Hello,
I’d like to try out Specctra autorouting (or whatever router comes with Allegro), but I don’t know how to produce the wire/routes file that it needs to do its job. Allegro has a GUI for setting the constraints (which nets to route), is there any tool to produce a list of nets from Kicad into a format that Specctra accepts? For anyone who has used Specctra, how did you produce the .w or .rte file?
Thanks!
@robee Just a heads up that threads about autorouting typically do not get much attention on this forum; due to the work done to create the Push and Shove router already in KiCad.
Thanks for the tip. There are few formats Kicad provides translation for, and Specctra is one of them. Clearly, the authors thought it was worthwhile to add it, so someone must use it. I wish they had added a way to produce the wires file.
Push and shove doesn’t replace autorouting, which can be very handy. I’ve been happy with the results I get from PADS, you just have to know which routes to do by hand, how to set up rules, and what order routes should be done. Unfortunately, I can’t get a Kicad layout into PADS.
I think spectra export/import was implemented specifically to support FreeRouting, which uses those formats. I think FreeRouting can save a rules file, but this is not supported by KiCad.
Thanks Bob, that explains why the translation is only half there.
The wires/routes file is what I actually need. It’s probably not too hard to do in a script. I might have to learn how to script after all, but if someone has already done this, now is the time to speak up.
It would help the developers if you sat down and documented what these files do and provide simple samples. Most of the developers don’t have access to Altium.
After looking at tutorials, I think I can get by without the wire/route file, but I’ve found that Specctra (Allegro router) doesn’t accept the DSN file created for it by Kicad. I’ve been able to load the DSN with Hyperlynx and Electra (demo), so I think the file format changed, possibly with version 16.3. I have a reference manual, so I’ll see if I can get the developers interested in producing a 2nd DSN format.
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