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Novità ver. 2006
HYPERNETLIST
GENERATION
Netlist generation is a “core” feature in many processes within
VisualCAM, so performance in this
area is critical. You will benefit from performance increases of
15-20 times that of any previous
GT-Fabricator release. CAM350 users who have recently migrated to
VisualCAM will see a 5-10
times increase over their previous product. HyperNETLIST
generation brings the performance of
VisualCAM on-par with high-end tools, such as Valor’s
Enterprise3000 and Mania Technologie’s
UCAM. This increase in performance will allow you to complete
processes like netlist comparison
in under 15-minutes total processing time, for both the netlist
generation and the comparison
itself. These extreme throughput increases translate directly to
your ability to perform the checks
and analysis you need, without negatively impacting your overall
processing time, thus
improving not only the accuracy of your design but also improving
your time-to-market.
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Faster netlist
generation means less impact on overall processing time, thus
helping
you to improve your accuracy and time-to-market.
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5-10X faster performance than CAM350
netlist generation on most designs.
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15-20X faster performance than any
previous GT-Fabricator release, on most designs.
HYPERNETLIST COMPARISON
One of the primary reasons you want to generate a
netlist from your Gerber data is so that you can then do a
comparison against a CAD-generated IPC-D-356 netlist. Performance
and accuracy increases being one of the keys to this release,
netlist comparison has also been enhanced to operate at optimal
levels. You can expect to see roughly a 5X improvement in comparison
times over previous GT-Fabricator releases. Helping you to leverage
the error results to their maximum benefit, we have now included a
new Pin-Point Error feature designed to zero-in on any shorts or
opens that were detected during the comparison process. This feature
alone can tremendously reduce the amount of time necessary to
troubleshoot a job, by eliminating the need for you to have to
visually trace the offending nets involved within the short or open
error.
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Netlist comparison performance that is
comparable to Valor Enterprise3000 and Mania UCAM, on most
designs.
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5X faster
performance than any previous GerbTool product release, on most
designs.
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New Pin-Point
Error technology is designed to help you zero-in on shorts or
opens.
AUTOMATIC DRAWN PAD CONVERSION
You will enjoy the ability to process an entire
data set “hands-off” with our new Automatic Drawn Pad Conversion
feature. Automatic Drawn Pad Conversion processes your data
significantly faster than ever before, with the added benefit of
maintaining pads like rounded rectangles with standard intrinsic
apertures – there is no need for custom apertures. In cases where a
conversion could not occur, an error is logged within the Analysis
tree, where you can review and correct as required.
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Converts drawn pads to flash pads quickly and
efficiently in a true “hands-off” manner.
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Uses solder mask
layer for accurate analysis of pads that need to be converted. The
Solder mask layer does not have to be flashed.
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Supports the
conversion of rounded rectangles with an intrinsic aperture; no
custom apertures required.
STENCIL ENHANCEMENTS
We first introduced the Stencil Enhancement
feature in GerbTool version 14. Working with some of our existing
stencil users, we have further optimized VisualCAM’s Stencil
Enhancement feature to be more flexible in its ability to
accommodate a wide range of processing techniques. Originally the
Stencil Enhancement feature was designed to work in conjunction with
the Paste Mask Generator/Optimizer; however there are times when
some users need to work from an existing paste mask layer, without
any optimization, and make enhancements to specific pad-pair
openings that are necessary to comply with a customer’s
requirements. To this end, now you can increase or decrease openings
while simultaneously adjusting the shape configuration of a
particular pad-pair. In addition, rounded corners can be applied to
all enhanced shapes. You will also benefit from the ability to work
with either percentages or physical amounts when developing your
rules for pad-pair enhancement. You can also “justify” your enhanced
openings along any edge of the copper pad that the opening is
associated with.
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Added support for “justification” of the paste
mask opening being enhanced.
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Revised data
entry fields to support “increases” or “decreases” by using
positive or negative numbers on either a percentage or physical
amount basis.
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Increased
enhancement control with support for rounded corners on all shapes
as well as height and width control.
CONVERT DRAWN
TEXT TO TRUE TEXT
Processing data for the purposes of Assembly Reverse Engineering,
when all you have to work
from is Silkscreen data, can be difficult and labor intensive due
to traditional Gerber layers
having drawn text instead of real text. To aid in the efficiency
of Assembly Reverse Engineering
from a Silkscreen layer, or any other situation where you might
want true text, VisualCAM has a
Convert Drawn Text feature. This feature allows you to convert
traditional Gerber “drawn text”
into more intelligent “VisualCAM True Text.” Using true text
allows VisualCAM to automate the
Assembly Reverse Engineering process by pre-selecting reference
designators during the
footprint identification phase. Convert Drawn Text is a highly
flexible and “universal” conversion
process that allows you to “teach” VisualCAM what your fonts look
like in any given design set.
Font definitions can be saved for future use with other similar
data sets that are output from the
same CAD system.
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Converts Drawn
Text to True Text automatically, allows for automated assembly
reverse engineering using a silkscreen layer.
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System can be
taught new font definitions.
ASSEMBLY REVERSE ENGINEERING (ARE) FOOTPRINT
LIBRARY
The footprint library provides you with quick and
easy access to your parts while reverse engineering a design for
assembly purposes. You will benefit from the ability to load and
save different footprint libraries, depending on the demands of your
reverse engineering process. While in the footprint library, you are
provided with access to pin numbering configurations, as well as the
ability to adjust device names, part numbers, descriptions, values,
and tolerances for any given part within the footprint library. The
VisualCAM footprint library structure has three levels of support.
First, there is the top-level footprint itself – this carries the
basic pin pattern of the part in question. Second is the
device-level – here you are allowed to create multiple devices for
any given footprint. Third is the part number-level – for any given
device you can also have multiple part numbers associated with it.
This broad range of flexibility allows you to accommodate a wide
range of assembly reverse engineering footprint requirements.
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5 Different methods of automated component
footprint identification, consisting of IPC-D-356 data use,
silkscreen text use, existing centroid data use, footprint library
use, and interactive footprint selection.
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BOM Import
completes the reverse engineering process by combining part
number, description, value, and tolerance intelligence with
footprint location data that was reverse engineered from Gerber.
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Support for the
industry standard assembly format FATF from Tecnomatix/UGS or
generic ASCII.
ARE: PART
IDENTIFICATION USING IPC-D-356
Reverse
engineering a Gerber design for assembly, using an IPC-D-356 netlist,
is a process that is unique to VisualCAM. It provides you with the
fastest, most “hands-off” processing method available today. Most
designs can be processed in a matter of seconds. Additional benefit
comes from increased accuracy and reliability when working from an
IPC-D-356 netlist, because you are also able to verify the
connectivity of a design prior to investing any time in processing
it. Part footprints are automatically built and identified within
the design data without the need for any user interaction. When
combined with the BOM Import feature, you can achieve the highest
level of data content with the least amount of processing time.
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Fastest
assembly reverse engineering process available on the market
today; processes most jobs in a matter of seconds.
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High level of reliability and
accuracy when the source of the IPC-D-356 netlist was the original
CAD system that was used to layout the design data being
processed.
ARE: PART
IDENTIFICATION USING CENTROID REPORTS
When an IPC-D-356
file cannot be obtained with a Gerber data set, part identification
using a centroid file (which is commonly found with
assembly-oriented Gerber data sets) is the next best thing.
VisualCAM provides a universal reader than can accommodate any type
of ASCII-based centroid report file. Once a centroid file has been
parsed, the system guides you to each part instance and asks you to
verify the pins that should be associated with that footprint. A
footprint is automatically built and the rest of the design is
searched for matches; if matches are found they are automatically
identified based upon the device name and/or part number information
contained within the centroid report that was used. Most designs can
be processed in a matter of minutes, depending on the level of
information provided in the centroid file.
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Offers high
level of throughput when an IPC-D-356 file is not available and
only an ASCII centroid report exists.
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Automatically guides you from one
centroid location to the next.
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System automatically identifies
other instances of the same part based upon device name or part
number.
ARE: PART
IDENTIFICATION USING FOOTPRINT LIBRARY
Some users may
choose to use a “standardized” footprint library that they have
developed, and reverse engineer their designs from it, rather than
from IPC-D-356 or centroid files. This is a unique benefit to those
who want to maintain tighter control over their footprint
definitions. You will continue to benefit from similar levels of
automation as found when identifying parts from centroid reports or
silkscreens. The system automatically sorts footprints within the
library from largest to smallest and starts processing with the
largest footprint, to help reduce pin pattern mismatches. You need
only verify the part being identified and the reference designator
that is associated with it.
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Unique
alternative when IPC-D-356 and Centroid files are not present --
you can reverse engineer based upon existing libraries.
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Similar levels of automation as when
using Centroid reports.
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Automatically sorts library from
largest footprint to smallest and begins working from the largest
footprint, to reduce pin pattern identification mistakes.
ARE: PART
IDENTIFICATION USING SILKSCREEN DATA
So what happens
when you can’t get an IPC-D-356 netlist, there is no centroid file,
and you don’t have a footprint library built? The only thing left to
work with is your silkscreen layer. By using the new Convert Drawn
Text-to-True Text feature, in conjunction with Part Identification
using Silkscreen Data, you benefit from an automated process in
which the system shows you each reference designator within the
design and asks you to confirm the pin pattern. Like other
identification methods, footprints are built automatically, and the
system will search out other matches and automatically identify them
as well. Despite only having a Gerber data set for reverse
engineering, user interaction is still kept to a minimum.
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Provides
reasonable level of automation in cases where all you have is
Gerber data.
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Works in conjunction with the Drawn
Text-to-True Text function to help automate the identification of
part instances and minimize user interaction.
ARE: PART
IDENTIFICATION VIA USER INTERACTION
There are some rare
cases where you may have only conductive layers in your Gerber data
set. User Interactive Part Identification is a dual-purpose feature,
in that you can populate a footprint library and manually identify
part instances throughout a design simultaneously. As an added
feature, the identification search can be turned off so that you can
build-up a library of footprints only. These footprints can then be
saved and used on multiple jobs in the future.
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Interactive
population of footprint library.
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Semi-automatic part instance
identification when only conductive layers are present.
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Offers a “last resort” method of
reverse engineering when all you have are conductive Gerber
layers.
ARE: BOM
IMPORT
Users interested
in providing the maximum level of information to their assembly
house will appreciate the ability to read in any ASCII text BOM
report, and update the footprint information of a given design with
the device name, part number, description, value, and tolerance
data. The system matches part instances based upon reference
designator and updates the footprints according to the incoming
data. If additional devices and part numbers of an existing device
are required, the system builds them automatically. This feature
offers the maximum level of flexibility and data content during any
assembly reverse engineering process flow.
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Universal
import parser for any ASCII text Bill-of-Material report file.
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Automatically updates device name,
part number, value, tolerance, and description fields for any part
footprint based upon the level of incoming data present within the
Bill-of-Materials file.
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Provides the highest level of data
during any assembly reverse engineering process.
ARE: GENERIC BOM/CENTROID
REPORT OUTPUT
Although you can
use the FATF™ format for outputting your part footprint information
for assembly, you may need to interface with an external application
using a more generic means. This feature provides you with the
ability to produce generic Bill-of-Material/Centroid report files in
an ASCII text format. Reports can be printed or saved to a file,
depending on your requirements.
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Quickly create
report files based upon the part footprints you have reverse
engineered from a given data set.
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Reports can be printed or saved to
an ASCII file for external use within other programs.
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Provides “generic” centroid part
footprint support; an alternative to intelligent formats such as
FATF™.
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