Hi guys.
I recently hired an Electrical Engineer to design a circuit schematic for my Guantlit (The bicycle light that fits on the back of one’s hand)
He used a specific format to draw it up, however… The .SchDoc Atium Designer format. (Which Apparently costs a bit of money)
I don’t have this software, so I can’t open it at the moment.
Not the end of the world; we’ll figure it out soon enough.
But just out of curiosity; does anyone know if we have the software that can read that at VHS?
Alternatively, does anyone know if said format could be translated into the format that Fritzer uses? (IE, .fzz)
We don’t, and that’s one of the huge drawbacks to Altium. As far as I know, nothing can open or convert their format.
Alex,
I might be able to help you with Altium. I can export your files as gerber files and pdf schematics. I understand there is an Altium viewer, but I dont’ use it personally.
Much software can open Altium, all the professional software can - just not hobbyist crap.
Converting something made in Altium to fritzing would be a travesty. Get it layed out in altium and do it right!
I have AD14.3, I can open your file and export as PDF or eagle files (not sure how useful they will be for doing anything other than viewing them). Feel free to send it to me off-list.
Thanks man!
My ultimate goal here is to be able to send the file off to a manufacturer so that a circuit board can be printed… Would gerber files and PDF schematics be suitable for that purpose?
Gerbers alone are what you need, assuming you never ever need to modify it.
An schdoc is just the schematic, to get the PCBs made you need the pcbdoc, ideally one that is panellised with fiducials, slide area and mounting points for the SMT machine. The PCB manufacturer only needs gerbers and NC drill files. Your assembler may want the schematic (or an ascii version of the altium file), plus they will absolutely need pick and place centres for the panel and individual boards, a bill of materials and an assembly drawing. Most I deal with also like to have a 3d view generated too (Every part on my boards has a 3d model made in solidworks) which can assist with component orientation if they are not sure. Altium will generate all of these - the BOM will only be populated as far as the data exists though, it really depends on the quality of the library that the designer had.
Hmm… so would that mean that Fritzing would accept a Gerber file instead of .fzz?
Or is Gerber basically the foundation… with .fzz being format you only use for production?
Fritzing is a whole different ball game… they will only accept their own file format and you cant use their file format anywhere else. The industry standard is gerber files. If you took a fritzing file to a contract manufacturer and asked them to make you 500 of them they will still be chuckling at the end of the day about it, possibly until the end of the week.
About the only analogy I can think of for Fritzing vs almost any other electrical design software to create something you want to sell is creating a movie for someone using two VCRs - one pausing/playing and then recording on the second vcr the result of that to do all your edits, cuts and such… vs using adobe premier or similar to create your work.
The VCR route will create a movie of highly dubious quality that can only be used on another VCR and if you wanted to sell some of your movie you wouldn’t be able to find a company to mass produce this in any volume (even 10’s of them)… you cant even upload it to other services like youtube. This might be fine for personal consumption but really isnt suitable for distribution, even to friends and family.
Altium, and other ECAD programs are like Premier, they have a proprietary format for the project file, but it will export out as a 4k 3d video, or a file that will run on an old mobile phone. If you want to give this exported file to a distribution service such as youtube or a bluray printer, they will understand it - they probably cant do much with your premier pro project, but the .mp4 file you exported they certainly can. Altium, Spectra, PADS, GEDA, Eagle, KiCad, Allegro etc all have their own project and working formats, but they can all export to gerber files and others that are industry standards which everyone can use to make your design.