OpenBoardView - Need more file formats supported! Do you have any specs?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Inflex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2018, 06:47:02 am
content: Hi everyone,Regularly I receive boardview files that can't be decoded by OpenBoardView, and as the developer, I want to add them, but there's a problem; unless it's a plain-text format, OR I have a file format specification, it's pretty much a near impossible task to realistically decode these closed formats.Right now I'm trying to add;* Allegro Cadence BRD format ( binary database like format )and;* PADS PCB ( early ODB++ binary format I think produced by the original creators before it was taken on by Mentor)I've tried contacting the respective companies and as fully anticipated have received the "Sorry, but no" responses.At least with the plain-text XML based ODB++ there's a specification available.

author: Inflex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2018, 10:18:12 am
content: Bump.As a side note, I've released today's development version of OBV.https://github.com/inflex/OpenBoardView/releases

author: Fire Doger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2018, 12:48:16 pm
content: The first thing I would search on Google is "Kicad import xxxx"As an open source EDA you can easily find the source files for the importers that already use (or 3rd party converters on GitHub etc...) and use the decoding part on your program.I hope it helps, OpenBoardView is awesome!

author: Inflex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2018, 01:01:47 pm
content: Sadly the KiCAD ".pcb" import was the ASCII only version, no binary / Mendo PADS version.Similar story of woe with the Cadence Allegro too.I'm at the point I'd be willing to throw real $ at someone who can decode the Mendo PADS binary pcb format (okay, for me, "real money" means up to $500~$1000 AUD)

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2018, 02:45:48 pm
content: do you know what forced the 10.12 minimal system version on mac os x openboardview ?thanks.

author: Inflex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2018, 03:12:55 pm
content: Quote from: kripton2035 on May 11, 2018, 02:45:48 pmThe ImGUI display engine is what sets that limit to my knowledge.

author: mbless
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2018, 06:41:14 pm
content: Send me a PM with a link to download the board files. I wrote some scripts a while ago thatattemptto figure out the binary format. I can see what it spits out.

author: PCB.Wiz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2018, 10:41:46 pm
content: Quote from: Inflex on May 07, 2018, 06:47:02 amI thought Mentor ODB++ was relatively recent, and is a PCB export format for manufacture. Last time I looked, that was ASCII but spread over a complex multi-directory ?Mentor PADS does have a ASCII format and ASCII spec - or do you already read that, and wanted to add ODB++ ?Quote from: Inflex on May 11, 2018, 01:01:47 pmDoes Mendo here mean Mentor ?If you can import the PADS ASCII version, why do you need the Binary version ?Note some of the new, lowest end mentor variants have killed the ASCII option, in order to 'turf protect', but almost no one seems to be using such closed CAD pgms ?

author: ludzinc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 25, 2018, 12:40:09 am
content: Had a look on your site - can't tell what it is you can open.Is there a list I'm missing?Also - do you have a fund-me page or similar? Would like to kick some coin in to help.

author: Inflex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 09:12:48 am
content: Just thought I'd provide an update. An anonymous person has converted the PADS files of interest into ++ODB for me, which I was able to then filter & convert in to a format that I can now work with. With that said, I think I'm going to leave the PADS option alone because having now gone through the data it's simply a mess with the boardviews in question. Most of the files are out of date, a couple have completely wrong connectors and entire sections.To combat the situation of always being last to get our hands on the useful data, I'm going to start a sister project to OpenBoardView, funded out of my pocket an from sales of FlexBV which will generate software that'll allow us to crowd-build new boardviews, typically from high quality PCB scans + schematics (or if we're lucky, just the schematics if they still frequently include the board outline/overlay.