[Plugin] Kicad - .brd Importer — 15 March 2011
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Hi Giovani,
Your script could be really useful; but unfortunately, it either gives me a Bugsplat or appears to hang when I try to import the sample.brd. I am running on WindowsXP Pro with SketchUp 7 and followed your instructions in the readme.pdf file.
I have written a ruby script that creates models of PCB's (from text extracted from an Allegro board format). I can't share this script because it was developed for use at my place of work and on company time so it is copyrighted and company property. Your script appears to have much greater functionality such as the options to draw layers and import silkscreen. I would be interested in assisting with your efforts and getting this running on SU7 but I have not been able to figure out where the error is occuring. The splat or hang is nearly instant so I don't see any syntax errors in the Ruby console window.
Keith
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@keithp27540 said:
Hi Giovani,
Your script could be really useful; but unfortunately, it either gives me a Bugsplat or appears to hang when I try to import the sample.brd. I am running on WindowsXP Pro with SketchUp 7 and followed your instructions in the readme.pdf file.
I have written a ruby script that creates models of PCB's (from text extracted from an Allegro board format). I can't share this script because it was developed for use at my place of work and on company time so it is copyrighted and company property. Your script appears to have much greater functionality such as the options to draw layers and import silkscreen. I would be interested in assisting with your efforts and getting this running on SU7 but I have not been able to figure out where the error is occuring. The splat or hang is nearly instant so I don't see any syntax errors in the Ruby console window.
Keith
Ciao Keith,
sorry if I haven't replied before. If the script fails as soon as it starts, the problem could be related to some user privileges.
In fact the script first reads the file, then it locates the 3D models...
Pls could you tell me:- if you're running sketchup as administrator or super user or restricted user...
- if sketchup hangs together with the script, or you can continue working
- what's the full path of kicad models
Meanwhile, I'll try to reproduce your issue on a windows machine (I don't know if I can catch Sketchup 7, maybe
Pls be free to reply me for any suggestion.
Thanks for your feedback
Ciao
Giovanni
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@giodi1973 said:
Ciao Keith,
sorry if I haven't replied before. If the script fails as soon as it starts, the problem could be related to some user privileges.
In fact the script first reads the file, then it locates the 3D models...
Pls could you tell me:- if you're running sketchup as administrator or super user or restricted user...
- if sketchup hangs together with the script, or you can continue working
- what's the full path of kicad models
Meanwhile, I'll try to reproduce your issue on a windows machine (I don't know if I can catch Sketchup 7, maybe
Pls be free to reply me for any suggestion.
Thanks for your feedback
Ciao
Giovanni
Giovanni, the script fails as soon as it starts and causes the SketchUp bugsplat. No way to keep working, as SketchUp exits when it generates the bugsplat. I am running as a user with administrator rights.
I extracted the brd file and models to "C:\Documents and Settings<user_name>\My Documents\downloads\Kicad" keeping the directory structure in your zip file.
I'll poke around some when I have a chance and see if I can assist with locating the problem.
--Keith
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Ciao Keith,
I did some trial in order to verify some issue on Windows Platform. Pls find below the test conditions:- Microsoft Windows XP SP3
- Google Sketchup 8.0.4811
- User privileges restricted (no administrator)
kicad.rb and kicad folder (with inside kicad_class.rb and kicad_parser.rb) under C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins
kicad folder (with inside components) under C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Components
With this settings, I did the following trials:
- Launched Sketchup and imported sample.brd
- Launched Sketchup, opened sample.skp, then imported sample.brd
In both cases the script worked perfectly. But if I perform the script two times (without restart Sketchup), the second one splats. I'll investigate,maybe the problem is some uninitialized variable in the script...
Ciao
Giovanni
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@keithp27540 said:
@giodi1973 said:
Ciao Keith,
sorry if I haven't replied before. If the script fails as soon as it starts, the problem could be related to some user privileges.
In fact the script first reads the file, then it locates the 3D models...
Pls could you tell me:- if you're running sketchup as administrator or super user or restricted user...
- if sketchup hangs together with the script, or you can continue working
- what's the full path of kicad models
Meanwhile, I'll try to reproduce your issue on a windows machine (I don't know if I can catch Sketchup 7, maybe
Pls be free to reply me for any suggestion.
Thanks for your feedback
Ciao
Giovanni
Giovanni, the script fails as soon as it starts and causes the SketchUp bugsplat. No way to keep working, as SketchUp exits when it generates the bugsplat. I am running as a user with administrator rights.
I extracted the brd file and models to "C:\Documents and Settings<user_name>\My Documents\downloads\Kicad" keeping the directory structure in your zip file.
I'll poke around some when I have a chance and see if I can assist with locating the problem.
--Keith
Keith, I thought the issue could be related to some script conflict. To test this, you need to remove all the scripts except the kicad one, or to perform a new installation and adding kicad plugin only.
The test I performed have been done with a bare configuration.
Giovanni -
Attached some screen-shot of the plugin....
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Giovanni,
Thanks for this great plugin! Unfortunately, I've got a brd that I'm having trouble importing...
If you have a moment to check it out, that would be great.
Cheers!
Troy
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@bigelowt said:
Giovanni,
Thanks for this great plugin! Unfortunately, I've got a brd that I'm having trouble importing...
[attachment=0:r4y89nzm]<!-- ia0 -->netduinopluslayout.zip<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:r4y89nzm]
If you have a moment to check it out, that would be great.
Cheers!
Troy
Ciao Troy,
I've checked your file but it looks a binary format not recognized by kicad. Even if the filetype is .brd, the internal structure is different. This is why it can't be imported from my plugin. Which kind of ecad you have used to build it? Maybe it could be any converter around the net.
Pls let me know for any help...
Ciao
Giovanni -
Hi ,
when importing any brd files (4 ... 10 layers) in Sketchup 8 Pro I always get the error message "PCBNEW-BOARD missing not closing properly". Maybe this plugin was an idea for the KiCad project http://www.kicad-pcb.org/display/KICAD/KiCad+EDA+Software+Suite but not followed up since march 2011 ?
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@hmuller2 said:
Hi ,
when importing any brd files (4 ... 10 layers) in Sketchup 8 Pro I always get the error message "PCBNEW-BOARD missing not closing properly". Maybe this plugin was an idea for the KiCad project http://www.kicad-pcb.org/display/KICAD/KiCad+EDA+Software+Suite but not followed up since march 2011 ?Ciao hmuller2,
could you attach the .brd file where you have encountered this error message? You can send it by email too...
Thanks
Ciao
Giovanni
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