Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007 - (Page 35)

mechanical assemblies because, thanks to the initial flow of accurate 2D/3D data, the engineers are able to simply “get it right the first time.” By basing its product development process on a unified ECAD solution that smoothly interconnects to the MCAD environment, 3G Engineering is able to tackle product design as a single engineering challenge, rather than as set of disconnected design problems that are resolved in isolation – and finally brought together. The company’s engineers can confidently develop the ECAD and MCAD elements of a design in parallel, ECADMCAD amalgamation errors are rare, and the overall product design process is faster and simpler. According to 3G, design processes that formerly took weeks with the disconnected ECADMCAD systems used in the past can now be completed in just days – a considerable asset for a company that holds a competitive advantage based on innovation and rapid product development times. FIGURE 1. Shown as rendered in an advanced board layout system, this assembly includes 3D component models imported from MCAD STEP files. The entire board assembly can be exported to an MCAD application as a 3D STEP file, allowing ECAD-MCAD co-design. FIGURE 2. Effective and collaborative ECAD-MCAD design relies on the smooth, bi-directional flow of design data using a robust system-independent format such as the STEP standard. As ECAD and MCAD design disciplines converge, it is becoming increasingly important for all design engineering teams to take into account how that relationship works and its ultimate effect on the overall product development process. For those accustomed to working in the traditional 2D space of ECAD design capture and board design, it is now important to consider the benefits of embracing the 3D design space and its connection with the entire pro- duction chain. The ability to display, exchange and work with 3D rendered objects in your electronic design system is not just a nice add-on feature set and is certainly not a gimmick. As design disciplines converge and collaborate at a higher level, it has become an inherent and essential part of the electronic product development process that will play an increasingly important role into the future. PCD&F ROB EVANS is in technical marketing with Altium Ltd. He can be reached at rob.evans@altium.com.au. “We needed professional CAM software without breaking the bank Fab It! 2007 was the perfect choice!” “Save Money” on PCB Manufacturing One-Click DRC/DFM Bare-Board Analysis “Full-Featured” CAM Software Fab It! 2007 - Easily combines multiple PCB designs into a single set of CAM ﬁles, thereby saving manufacturing costs. Fab It! 2007 - Finds all manufacturing violations. Over 150 checks performed! Fab It! 2007 - Get everything you need and more. View, edit and output data. Extract and compare netlists. Advanced fabrication commands, SMT stencil tools. Plus DXF and ODB++ options. Runs on Linux, Solaris & Windows NOVEMBER 2007 Download Your FREE “Full-Featured” Demo Today! www.numericalinnovations.com PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB 35 http://www.numericalinnovations.com http://www.numericalinnovations.com

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Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007

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