kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

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jmaustpc
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by jmaustpc »

cb88 wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:43 pm STP and STEP are used for the file extension of STEP files... but the StepUp ignores those that use .step

Untill now I have been able to work around this but some of the official part libraries now how .step in them.
Your first post, welcome to FreeCAD. :)


what is
cb88 wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:43 pmStepUp
? It sounds like you should submit a bug report to them since ".step" is a legitimate file extension for STEP files.... this is a lin to the STEP page on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10303-21
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easyw-fc
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by easyw-fc »

cb88 wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:43 pm STP and STEP are used for the file extension of STEP files... but the StepUp ignores those that use .step

Untill now I have been able to work around this but some of the official part libraries now how .step in them.
Hi @cb88
this is really strange because StepUp has always checked for 'stp', 'step', 'STP', 'STEP' extension... are you sure your file is at the right location, so StepUp can find it?
Would you please post your FC full info and StepUp release version?
If you enable Report Panel in FC you will see a log when StepUp is running... would you please post also it here?
jmaustpc wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:41 pm what is

cb88 wrote: ↑
Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:43 pm
StepUp

? It sounds like you should submit a bug report to them since ".step" is a legitimate file extension for STEP files.... this is a lin to the STEP page on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10303-21
@jmaustpc you miss the thread title :D
easyw-fc wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:07 pm Hi, kicad StepUp is a tool set for ECAD MCAD collaboration based on KiCad and FreeCAD
jmaustpc
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by jmaustpc »

easyw-fc wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:25 am @jmaustpc you miss the thread title :D
yes I missed that......, that looks bad! :)

I was spending so much time trying to work out if it was a spam post or not, not always easy to tell at first glance but we are getting better at picking them. As a matter of interest, for every one legitimate new user we are currently getting something like two new users trying to post spam or worse. I was going to say what their latest trick is, but I won't because I am trying to give the spammers as little information as possible and they could read this.
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easyw-fc
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by easyw-fc »

jmaustpc wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:42 am yes I missed that......, that looks bad! :)

I was spending so much time trying to work out if it was a spam post or not, not always easy to tell at first glance but we are getting better at picking them. As a matter of interest, for every one legitimate new user we are currently getting something like two new users trying to post spam or worse. I was going to say what their latest trick is, but I won't because I am trying to give the spammers as little information as possible and they could read this.
No worries at all :D
Thanks for keeping this forum tidy! :D
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bricechart
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by bricechart »

I'm having trouble with loading the front silkscreen. When I run the ksu tools Add Silks, I select the DXF silkscreen plot export from KiCad, then I get this error. My settings in both KiCad and FreeCAD are setup per the cheat sheet. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Code: Select all

loading... 
Running the Python command 'ksuToolsAddSilks' failed:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\BriceHope\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\kicadStepUpMod\kicadStepUpCMD.py", line 2523, in Activated
    makefacedxf.makeFaceDXF()
  File "C:\Users\BriceHope\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\kicadStepUpMod\makefacedxf.py", line 78, in makeFaceDXF
    importDXF.insert(fname, doc.Name)
  File "C:\Program Files\FreeCAD 0.18\Mod\Draft\importDXF.py", line 1606, in insert
    getDXFlibs()
  File "C:\Program Files\FreeCAD 0.18\Mod\Draft\importDXF.py", line 157, in getDXFlibs
    import dxfReader

invalid syntax (dxfReader.py, line 88)
Also here's more information about my FreeCAD version. I'm using KiCad version 5.1.2
OS: Windows 10
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.18.16110 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: (HEAD detached at upstream/releases/FreeCAD-0-18)
Hash: f7dccfaa909e5b9da26bf50c4a22ccca9bb10c40
Python version: 3.6.6
Qt version: 5.6.2
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.3.0
Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US)
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easyw-fc
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by easyw-fc »

bricechart wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:55 pm I'm having trouble with loading the front silkscreen. When I run the ksu tools Add Silks, I select the DXF silkscreen plot export from KiCad, then I get this error.
1) Would you please post your kicad StepUp version?
(Press the ksu help button)..
2) Can you also post your dxf file?
3) are you able to load (import) a dxf file in FC?
(you need to have ths legacy dxf library loaded)
bricechart
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by bricechart »

easyw-fc wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:48 pm 1) Would you please post your kicad StepUp version?
(Press the ksu help button)..
2) Can you also post your dxf file?
3) are you able to load (import) a dxf file in FC?
(you need to have ths legacy dxf library loaded)
1) kicad StepUp version 8.1.0.8
2) I cannot post the DXF file, but I don't believe its an issue with this specific file (see item 3)
3) I tried importing other DXF files into FC, and the same error pops up. I have the legacy option selected in the DXF import/export options within preferences. Any other ideas? Thanks for helping out.
FC Preferences - DXF.png
FC Preferences - DXF.png (86.49 KiB) Viewed 5737 times
bricechart
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by bricechart »

I think I figured things out on my own. I went to my %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD and removed the older dxf py files, including the ones located in the Macro directory. After that, I downloaded the current libraries from https://github.com/yorikvanhavre/Draft-dxf-importer/. After that the DXF importer started working correctly.

Using StepUp, it takes quite a bit of time to import the DXF silkscreen to the PCB. I'm using a i7-6700 and it's taking quite a bit of time!
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easyw-fc
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by easyw-fc »

bricechart wrote: Wed May 01, 2019 10:18 am Using StepUp, it takes quite a bit of time to import the DXF silkscreen to the PCB. I'm using a i7-6700 and it's taking quite a bit of time!
You are importing graphical artwork in a mechanical CAD. this is always very computational intensive.
Anyway after the first conversion, the resulting file will be loaded faster.

But remember that the resulting file will be very large.
Kicad sw doesn't export tracks or silks for STEP output.
StepUp is allowing that, but you have to know what you are going to produce.

Normally it is used to load a texture (an image) for this kind of artwork...
bricechart
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Re: kicad StepUp: ECAD MCAD bidirectional collaboration

Post by bricechart »

easyw-fc wrote: Wed May 01, 2019 11:08 am You are importing graphical artwork in a mechanical CAD. this is always very computational intensive.
Anyway after the first conversion, the resulting file will be loaded faster.

But remember that the resulting file will be very large.
Kicad sw doesn't export tracks or silks for STEP output.
StepUp is allowing that, but you have to know what you are going to produce.

Normally it is used to load a texture (an image) for this kind of artwork...
Thanks for the feedback. I'm just glad it's working now. I noticed that it's only importing on a single core, which is also another reason why it takes quite some time. Thanks for all your help!
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