Any way to save gerber files as a functional file?

[tclark]

My computer crashed the other day and I lost a project that I had been working on for 3 weeks.  I was wondering if there was any way that I could convert the gerber files that I do have into something functional within Utliboard?

[Tien_P]

Hi,

Ultiboard should be able to open your Gerber files, this is done by select FileàOpen and in the “files of type” field there should be a Gerber option.  However, this is a viewer only and you will not be able to edit anything in here, you can use it as a template to redesign your board.  The information contain in a Gerber file are machine commands, it tells the plotter where you go, when to turn on the light and what aperture to use etc…  The design file has pads information, netlist, design rules etc… Since the information in the two types of files is totally different, you will not be able to convert the Gerber file back to a design file.

Best regards,

Tien Pham

[antseezee]

This is just what I was looking for.

Our company has Multisim 8 & UltiBoard7.  I am revising an old project in which the only files we have are Gerber files.  There are no original MS8 Project or UB7 Project Files that I can do some quick modifying of.  There are no original schematic files either (just bitmap images showing the schematic).  I tried using different Gerber-to-DXF converter programs, but the DXF file format became invalid when attempting to import through Ultiboard 7.

Is my only option at this point to use the reference data from the Gerber files and recreate the traces by hand in UB7?  I would most likely recreate the original schematic as well.

Thanks.

[Tien_P]

Hi,

If you can send me the Gerber files I will see if I can convert them to a DXF that will import into Ultiboard.  Go to ni.com\ask and create a service request, select the email option and you should have the option to send us  an attachment.