I have Gerbv installed on my computer and I don't recall any real issues with it other than not being very tolerant of some looseness various packages have with the Gerber and Exelon formats. I'm trying to measure between two features about 2 mil space and I can't zoom in nearly enough to see this.. Am I missing some feature that allows tighter zoom? Or maybe have some control turned on that limits the zoom like maybe the rendering mode?

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Rick C.

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Am 18.07.21 um 01:26 schrieb Rick C:
> I have Gerbv installed on my computer and I don't recall any real issues with it other than not being very tolerant of some looseness various packages have with the Gerber and Exelon formats. I'm trying to measure between two features about 2 mil space and I can't zoom in nearly enough to see this. Am I missing some feature that allows tighter zoom? Or maybe have some control turned on that limits the zoom like maybe the rendering mode?

I recently tried to import a side coupled microstrip filter layout
generated by ADS (really generated as a smart component :-)
into Altium Designer 21 as a footprint for easy re-use.

That was an epic fail. It was transmogrified to something barely
recognizable. I got it finally working via .dxf and some filling
of the skeleton with metal fills. AD21 insisted in connecting all
the individual metal resonators. Design automation at its best...

Gerbv on the Linux host of the WIN10 virtual machine displayed it
properly just by clicking on the file.

cheers,
Gerhard

Gerhard

On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 2:16:26 AM UTC-4, Gerhard Hoffmann wrote:
> Am 18.07.21 um 01:26 schrieb Rick C:
> > I have Gerbv installed on my computer and I don't recall any real issues with it other than not being very tolerant of some looseness various packages have with the Gerber and Exelon formats. I'm trying to measure between two features about 2 mil space and I can't zoom in nearly enough to see this. Am I missing some feature that allows tighter zoom? Or maybe have some control turned on that limits the zoom like maybe the rendering mode?
> I recently tried to import a side coupled microstrip filter layout
> generated by ADS (really generated as a smart component :-)
> into Altium Designer 21 as a footprint for easy re-use.
>
> That was an epic fail. It was transmogrified to something barely
> recognizable. I got it finally working via .dxf and some filling
> of the skeleton with metal fills. AD21 insisted in connecting all
> the individual metal resonators. Design automation at its best...
>
> Gerbv on the Linux host of the WIN10 virtual machine displayed it
> properly just by clicking on the file.

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not following how it is relevant. I'm not saying Gerbv is not displaying it correctly. I can't zoom in far enough to visually distinguish a 2 mil space adequately. It's there, I can see it's there, but I'm trying to measure it and 2 mil is so tiny that I can't see it well enough to get any accuracy in the measurement.

The PWB fab houses always want to clip the silkscreen layer around not just the drill hole, but the entire pad and with a large margin. The reasons they use are varied, "tenting is bad", ink will ooze down the via hole, etc. But they only need to clip around the drill hole, not the pad. Here is the screen shot of clipping I was previously able to get everyone to agree on. The zoom in Gerbv is maxed out. I can't actually measure the clipping with any accuracy. I'd also like to measure the diameter of the drill holes to make sure I know what they are supposed to be.

http://arius.com/photos/MS-DCARD_silk_clipping.png

Can anyone recommend a decent free Gerber viewer?

--

Rick C.

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Am 18.07.21 um 14:33 schrieb Rick C:

>> Gerbv on the Linux host of the WIN10 virtual machine displayed it
>> properly just by clicking on the file.
>
> Thanks for the reply, but I'm not following how it is relevant. I'm not saying Gerbv is not displaying it correctly.

Well, it was more of an Altium rant.

When the freeware runs better...

And that was just in the same week where they wanted another
€2100 or so for another year of non-support.
Old bugs that live forever and supadupa development into an
unwanted direction such as cloud.

Gerhard