print out ultiboard from home

[Harrison]

Hi all,

I have a question.  Ultiboard is installed on my computer at work.  However, I want to print out the PCB layout from my computer at home (no Ultiboard installed).  Is it possible?  By the way, does anyone know how to transfer from Ultiboard to P-CAD PCB? 

Thanks,

Harrison

[yyao]

Hi Harrison,

There are two industry standard file formats which you can use to tranfer files for printing. You can use the DXF format which you can open with any DXF view (such as DWG TrueView from Autodesk) or in Gerber format which you can open with programs such as gerbv or GC-Prevue. All of these viewers support printing.

[Harrison]

Hi,

Thank you for the reply.  So I believe there is no way to save the layout as like jpeg (I don't have to install other program to view).  And it also could not transfer Ultiboard to P-CAD PCB?

Thanks,

Harrison

[NavyJay]

Unlike a JPEG/BMP or other lossy file format, which is pixel based, an ASCII gerber file contains information about your planes, vias, traces, etc. that you simply can't capture in a single 2D binary image file (especially when you're trying to zoom in to see detail).  If you are serious about checking your work, then at least install a free lightweight gerber viewer.  If you don't have admin rights because Mom caught you doing something naughty on her machine, then try out the following site:

http://www.circuitpeople.com/

If you're uncomfortable uploading your work to a 3rd party website, try out gerb2tif.  http://members.optusnet.com.au/~eseychell/gerb2tif.html

You should have no trouble converting a layout to P-CAD with gerber files.  They are an industry standard for PCB manufacturing.  You'll have to check with P-CAD on how to import a layout from gerber files. 

[GarretF]

You can also export your board in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. SVG is a standard vector image format - that means it does not suffer from the losses that JPEG or BMP does. Your computer may already have support for the SVG format.

If you are using Internet Explorer, you will need to install the Adobe SVG Viewer. When you try to open the file, you will be prompted to install the viewer if it is not already installed. A recent version of Firefox and Opera browers should be able to natively view the file without any additional software.

When you export the file, 3 other files are created. One is an HTML file. Open this one as it links to you board and will allow you to turn on and off layers. Also, when you export, I suggest you use Uncompressed SVG (*.svg) (In File > Export > Scalable Vector Graphics > Properties). You will find more readers than can understand the uncompressed format.

[yyao]

I don't know of a way that you can directly import Ultiboard files to P-CAD. However, if you haven't laid out your PCB yet, you can export a P-CAD net list file from Multisim which you can use with P-Cad. To do this, you can should:

1. Open your design in Multisim
2. Click Transfer>>Export to PCB Layout
3. Under the options Save as type, select P-CAD (*.net)

That should create a file with which you can import to P-CAD.

[Who_Knew]

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GarretF wrote: ....Also, when you export, I suggest you use Uncompressed SVG (*.svg) (In File > Export > Scalable Vector Graphics > Properties). You will find more readers than can understand the uncompressed format

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Nice to know, since the default setting is for compressed SVG.