Work in progress: Native Altium Importer

PCB_Wiz · February 26, 2020, 8:13pm

Check first on simpler files you may have, to verify your Altium version is broadly ok/compatible.
If you can spare the time, you could try delete of ‘likely suspects’ until the file does load.
Look at example here that have loaded, but complex shapes/pads might be a place to start.

pointhi · February 26, 2020, 8:34pm

you can just report the exception without the board. If its something like padstack != SIMPLE, thats actually a warning (which I implemented as assert in development, because it was so simple to integrate). Just click continue. The reason is that KiCad does not support complex padstacks yet.

I know, I need to improve warnings to look like in the eagle importer, where a list of possible issues appears at the end.

Naib · February 26, 2020, 11:23pm

Annotation 2020-02-26 231916

if it is any consolation, AtoK failed as well .

pointhi · February 27, 2020, 6:51am

What Altium version do you use? Can you send me an empty boardfile?

janvi · February 28, 2020, 4:12pm

The latest future roadmap

mentions initial spec by Orson for the padstack. Where to find this ?

cedric · March 1, 2020, 7:50pm

Hi all,

I’ve just compiled a debug build of this branch of KiCAD. In case somebody also wants to do this, here are the commands I’ve issued after installing msys2 64 bit:

Cheers,
Cedric

pacman -Suy
pacman -Su

pacman -S base-devel \
          git \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-doxygen \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-python2 \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-pkg-config \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-swig \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-boost \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-cairo \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-glew \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-curl \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-wxPython \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-wxWidgets \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-glm \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-oce \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-ngspice

git clone https://gitlab.com/pointhi/kicad.git
cd kicad
git checkout altium_import

mkdir -p build/debug               
cd build/debug
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug \
      -G "MSYS Makefiles" \
      -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/mingw64 \
      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/mingw64 \
      -DDEFAULT_INSTALL_PATH=/mingw64 \
      ../../
make -j 7 #adjust for your number of cores
make install

After that you can find start the executables from C:\msys64\mingw64\bin

After starting pcbnew.exe in stand alone mode, you can choose file -> import non kicad board file, and point to your Altium file.

Issue the following commands to update KiCAD to the latest version:

cd ~/kicad
git pull
git log
cd build/debug/
make
make install

cedric · March 1, 2020, 8:52pm

I’ve looked around in Kicad, the PCB editor and the schematic editor, but I could not find the “Import Altium project” button.

Did I look in the wrong place, or should I open Altium files in another way?

eelik · March 1, 2020, 9:12pm

It was told above in the post #60: Work in progress: Native Altium Importer

cedric · March 2, 2020, 11:50am

Thanks, I’ve edited my post above (71) to reflect this

cedric · March 2, 2020, 5:49pm

I have made an Altium schematic that failed to load in KiCAD. it generates the error “IO error: Unable to read file” Followed by the error “XML parsing error: ‘not well-formed (invalid token)’ at line 1”

I assume importing of schematic files is not implemented yet?

Steps I’ve taken:

Open eeschema.exe by double click on it
File-import non KiCAD schematic
enter . into the file name
double click Sheet1.Schdoc Now the error "Error loading schematic . IO error: Unable to read file " from sch_eagle_plugin.cpp:Load()line:397
Click OK. now this error comes up: “XML parsing error: ‘not well-formed (invalid token)’ at line 1”

My versions:
Application: Eeschema
Version: (5.99.0-1010-gc165d4bde), debug build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.68.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1d (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.3.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.0) libssh2/1.9.0 nghttp2/1.40.0
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
Build date: Feb 29 2020 20:26:55
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.72.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.68.0
Compiler: GCC 9.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON
KICAD_STDLIB_DEBUG=OFF
KICAD_STDLIB_LIGHT_DEBUG=OFF
KICAD_SANITIZE=OFF

Altium designer 20.0.13 build 296

craftyjon · March 2, 2020, 5:54pm

Thomas’ importer currently only handles PCBs, not schematics. The “import non KiCad schematic” function only supports Eagle at the moment.

Evan_Shultz · March 2, 2020, 7:30pm

@nickoe
Are you making available nightly builds with this patch anywhere? The last link from you above seems to just have the 7-day-old build. If not, could you generate a new build and post the link here? Thank you!

nickoe · March 3, 2020, 10:55am

It has been built a few days ago, just check the patched folder against the commit sha in pointhis branch to see how old it is.

https://kicad-downloads.s3.cern.ch/windows/testing/patched/kicad-patched-623-5.99.0-1010-gc165d4bde-x86_64.exe

cedric · March 25, 2020, 9:10pm

I made an Altium file that crashes the importer. In altium 20, I’ve removed 2 tracks. Link to the file:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kkdjos4gj1n3bmk/IceZUM_Core_HX1K.PcbDoc/file
Steps taken:
1 Run C:\msys64\mingw64\bin\pcbnew.exe
2 Choose File-import non-KiCAD board file
3 Navigate to the correct folder, set the filetype to *.pcbdoc and open IceZUM_Core_HX1K.PcbDoc
4 See the error “Unhandled exception class: St12out_of_range what: bitset::set:__position(which is 18446744073709551615) >= _Nb(which is 51)”
5 Press OK, and PcbNew closes.

My versions:
Application: Pcbnew
Version: (5.99.0-1012-g13f5d39e2), debug build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.68.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1d (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.3.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.0) libssh2/1.9.0 nghttp2/1.40.0
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
Build date: Mar 3 2020 19:34:05
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.72.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.68.0
Compiler: GCC 9.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON
KICAD_STDLIB_DEBUG=OFF
KICAD_STDLIB_LIGHT_DEBUG=OFF
KICAD_SANITIZE=OFF

Altium 20.0.1.3

nickoe · March 25, 2020, 9:22pm

@cedric Please try the latest build while you are at it.

https://kicad-downloads.s3.cern.ch/windows/testing/patched/kicad-patched-634-5.99.0-1222-gbef8587d3-x86_64.exe

cedric · March 25, 2020, 9:30pm

I made an Altium file that crashes the importer. In altium 20, I’ve removed 2 tracks. Link to the file:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kkdjos4gj1n3bmk/IceZUM_Core_HX1K.PcbDoc/file
Steps taken:
1 Run C:\Users\cedric\Downloads\kicad-patched-634-5.99.0-1222-gbef8587d3-x86_64\bin\pcbnew.exe (I’ve used 7zip to extract the downloaded exe)
2 Choose File-import non-KiCAD board file
3 Navigate to the correct folder, set the filetype to *.pcbdoc and open IceZUM_Core_HX1K.PcbDoc
4 See the error “An unhandled exception occured. Press “Abort” to terminate the program, Retry to exit the program normally and “Ignore to try to continue”
5 Press retry. Now pcbnew closes.

My versions:
Application: Pcbnew
Version: (5.99.0-1222-gbef8587d3), release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.66.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1d (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.2.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.1.1) nghttp2/1.39.2
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
Build date: Mar 25 2020 14:34:47
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.71.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.66.0
Compiler: GCC 9.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

nickoe · March 25, 2020, 9:45pm

@pointhi look ~~more random characters because discorse is wierd~~

pointhi · March 26, 2020, 2:57pm

Thanks. I fixed it in commit 6657122ed

pointhi · March 27, 2020, 4:36pm

I managed to improve the Importer quite a bit in the last days:

Copper Regions are finally correctly detected
No more artifacts on hatched zones
Fix crash due to layer handling issues
Better error reporting and more checks
Dimensions are now supported also in Circuit Studio import
Code cleanup and style fixes

cedric · March 27, 2020, 5:06pm

Hi there,

Is there anything I can do that makes it easier to start working on the schematic importer?

Cheers,
Cedric