Vector logotype for silk screen layers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: shadewind
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2011, 12:45:08 pm
content: I've seen people using company logotypes and similar vector images for PCBs. How can I add this to an Altium Designer PCB document?

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2011, 01:03:02 pm
content: There probably is a way to add a picture directly but i cant say ive seen it.Ya could convert a vector image into a true type font, since altium designer lets you add text in any font to your pcb.Its also possible they are doing it to the gerbers files afterwards

author: armandas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2011, 11:54:56 am
content: You can convert a bitmap to a shape using a script: DXP -> Run Script. Then browseCode:Altium Designer\Examples\Scripts\Delphiscript Scripts\Pcb\PCB Logo Creatorand run it.

author: mkissin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2011, 10:11:55 pm
content: The easiest way that I've seen (and the way I do it) is to create a 2-bit *.bmp file.Note, it's very important that the file is actually 2-bit. Many programs will tell you that the file is 2-bit and then go ahead and save it in a higher bit format. Irfanview is one program that will actually respect your format.Once you have that file, you can open it in Windows Paint (again, this is fairly important), CTRL-A, CTRL-CThen in altium designer, select the layer you want to paste the image onto, and paste. You can paste onto overlay, copper, or any other layer type. Any pixels that were black in the bitmap will come out as filled. White pixels will be empty.Once your image has been pasted in, you can turn it into a union and resize it as you like.

author: shadewind
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2011, 11:48:04 pm
content: I found another way as well. You can export as DWG or DXF from Adobe Illustrator and you can then import that into Altium. You have to fiddle a bit with the export settings in Illustrator and the import settings in Alitum but it does work reasonably well if you make sure you don't have any non-outlined fonts.

author: zeke
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2011, 02:57:54 am
content: The easiest method I've found is this:- open up microsoft word,- paste your image into a blank document,- copy that image with ctrl-c,- open up your pcb file in altium and- paste it into the silkscreen layer.It works for me.

author: dfnr2
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2012, 06:21:05 pm
content: Quote from: shadewind on October 16, 2011, 11:48:04 pmHi Shadewind,Could you elaborate on what settings you need to change in Illustrator and Altium to get this to work? Last week I tried to import a DXF logo without success, but I do have Illustrator available, and would like to make it work. For my work last week, I finally imported a bitmap by cut/paste, and then traced out the regions in Altium, then saved the logo as a snippet. Not ideal.Thanks,Dave

author: timorousme
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2012, 06:29:42 pm
content: What's the script for Dave's platypus?