Lloyd, I would whole heartily agree with you. There was a CAD system VeriBest that was based on Bentley's MicroStation and therefor needed it to run, there was two editors the PCB side and the drafting side, and yes one could say that there was great power in that combination, however the PCB side was never quite the PCB package it should have been due to the limitations and controls of MicroStation. It was very cumbersome to deal with the two editors. You were stuck using both no matter what to do certain functions to complete a design. It was another company and for Bentley to change MicroStation just for VeriBest was not in the cards. Thus when they removed MicroStation it ultimately became a very good PCB tool, on its own, now Mentor owns them. Also there were just as many who wanted Microstation as those who didn't, so you can't please everyone. That being said I would agree to leave the EDA tools to do what a EDA tools should do, and provide proper export and import to the appropriate tools to do mechanical drawing, checking etc. Translations are always fraught with some problems too but there are a few reasonably good standards out there to provide adequate interface to these other tools provided the EDA CAD vendor implements them properly. I guess the one downside is you need to purchase and learn other programs, but if one really wants or needs a good drafting package one should buy and learn one. We should not forget though that an EDA package should however provide at least a minimum capability to output minimum sufficient documentation to fab, assemble and test a board. May not be the way you want the documentation, but none the less any fab house etc should be able to produce a board with it. Or that really is like buying the car without tires. I really don't expect my EDA package to be a full blown 2D/3D/Finite Analysis package. It is nice to be able to simply view it though also. I do wish though Protel had a little better dimensioning capabilty though. Thanks Bob
Robert M. Wolfe, C.I.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Protel EDA Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 12:49 PM Subject: Re: [PEDA] Re[3]: View PCB 3D > Brad, > I understand the sentiment of the Protel viewer by others in the forum. I > suppose the point that I am trying to make it that Protel is an EDA tool not > a 3D CAD package. I don't expect it to be. I use it for what it is intended, > not for what is not intended. Ergo, I use the 3D export utility and change > programs to complete my intention. Similarily, I would not wear a parachute > to go SCUBA diving, nor vice versa. Protel is an EDA package, don't expect > it to do your mechanical work. It provides a near useless 3D viewer, yes, > but if this propagates the usage of another program to which the transition > is seamless, then perhaps it has had some use after all. I digress, Protel > should not expand the 3D viewers functionality, it should embed the export > utility to a plethora of 3D programs and/or generic transform genres. STEP, > IGES etc.. > Regards, > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Brad Velander [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 9:48 AM > To: 'Protel EDA Forum' > Subject: Re: [PEDA] Re[3]: View PCB 3D > > > Hi Lloyd, > your comments are very true for the Desktop-EDA package. However I > think some of the points expressed were misunderstood. The 'Protel' "viewer" > is a toy with virtually no useful purpose. Protel needs to align themselves > with the industry and develop a true 3D mechanical interface (sorry forget > the acronym) rather then a "viewer". The Protel viewer is useless, > absolutely useless. Would ACAD, Solidworks or any other get away with a > pretty viewer in their products, no you need output suitably formatted for > inclusion in the next level of development tools? Showing a pretty picture > (even one with user defined models) serves no measurable useful purpose. > This is what I think some of the other posters have been trying to say. The > Qual-ECAD or Desktop-EDA tools are a proper path for 3D development, not a > simple Protel viewer. > > Sincerely, > Brad Velander. > > Lead PCB Designer > Norsat International Inc. > Microwave Products > Tel (604) 292-9089 (direct line) > Fax (604) 292-9010 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.norsat.com > > See us at Booth 323 at Satellite 2002 in Washington, DC March 6-8. > > >snip > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
