IDFv3 Solidworks 2020

[sparky3600]

Hi Guys, I am used to exporting a design from Cadence and importing it into solidworks using circuit works. I was writing a post to ask advice about how I could fix it as it was placing the components off board. However in playing around with it I did manage to resolve it.

Using the STEP file output is not a route I want to go down.

A few setup conditions are

On my test layout I have the following preferences set:
Display Origin: Drill/place file origin
X Axis: Increases Right
Y Axis: Increases Up

I have the Drill origin and Grid origin set to 100,-130 relative to the page origin

I have a board outline on the Edge.Cuts layer that starts at the Drill origin and is 100,80 in size
This was the really key part, originally I had a a rectangle for the board outline that started from the top left of the board and went to bottom right, because the start point of the rectangle was not the same as the Drill origin I think this is where it went wrong.

if I set the IDF output to x position 100 and y position to 50 I get the following:
Note: the offset position here is the top left hand coordinate of the board and not the drill origin.

.HEADER
BOARD_FILE 3.0 "Created by KiCad (6.0.4)" 2022/03/6.0:41:9 1
"IO_BOARD_TEST1.kicad_pcb" MM
.END_HEADER

.BOARD_OUTLINE UNOWNED
1.60000
0 0.00000 0.00000 0
0 0.00000 -80.00000 0
0 100.00000 -80.00000 0
0 100.00000 0.00000 0
0 0.00000 0.00000 0
.END_BOARD_OUTLINE

.DRILLED_HOLES
0.809 58.50000 -19.08300 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 60.37960 -19.87040 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 61.16700 -21.75000 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 60.37960 -23.62960 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 58.50000 -24.41700 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 56.62040 -23.62960 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 55.83300 -21.75000 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 56.62040 -19.87040 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 58.50000 -21.75000 PTH "J1" PIN ECAD
0.809 58.50000 -32.08300 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 60.37960 -32.87040 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 61.16700 -34.75000 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 60.37960 -36.62960 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 58.50000 -37.41700 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 56.62040 -36.62960 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 55.83300 -34.75000 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 56.62040 -32.87040 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
0.809 58.50000 -34.75000 PTH "J2" PIN ECAD
.END_DRILLED_HOLES

The purpose of this point is mainly to help someone else in case they run into this issue in the future.

[sparky3600]

I will add here that whilst this works for outputting the PCB dimensions and the holes in the board it does not appear to output the components. From a quick look it seems like going the step file route is needed.

[YaaJ]

Not sure I 100% understand the problem…
Exporting STEP from pcbnew, we don’t get the components. But we get them using KiCad StepUp. Then reimporting the step file it spits out works flawlessly in SW.

[sparky3600]

I’ve not used the KiCad stepup addon, I’ve heard of it, but not been down that route. I can now output a step file and read it into solidworks from KiCad no problem. What advantage does Stepup provide over the native Step file output from KiCad?

[YaaJ]

Some components may be missing.
Open kicad_pcb files in FreeCad+StepUp, export as step, import in SW, save as sldasm, and you will be happy ! Saving as sldprt, you will have some reverted faces here and there (topology glitches).
Always use FreeCAD+StepUp in your workflow. Importing and exporting. Always. Some conversions may take ages, be warned ! But it is worth the effort.
More : you can export PNGs or JPGs from 3D viewer (orthometric view + components hidden, white background), and add them to your models (“appearances/advanced/mapping”) ; you’ll get super realistic populated PCB models with traces and silkscreens, visually the same you get in 3D Viewer using Raytracing.

[sparky3600]

That is a nice tip. I was puzzling over how I would get the nice pads and surface traces to show. Will definitely have to look into that. I’ve never used freecad before so it’s unfortunate I need another tool in the line to get a decent result. I’ll keep an eye out if there are components missing. I tend to only have that issue if I haven’t assigned a step model to the component in the footprint library.