3d models rant!

[Christopher]

So recently I've come away from eagle and the "old style" of sticking some components in a box or on a board and hoping they fit.

Using Altium/Solidworks and I've gotten used to importing some 3d STEP models from Solidworks etc.

Buy WHY do most manufacturers dislike putting a simple step file on their website??!

I can email a manufacturer and get a STEP file, or make my own but it's just a lot of added hassle.

[free_electron]

Whaddayamean ? Molex, tyco , amp . They have all step files available. Digikey has a bunch as well now. It is booming..

The reason for it right now is that there are not many PCB tools that support STEP. Heck , i only know of Altium.

Then there is 3dcontentcentral

[Christopher]

Connectors and other jelly bean PCB components are fine but its more the uncommon parts

i.e DC barrel jack    http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1671577.pdf

reverse mount LED     http://uk.farnell.com/kingbright/kptl-3216surck-01/led-smd-1206-optic-red-reverse/dp/2217903


I don't mind too much about the formats of the file, as long as solidworks can open it it's fine with me !

I have recently not bothered designing something into my stuff if they do not provide models. Their loss

[poorchava]

DipTrace also supports STEP files since last major release.  There are some bugs in this functionality,  but it generally works pretty well.

[HighVoltage]

PADS by Mentor Graphics also supports STEP or STP files.