Eagle - Outputting 3D mechanical data for Mechanical CAD programs

On 4/6/2010 1:49 PM, Michael Sansom wrote:

Guys,

 

Got a question for you. When I was using Allegro I could export an IDF

file that had the PCB outline along with the component footprints along

with the height data (i.e. z-axis data) on each component. It was not a

super detailed 3D model of each component, basically just the 2D

footprint extruded into the z-axis by whatever height you had

instantiated as an attribute on each component. This was used to import

into mechanical CAD programs such as Solid Edge or SolidWorks (probably

could be imported into AutoCAD as well). We would use this when

designing an enclosure or when putting a new card in an existing

enclosure or rack to ensure that there were no mechanical interferences

with the components.

 

I think that there were actually two different files generated when we

did an IDF export. Never looked at the format, perhaps one contained the

z-axis data.

 

Question - Can Eagle generate anything like this.

 

Thanks,

 

Michael

I don't use it, but EAGLE somehow interfaces with a 3D modelling

program, maybe more than 1. I think it can interface with google

sketchup and with another one which name escapes me at the moment.

Search the forums for "3D" and you will find discussions....

Gary Gofstein wrote:

Michael

I don't use it, but EAGLE somehow interfaces with a 3D modelling

program, maybe more than 1. I think it can interface with google

sketchup and with another one which name escapes me at the moment.

Search the forums for "3D" and you will find discussions....

Thanks for the tip.

So, in researching the user group it looks like there are a few

potential candidates out there.  I see a lot of post on 3Deagle which it

seems to also possibly be called "Eagle 3D" by some users (correct me if

this is wrong).  3Deagle seems to be a ULP that takes the board and

component data and generate a 3D rendering using some sort of ray

tracing technique.  In other words, it generates a image file that shows

you what your loaded board would look like.  This is a very interesting

application but it doesn't appear to give me a route to import the

PCB+components 3D information into a mechanical CAD program.  Seems to

be strictly targeted at making a human viewable preview of what your

board will look like (again, correct me if this is wrong).

There also seems to be another ULP program called generate_3d_data.ulp

which is in the user uploaded ULP section of the Cadsoft website.  This

one looks much more interesting.  I found a help file in German on it.

My German is more than a tad rusty but from what I read it does indeed

generate the IDF files that I've used before to import into Solid Edge.

  This ULP looks very promising but my German may not be sufficient to

decipher the help file.  Does anyone know if an English version help

file exist?  Barring that, has anyone used this ULP successfully that

could possibly walk me through it.  I'm most interested in knowing where

  this ULP gets the height data for the components.  Some PCB layout

tools will actually let you enter height data when you build the PCB

component footprint, but so far I haven't seen any place that Eagle

allows you to do this.  Anything that is making a IDF file has to get

height data from somewhere.  Anyone know how generate_3d_data.ulp

handles this?  If I can run this ULP the chances look excellent that it

will do what I need.

Thanks,

Michael

"Michael Sansom" <mssansom@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:hph559$6he$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

This ULP looks very promising but my German may not be sufficient to

decipher the help file.  Does anyone know if an English version help file

exist?

what about google translate?!

Am 06.04.2010 07:44, schrieb Silviu Epure:

"Michael Sansom"<mssansom@hotmail.com>  wrote in message

news:hph559$6he$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

  This ULP looks very promising but my German may not be sufficient to

decipher the help file.  Does anyone know if an English version help file

exist?

 

what about google translate?!

 

 

There already is a translation to english in the download-area called

generate_3d_data_eng.pdf

This is the help file of Generate 3D Data translated to English. Please

e-mail me about any errors you find. There is no gurantee of accuracy or

warranty either expressed or implied.

Uploaded by Chip  from UVM

jpalombi already translated it in 2007

regards

Stefan

Stefan wrote:

Am 06.04.2010 07:44, schrieb Silviu Epure:

"Michael Sansom"<mssansom@hotmail.com>  wrote in message

news:hph559$6he$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

  This ULP looks very promising but my German may not be sufficient to

decipher the help file.  Does anyone know if an English version help

file

exist?

 

what about google translate?!

 

 

 

There already is a translation to english in the download-area called

 

generate_3d_data_eng.pdf

 

This is the help file of Generate 3D Data translated to English. Please

e-mail me about any errors you find. There is no gurantee of accuracy or

warranty either expressed or implied.

Uploaded by Chip <jpalombi at uvm.edu> from UVM

 

jpalombi already translated it in 2007

 

regards

Stefan

Thanks, somehow I overlooked that file.  I started on the translation by

hand but I am slow and error prone :-).

Danke,

-Michael