Hey everyone. I have to convert my KiCad project to Altium designer .pcbdoc file. because most of the manufacturers in my country just accepts this format. I tried Altium designer’s import wizard to import kicad files but it didn’t work because i have some self designed libraries(footprint and designs) in my kicad project. so i am trying reverse engineering. i exported drill and gerber files from kicad pcb file which worked perfectly. then i create a CAM file inside Altium designer and imported those files. but i need a netlist file. Altium CAM needs ipc-d-365 netlist file with .ipc format but kicad pcb do not create such a file. it can export ipc-d-365 file but its format is .d365 and even with changing the format manually Altium do not accept it and says it is not a CAM file.
It’s so strange that they only accept Altium Desiner’s file. Gerber and NCDrill is a general format and all manufacturers can accept them, so maybe you need to have a double confirm why they can’t accept Gerber and NCDrill directly.
1update the importer of kicad to altium to the latest version 2 import to kicad from pcb your libraries… 3 when importing to altium specify the folder with the library of kicad from the project
You try in the opposite direction from altium to kicad) he writes that there are no such layers and comes up with his own))) then manual pain begins))) here’s free software for you)))
I am pretty sure they also accept Gerber files. I don’t know a single manufacturer that doesn’t accept Gerber.
Normally, you don’t send the actual PCB files (like .kicad_pcb or PcbDoc) but you create Gerber and drill files from the layout software, like from KiCad, zip them and send them to the manufacturer. To create the Gerber, open the PCB in KiCad and go to File → Fabrication Outputs → Gerbers (.gbr)…
You find a non-offical documentation here: How to generate Gerber and Drill files in KiCad 6 - JLCPCB: Help & Support
Yeah it’s right, but again it is country and political problems, i am living in Iran and with many sanctions here, i can’t transfer money out of the country easily.
I found an option, export netlist. It works fine but there is still a problem with ground plane. My ground plane disappears with CAM file conversion to pcb
Gerber fails tied to the board… You’re trying to tie kickad gerberas to the altium that’s not entirely true… Import the file board into the altium and then in the altium itself you will already generate new gerbers
If China is an option, there are many PCB manufacturers you can choose. Just make sure you don’t use Gerber 4.6 Precision since many of them, at least in my experience, have cracked CAM software that doesn’t work with 4.6 Precision and use 4.5 instead.