Hi all.
I have exported a STEP file from PCBNew for a 3D CAD model for our mechanical engineers’ use.
The 3D model is missing the actual board (green mask):
I have exported the file through PCBNew -> File -> Export -> STEP.
I tried to play a little bit with the options in the export manager, but the result is the same with any configuration.
How can I fix this problem?
Thanks,
Raz.
What do I do wrong
First thing wrong is that it appears you forgot to state your kicad version.
Second thing, did you see any warnings or errors when exporting the step model? (At least in the nightlines there is a log window)
Third thing, did you check that you can see the expected board in the 3d viewer?
Fourth thing, it do look like you have a small circle board in your screenshot, near the pin 1 marker of your modem board.
So in short, it is likely that you did not define the board exactly in pcbnew with the pcb edges layer.
yes, I expect you will find you have a circular cutout on Edge.Cuts, and a non-closed outer edge.
Good catch.
I wondered why you thought such a thing…
Then I saw the small round thing just left above the “euctel BG50” module, which probably is what KiCad thinks is the PCB.
If you view the PCB in KiCad’s own 3D viewer, you can get a pretty good idea if the graphics on Edge.Cuts is correct. If it is not, it won’t show the PCB properly. I think it complains too.
In KiCad-nightly V5.99 the DRC has been extended with (among others) checks for malformed PCB outlines.
No that’s most likely part of the module’s model, those cellular modems are just visibly thin PCBs with components and a shield.
Just to be clear, I meant this thing:
Does not look to me as if it would be part of the module.
Hi all! Thanks for the comments, I really hope you could help me to solve this out.
I use the latest version of KiCAD (5 something).
I did see some warnings as I didn’t add 3D modules to all the components, therefore had warnings about them, and about them only - this is OK, I don’t need to see all the components.
I can see the PCB in the 3D viewer of KiCAD perfectly!
The small green circle is a hole in the PCB - there’re cut edges there, and actually, there’re two of these, but only one is visible as “anti hole” (lol) in the STEP version.
As I mentioned, the KiCAD built-in 3D viewer works perfectly, as it should, and that means the Cut Edge is closed and good.
Actually, this is a third version of my board and I didn’t had this issue in previous versions.
I did changed a little bit the borders, so a tiny chance the problem is there (but again - 3D viewer showed no errors or problems)
You’d better be. V4 is some 3 years old now and seriously obsolete, and in the meantime there have been lots of different V5 versions. The latest stable is: version https://kicad.org/blog/2020/12/KiCad-5.1.9-Release/ and for each increment a lot of bugs have been squashed.
Because the green disc is a part of (a hole in) the PCB, the most likely culprit still is a faulty outline. Can you post the PCB here? I’m curious to have a look at it, if step output works and if it shows properly in the 3D viewer on my linux box. You can delete tracks and footprints (except for a few to test the principle). Those just distract from the issue.
Ok, you brought me an idea so I tried.
The board’s outlines were polygons that I have moved to the Edge.Cuts layer.
I changed it into 4 graphic lines and it worked!
Thanks for the help!
For future reference, this is not true, although it’s still a good thing to check.
Apologize if I was mistaken but from my experience, the 3D viewer returns an error if the outlines are not exactly closed to a perfect alignment between all the lines.
It has some tolerance, so exactness isn’t guaranteed.
I’m still curious what this looks like in KiCad and in KiCad’s 3D viewer:
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