Alternative Library Generator for Altium Designer - PCB Libraries USA

[DerekG]

As we all know, making footprints is a PITA time wise.

I have located a third party who supports Altium footprint generation (amongst others).

Information on the free light version is located at http://www.pcblibraries.com/Products/Compare/Professional-Lite/

I quickly generated several parts using the software. When you export them (choosing Altium as the target), it does so via PADS (you have a choice of several different version of PADS).

I then used the Import Wizard in AD to import the footprints directly into my PCB workspace. Obviously from here you can save them as a new component into your personal Altium library.

The full version of the software gives you more options for non-standard (non IPC-7351B / IPC-7351C compliant) part generation.

You need to work out if this method is easier/faster than designing the component within Altium Designer itself.

More details can be located at http://www.pcblibraries.com/LibraryExpert/

It is an option for those of us who chose not to renew our subscriptions & therefore have lost access to the Altium Component Vault.

I'm interested in what others have to say.

The output generator also supports:
STEP
Altium Designer
Allegro
Board Station
CadStar
CADint
CR-5000
Design Spark
DipTrace
Eagle
Expedition
McCAD
OrCAD Layout & PCB
PADS
Pantheon
P-CAD
Pulsonix
SoloPCB
Ultiboard

[peter.mitchell]

Just a protip,
Last time i decided to go all out and clean up my footprint libraries (because component libraries don't matter), I grabbed the AD10 libraries from here, stuck all the footprints into a single library, added my own footprints, renamed them, removed duplicates and sorted them into categories similar to f_es.

It saves making a lot of the basic generic footprints, and they are from a reasonably reputable source - not saying that vincent isn't reputable, just that you/your company may look more favourably getting the footprints from Altium, rather than "some guy on the internets".

[free_electron]

i never understood why people ind it so hard to make a footprint. i don;t even run the wizard.

simply define a grid , set an origin. set some ref points on a mech layer and off you go. takes 5 minutes tops. even for a large complex bga

if there is a step file it is even easier. plon the file in , use the tool to define from 3d , set markers, place pads and lines. save, done

most datasheets give you pad dimensions scaled for soldering already.
if they  don;t : it's not that hard to set it right

[HighVoltage]

i never understood why people ind it so hard to make a footprint. i don;t even run the wizard.

simply define a grid , set an origin. set some ref points on a mech layer and off you go. takes 5 minutes tops. even for a large complex bga

if there is a step file it is even easier. plon the file in , use the tool to define from 3d , set markers, place pads and lines. save, done

most datasheets give you pad dimensions scaled for soldering already.
if they  don;t : it's not that hard to set it right

Its easy to make them yourself.
And the time that it takes to check if the free one is correct, you can make a new one the will fit perfectly

[peter.mitchell]

i never understood why people ind it so hard to make a footprint. i don;t even run the wizard.

simply define a grid , set an origin. set some ref points on a mech layer and off you go. takes 5 minutes tops. even for a large complex bga

if there is a step file it is even easier. plon the file in , use the tool to define from 3d , set markers, place pads and lines. save, done

most datasheets give you pad dimensions scaled for soldering already.
if they  don;t : it's not that hard to set it right

Of course, but if someone is giving them to you for free and they are of reputable origin, may as well take them *shrug*

[Rufus]

Its easy to make them yourself.
And the time that it takes to check if the free one is correct, you can make a new one the will fit perfectly

Funny, I have made more than one footprint that didn't fit perfectly - I guess I am not perfect. Checking someone else's work requires two people to screw up to get a bad footprint. It is worth checking then using someone else's work for that reason alone.

[IanJ]

i never understood why people ind it so hard to make a footprint. i don;t even run the wizard.

You have been doing it daily for many, many years.......

Ian.

[senso]

I think its just a mather of habits, a couple years back when I started doing some (lets call it artistic) pcb layouts I used Eagle, and every time I used something not in the base libs I would search back and forth all over the internetz no find it, one day I bit the bullet, and started making my own footprints, the first one took me like 30 minutes, I was like:
Dude, half the dimensions are missing from the datasheet..

After some tries it all clicked together, and using eagle or altium I can churn almost anything in 5 to 10 minutes, simple things like soic's, qfn's, tqfp's, and chips with thermal pads are really a walk in the park.

What I recommend it to ALWAYS print the footprint and test with the real component, more than none the footprint is designed/calculated for automated assembly and soldering in ovens, so I always add 1mm to the pads so I can easy drag solder them(in case of leaded buggers).

Just my little and humble opinion, really, take a bit of time, and just bitch around until you can get something that almost fits the desired sizes when you squint really hard, after that, you can only get better.

[DerekG]

What I recommend it to ALWAYS print the footprint and test with the real component,
 
so I always add 1mm to the pads so I can easy drag solder them(in case of leaded buggers).

Both excellent ideas.

Adding 1mm to the pad gives an extra 0.5mm all the way around to make replacement/resoldering just that bit easier. Also it allows a bit extra solder paste through the screen & this is often important in areas of high vibration or higher operating temperatures.

Most of us have learnt that if you are mass producing boards, you want reliability & this means larger pads, wider tracks, increased spacing between tracks etc. Any extra money spent on a slightly larger pcb is generally quickly recouped by having less rework once the product is actually built.

[laseralex]

As we all know, making footprints is a PITA time wise.

I have located a third party who supports Altium footprint generation (amongst others).

Information on the free light version is located at http://www.pcblibraries.com/Products/Compare/Professional-Lite/

. . .

I'm interested in what others have to say.

. . .

I paid for PCB Libraries' tool the week it first became available, and have gladly paid for every upgrade since then.  I also paid for the 3D STEP model generator which is available.

The software is fantastic - the quality of footprints it generates is great.  The latest version also makes the process much easier than previous versions: it avoids the PADS import process by generating a script that you execute within Altium; the script generates the footprint in your current library using the native Altium format.

I understand that the paid version might be beyond some budgets, but I'd strongly urge everyone to try at least the lite version.

-Alex

[Christe4nM]

+1 for PCB Libaries. I still have to upgrade to the latest but I will soon. I recommend using the free version to everyone.

For me it started when I read Tom hausherr's blog on CAD library perfection. From there I found PCB Libraries and tried the free version for a while. Although the Altium footprint editor might be just as easy, I really like all the possibilities in PCB Libraries Expert. Add to that a no hassle 3D step model precisely fitting your part for the standard parts and I'm game.

I find the Altium footprints 'lacking'. I want more control over my libraries and that's where PCB Libraries Expert came in for me. For me it fits my workflow.

Yeah I sound like a fan, whatever, maybe I am

[jd]

Hi All

re "PCB Library Expert" -

Has anyone experience with the STEP models generated from this tool. In particular I am concerned that hundreds of "high quality step models" on a board will slow down the UI too much (as well as bloat the files enormously).

Any other comments?

Thanks

John

[Christe4nM]

Hi All

re "PCB Library Expert" -

Has anyone experience with the STEP models generated from this tool. In particular I am concerned that hundreds of "high quality step models" on a board will slow down the UI too much (as well as bloat the files enormously).

Any other comments?

Thanks

John

It wasn't until now that I saw your post. So sorry for a very overdue reply.

About file size. I just took a look at my altium PCB libraries. I use one footprint per library. The biggest file I have is a LQFP-100 footprint at ~650 kB. I've never ran into problems with slow UI either in PCB Libaries or Altium. PCB libraries does not load the STEP files in their UI anyway, but generates it when you build the footprint. Occasionally, in Altium, when I switch to the 3D view in the PCB editor and when the memory load on my pc is very high, it can take a second before Altium has loaded all 3D STEP files. But once they're loaded it is just as responsive as before.

PCB libraries uses an algorithm to create the STEP files from you component size parameters. It looks like they use a single 'body element' which is pre-shaped and then scaled to the right size. The same applied to package pins. It looks like each pin is just one single element in the STEP file, but pre-shaped to be good looking. So I can understand why that 100-pins LQFP is a relatively large file, as it has 100 of said pins.

In addition, I looked through my non-PCB-Libaries STEP files, for example for a Molex USB connector. These are much larger (~1 MB). I guess that that's caused by the connector STEP file provided by Molex has much more elements to make up the complicated connector shape.

So what PCB libaries does is generate a single .PcbLib file for the footprint with a custom generated STEP file for that footprint. The 2015 version export to Altium is super easy compared to before. In Altium you run the script created by PCB Libraries Expert, and done. Works for me in Altium Designer 15 and 16.

Mind you, I use the Pro version, so I don't know the things not available in the free version

[DerekG]

Mind you, I use the Pro version ...

Here is a direct comparison between PCB Library Pro & Altium's Footprint Wizard.

http://www.pcblibraries.com/Products/Compare/AltiumDesignerWizard-LibraryExpert/

I would suggest Altium actually license PCB Library for use within Altium Designer, but for god's sake, don't buy them. It works fantastically as it is & every year PCB Libraries work hard at improving it & adding new features. If Altium owned it, the development would slow to a crawl & they have a history of stuffing things up.

ADDED: You no longer need to purchase the full version for US$1099 (perpetual license). If you are a light user there is an option to design your own parts for US$1 per part (& another US$1 if you want full CAD/3D STEP output).

I probably only "build" 50 components per year so this option would actually work out well.

http://www.pcblibraries.com/products/compare/

"Library Expert Professional users with currently released version have free access (25 parts/day) to the POD database. For others, POD parts cost $1 or $2 each, depending on complexity. New part requests are $9 for Pro customers and $11 otherwise".

Pricing:

http://www.pcblibraries.com/Products/FPX/Altium.asp

[timofonic]

Why is this software so damn expensive? What's the task complexity of this? Why it does generate such bloated STEP files instead optimized ones by such price tag?

Sorry, I'm unable to get it. Please explain it, it would be very welcome!

[jd]

Hi All

re "PCB Library Expert" -

Has anyone experience with the STEP models generated from this tool. In particular I am concerned that hundreds of "high quality step models" on a board will slow down the UI too much (as well as bloat the files enormously).

Any other comments?

Thanks

John

It wasn't until now that I saw your post. So sorry for a very overdue reply.

About file size. I just took a look at my altium PCB libraries. I use one footprint per library. The biggest file I have is a LQFP-100 footprint at ~650 kB. I've never ran into problems with slow UI either in PCB Libaries or Altium. PCB libraries does not load the STEP files in their UI anyway, but generates it when you build the footprint. Occasionally, in Altium, when I switch to the 3D view in the PCB editor and when the memory load on my pc is very high, it can take a second before Altium has loaded all 3D STEP files. But once they're loaded it is just as responsive as before.

PCB libraries uses an algorithm to create the STEP files from you component size parameters. It looks like they use a single 'body element' which is pre-shaped and then scaled to the right size. The same applied to package pins. It looks like each pin is just one single element in the STEP file, but pre-shaped to be good looking. So I can understand why that 100-pins LQFP is a relatively large file, as it has 100 of said pins.

In addition, I looked through my non-PCB-Libaries STEP files, for example for a Molex USB connector. These are much larger (~1 MB). I guess that that's caused by the connector STEP file provided by Molex has much more elements to make up the complicated connector shape.

So what PCB libaries does is generate a single .PcbLib file for the footprint with a custom generated STEP file for that footprint. The 2015 version export to Altium is super easy compared to before. In Altium you run the script created by PCB Libraries Expert, and done. Works for me in Altium Designer 15 and 16.

Mind you, I use the Pro version, so I don't know the things not available in the free version

Hi, and sorry for my late reply to your late reply I just saw it.

I was concerned about model size since I downloaded a QFP208 from 3D-central and it was about 10MB. Having said that I have used them since and it does not seem to cause a problem. The step format is very verbose (text based) and I think I saw somewhere that it does not allow internal structure (so 208 pins requires 208 complete instances of the pin model). Don't know if that is true but it would explain the huge file sizes!

I too liked Tom Hausherrs' blog posts and that is what made me take a serious look at PCB designer. The step export is a separate module in PCB Libraries so you need to pay double the base cost IIRC, $2k total I think.

I was going to buy it anyway. But then I discovered it required a USB dongle. I thought they went away in the 90's! Anyway after losing control of several older projects I swore off dongles in that timeframe and have never looked back.

AD16 now includes a step model generator too but I have yet to use it. I suspect there will not be that great a coverage of the footprints that are out there. And the common ones are already on 3D content central anyway.

John

[electrolust]

I was going to buy it anyway. But then I discovered it required a USB dongle. I thought they went away in the 90's! Anyway after losing control of several older projects I swore off dongles in that timeframe and have never looked back.

It uses "HASP" device, for which a software hack apparently exists.  You use a software to dump the HASP memory, then send that dump to a guy that sends you back a software implementation keyed the same as that specific dongle.  Apparently it's legal as well.

Anyway

http://www.dongleservice.com/emulate-hasp.phtml