#Diptrace to vector pdf

Plus, I've been using Illustrator for about 12 years, so that alone makes things a lot easier. This would be especially good for the silkscreen layer, because in Illustrator I can match text exactly, even if I don't have the correct font. I really like this idea, because I can very accurately reproduce almost anything in Illustrator the drawing tools are far superior to anything you'd find integrated into a PCB design program drawing is Illustrator's specialty, and it's the de facto industry standard. During import, DipTrace let's you assign each DXF layer to something different (pads, top and bottom copper, silk, paste, etc.), which allowed me to have a fully editable version of the board that I could produce Gerbers from.

(Be aware the import will flatten the image to black and white (not grayscale), so you might want to do that yourself in a image editor before hand.) Edit: Once I scanned an old PCB and separated the traces from pads into separate layers using my photo editor, then I ran the layers through an online raster to vector converter, took the resulting SVGs and converted them to a single multilayer DXF and imported it into DipTrace. So long as you crop and scale your image in a vector editor (GIMP/PhotoShop/Pixelmator) it should work fine. For raster images, DipTrace will also allow you to apply a BMP/PNG/JPEG as a Silk/Assembly/Paste/Copper layer.

#Diptrace to vector pdf

If you have a PDF file that contains a layout, you can use 'pstoedit' to convert it from PostScript to DXF. in the fly-out menu.ģ) In the Open dialog window navigate to and select/highlight the DXF file named ' text', then click on the button.Ĥ) In the Import DXF dialog window set DXF Units: Millimeters, Import Mode: Add, Convert to: Top Silk, make sure all options are deselected and click on the button.ġ) Select/highlight all of the newly-imported polyline text figures, right-click on one of them and choose Group into Component in the pop-up menu.Ģ) Right-click on the newly-created 'component', select Define Angle in the pop-up menu and choose Custom in the fly-out menu.ģ) In the Rotation Angle dialog window, enter an angle and select OK.Ĥ) Place the text 'component' in the desired location (ignore its reference designator), right-click on it and select Ungroup Component in the pop-up menu.DipTrace can import DXF and Gerber files. Desktop) and click on the button.Ĭonvert the text block to multiple polyline figuresġ) Open the desired PCB layout without saving the current contents of the Design Area and temporarily disable Real-time DRC.Ģ) In the Main Menu click on File, choose Import in the drop-down menu and select DXF. in the fly-out menu.Ĥ) In the Export DXF dialog window select/highlight Top Silk in the Layers: list, set Units: mm, make sure Use Design Origin is enabled and click on the button.ĥ) In the Save As dialog window name the file ' text', choose a convenient location (e.g. There is, however, a 15-step work-around if you are interested.ġ) Launch the PCB Layout editor and create the desired text block in an otherwise completely blank Design Area.Ģ) Adjust the font type (should be Vector) and size ( 5 or larger) if needed.ģ) In the Main Menu click on File, choose Export in the drop-down menu and select DXF. Text block angle choices still seem to be confined to only 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees. Garytennyson wrote:'.Is there currently a way - in the PCB Layout tool - to rotate text to an arbitrary angle?.'Not that I am aware of.