Freeware or cheap IDF Viewer

Michael Sansom wrote:

Ok, I'm successfully making my IDF files.  However, I'd like to view

them to make sure that they look reasonable before handing them off to a

mechanical designer.

 

Anyone know if there is a freeware/opensource/cheap IDF viewer out

there?  I use the eDrawings viewer from SolidWorks to view/check 3D CAD

files for mechanical enclosures and racks and it works well, it just

doesn't support opening an IDF file.  I don't need to edit/modify the

IDF files I am producing, I'd just like a sanity check before handing

them off to someone else.

 

Thanks,

 

-Michael

 

 

Michael,

It would be really great if you could write up a faq/howto on the

process for generating IDF files from Eagle....now that all the steps

are fresh in your memory!    Eagle3D is great for making presentations

but as you found out..the mechanical engineers don't have much use for

it!    Perhaps you could write up the steps, the software packages used

(other than Eagle), and upload a guide to the cadsoft website.

Nice work..!

Jim

Jim Littlefield wrote:

Michael Sansom wrote:

Ok, I'm successfully making my IDF files.  However, I'd like to view

them to make sure that they look reasonable before handing them off to

a mechanical designer.

 

Anyone know if there is a freeware/opensource/cheap IDF viewer out

there?  I use the eDrawings viewer from SolidWorks to view/check 3D

CAD files for mechanical enclosures and racks and it works well, it

just doesn't support opening an IDF file.  I don't need to edit/modify

the IDF files I am producing, I'd just like a sanity check before

handing them off to someone else.

 

Thanks,

 

-Michael

 

 

 

Michael,

 

It would be really great if you could write up a faq/howto on the

process for generating IDF files from Eagle....now that all the steps

are fresh in your memory!    Eagle3D is great for making presentations

but as you found out..the mechanical engineers don't have much use for

it!    Perhaps you could write up the steps, the software packages used

(other than Eagle), and upload a guide to the cadsoft website.

 

Nice work..!

 

Jim

I will do so, but I do want to check my output before putting up a howto

(since I am not 100% sure that I did it right till I can look at he

results).  It's really fairly easy, the guy that wrote the ulp obviously

did all the heavy lifting.

-Michael

I use ALIBRE a cheap but not free CAD.

I can try your file and make a PDF of drawing.

I have try before to use the uld but not succes.

Now I use PovRay. Nice to make documentation.

Thierry

"Michael Sansom" <mssansom@hotmail.com> skrev i melding

news:hpvdaa$n2a$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

Jim Littlefield wrote:

Michael Sansom wrote:

Ok, I'm successfully making my IDF files.  However, I'd like to view

them to make sure that they look reasonable before handing them off to a

mechanical designer.

 

Anyone know if there is a freeware/opensource/cheap IDF viewer out

there?  I use the eDrawings viewer from SolidWorks to view/check 3D CAD

files for mechanical enclosures and racks and it works well, it just

doesn't support opening an IDF file.  I don't need to edit/modify the

IDF files I am producing, I'd just like a sanity check before handing

them off to someone else.

 

Thanks,

 

-Michael

 

 

 

Michael,

 

It would be really great if you could write up a faq/howto on the process

for generating IDF files from Eagle....now that all the steps are fresh

in your memory!    Eagle3D is great for making presentations but as you

found out..the mechanical engineers don't have much use for it!

Perhaps you could write up the steps, the software packages used (other

than Eagle), and upload a guide to the cadsoft website.

 

Nice work..!

 

Jim

 

I will do so, but I do want to check my output before putting up a howto

(since I am not 100% sure that I did it right till I can look at he

results).  It's really fairly easy, the guy that wrote the ulp obviously

did all the heavy lifting.

 

-Michael

Thierry Pottier wrote:

I use ALIBRE a cheap but not free CAD.

I can try your file and make a PDF of drawing.

I have try before to use the uld but not succes.

Now I use PovRay. Nice to make documentation.

Thierry

Thierry,

It seems to me that Eagle3D and perhaps PovRay are used to make a human

viewable 3D image (rendered to 2D) for perhaps documentation purposes.

What I am looking for is a 3D model to be imported into a 3D CAD program

(SolidWorks in this case) so that my mechanical designer can design the

enclosure that this PCB goes into (checking for mechanical interference

for instance).  Do I have this right, or can Eagle3D or PovRay also make

a mechanical model that can be used in a 3D CAD environment?

Thanks,

-Michael