (I'm using the element14.com forums to see

>this conversation). Did you forget to attach it or did it get lost somehow?

This is another element14 problem. The attachment is visible from direct

nntp access or Eaglecentral here:

http://www.eaglecentral.ca/forums/index.php?t=msg&th=47080

I just wanted to chime in here. Polygon support in the CAM jobs (aka G36 + G37 gerber commands) would be VERY nice. I don't believe it is very hard to impliment either. Eagle can still KEEP the "width" property... all they have to do is draw the outline as a stroke with width (which is currently already done), followed by the G36 + G37 commands of the EXACT SAME co-ordinates! We tried manually editing our gerbers and this works amazingly. Also, the board houses are much happier when solid fills are done properly.

+++++1 for this feature. I swear, it is easy to add!

Crossing fingers...

B Mac <noreply-127215@element14.com> wrote:

I just wanted to chime in here. Polygon support in the CAM jobs (aka G36

+ G37 gerber commands) would be VERY nice. I don't believe it is very

hard to impliment either. Eagle can still KEEP the "width" property...

all they have to do is draw the outline as a stroke with width (which is

currently already done), followed by the G36 + G37 commands of the EXACT

SAME co-ordinates! We tried manually editing our gerbers and this works

amazingly. Also, the board houses are much happier when solid fills are done properly.

 

+++++1 for this feature. I swear, it is easy to add!

 

Crossing fingers...

As I mentioned, since I dont know gerber very well, I could not find out

how to handle clear areas inside the fill. If anyone knows, please let me

know.