![import gerber files into diptrace import gerber files into diptrace](https://file.pcbway.com/project/17/11/08/6364575551323300001317.png)
In the end, I was not able to get a single solution to produce a valid STP or IGES file directly. This means more than just an extrusion of the footprint. My second goal was that it be something renderable into a “nice looking” image of the board. In my design, there are only four packages present, all extremely common – 0402 resistor, 1206 resistor, SOT223-4 transistor, and five pin header – so I figure if I can’t do it with this, it’s not realistic for anything. My goal was to be able to get this design into SolidWorks as a STP or IGES file with rendered components. Still, very grateful for this fantastic tool!
![import gerber files into diptrace import gerber files into diptrace](https://www.pcblibraries.com/products/fpx/userguide/FPX2012.216_CAD-Proteus_files/image006.png)
Great and easy start, but no 3D geometry for SolidWorks, and no components. Using this tool with my directly exported Gerber files from Eagle, I was able to generate this board rendering with no effort in about five minutes of work. I was easily able to generate a 3D graphic of the board alone using this fantastic tool. On the mechanical side, the intent to integrate this design with a heat sink suitable to dissipate the power required. This board, for scaling, is 1" wide and 2.5" long, so it is actually quite small. It is a board that converts four TTL level control signals into high current linear outputs capable of driving very large loads as a current sink. To investigate this, I designed a very simple circuit board using EagleCAD, my long-standing partner in circuit design. My conclusion is that it is completely unrealistic to get full bidirectional CAD conversion, but that it is possible (barely) to get unidirectional conversion from a circuit board to a 3D model. This solution is, however, extremely expensive – so how do you do it if you’re a small business or hobbyist? And then be able to make mechanical design changes to the board in Solidworks which feed back into the circuit board software. The nicest way to do this would be if I could take my existing circuit board software, click a button, and have it output a file including models of my components which I could import directly into Solidworks. So instead, it is critical to develop these things in parallel so that both mechanical and electrical designs have constraints from each other integrated at an early stage. If you design the mechanical system before the circuit board, it will similarly bump against silly constraints. If you don’t design your mechanical system until your circuit board is done, it’s likely to be expensive and make no sense. There are a lot of tools out there that allow you to design circuit boards, but anyone who has been doing engineering for a while has encountered the problem of integrating mechanical and electrical design.