Electrical – How to import PCB 3D model (step file) designed in MCAD software in Altium and place PCB footprints, and route it

3daltiumcadpcb-designrouting

I have my PCB board from Mechanical Design software as a Step file. Now, I want to import it into Altium Designer and place PCB footprints, and do the routing etc. I am looking for some guidelines or Tutorials. Any and all help is appreciated.

Best Answer

I just looked around and I found something on the Altium website. Maybe this can help you. Here you can also find more information about PCB design.

To place a 3D Body and populate its contents in the PCB Editor, select Place » 3D Body from the main menu, create its object shape and choose the Generic option as the 3D Model Type in the Properties panel. The Souce section in the panel will then offer three alternative source options for importing a STEP files:

  1. Vault – Browse to a connected Altium managed content server and select a 3D model file revision. Altium Designer detects if this file is updated.
  2. Embed Model – Browse and load a suitable file from disk. The model data is stored (embedded) in the PCB file.
  3. Link to Model – Select a Model file from a folder registered in the Choose Model dialog – typically, the file might be shared with an MCAD designer. This file will be linked to the 3D Body, so any file updates made in the MCAD domain will be detected by Altium Designer when the file is opened.