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Parent page: PCB Objects
Place 3D Bodies to represent the mounted physical component.
A 3D body is a primitive polygonal design object that is used to represent the three-dimensional shape of the physical component that is mounted on the assembled PCB. Any number of 3D body objects can be used together to create complex component shapes. You can place extruded polygon, cylindrical and spherical 3D Body shapes either in the PCB editor or into a PCB library component footprint.
As well as the simple 3D shapes that can be defined, a 3D Body object also can be used as a container into which you can import a standard-format generic 3D model, including STEP, SolidWorks and Parasolid format models.
The actual 3D shape is displayed when the editor is switched to 3D display mode (click View » 3D Layout Mode or press the 3 shortcut).
The following 3D objects can be used:
*.Stp
and *.Step
*.SldPrt
*.x_t
and *.x_b
3D Body objects are available for placement in both the PCB and PCB Library Editors by:
To place a standard 3D Body object:
Top
. In the PCB library editor the footprint is built for the top side of the board; it can be flipped to the bottom during the PCB design process, if required.While placing an extruded 3D Body there are five available corner modes, four of which also have corner direction sub-modes. During placement:
An extruded 3D Body object; note the reference point shown in the 2D and 3D views.
The standard Extruded and Cylinder 3D Body shapes cannot be rotated around all three axes. For example, an Extruded object can only be rotated around the Z axis (looking down into the object), and a Cylindrical object can be rotated around the Y and Z axes.
If an object needs to be rotated around another axis, it can be converted to a STEP object. To convert a free 3D Body object, select it in the workspace then right-click and choose the Convert To STEP command from the context menu. The command will not be available if there is no object selected, or if there is more than one object selected. Once an object has been converted to STEP, it can no longer be re-sized in the workspace.
Convert an extruded shape to STEP if you need to rotate it around the X or Y axes.
A generic model, such as a STEP-format component model, is placed by linking or embedding it in a 3D Body object.
To place a generic model:
Accurate and detailed component models are available.
Typically this feature is used to link to a large MCAD model, such as the product case, that you want to place in the PCB editor to check the loaded board for fit. The advantage of linking the model is that if the software detects that an external linked model file has been updated, it will warn on file-open, allowing the linked model to be refreshed.
Linked models must be stored in a location that is defined on the PCB Editor - Models page of the Preferences dialog. If the required location is not listed in the Choose Model dialog, click the Add Directories button to open the Preferences dialog.
To add a new location in the PCB Editor - Models Preferences page:
To reference a 3D model that is stored in a server:
As well as interactively placing a 3D Body, they can also be created from a set of existing track, arc, and solid objects that define a closed shape. To define a 3D Body from an existing closed shape:
The 3D Body will be created from the closed boundary formed by the primitives on the Top Layer, regardless of the layer on which the selected tracks are located. Note that the orignal selected primitives will still exist after the region has been created and will remain selected. The 3D Body's boundary follows the center line of the bounding track objects and it is not selected.
As the Create 3D Body from Selected Objects algorithm uses the centerline of the selected objects, it requires that the end and start locations of touching objects are exactly co-incident (at the same location). If this is not the case, a Confirm dialog will appear, giving the location where the algorithm failed and also providing the opportunity to instruct the algorithm to attempt to define the 3D Body from the edges of the objects instead. As long as the selected objects overlap slightly, this option should create a 3D Body with the edge of the 3D Body tracing the outer edge of the selected objects.
This method of editing allows you to select a placed 3D body object directly in the workspace and change its size, shape, or location graphically.
For an extruded 3D body, click once on the object to select it, which puts it into edit mode. The outer shape of the 3D body object is defined by a series of edges: where each edge is represented by an end vertex at each end, shown as a solid white square (A in the image below); and a center vertex in the middle, shown as a hollow white square (B in the image below). Each end vertex represents the location where two edges meet.
Standard polygonal shape editing techniques are available for editing the shape.
When editing a polygonal object, there are three editing modes available, Slide/Miter, Incurvate (arc) and Move. The current mode can be changed while dragging a vertex or an edge by pressing Shift+Spacebar to cycle through the 3 modes.
During editing, you can also:
The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:
Properties page: 3D Body Properties
This method of editing uses the associated 3D Body dialog and Properties panel to modify the properties of a 3D Body object.
The 3D Body dialog on the left and the 3D Body mode of the Properties panel on the right
During placement, the 3D Body mode of the Properties panel can be accessed by pressing the Tab key. Once the 3D Body is placed, all options appear.
After placement, the 3D Body dialog can be accessed by:
After placement, the 3D Body mode of the Properties panel can be accessed in one of the following ways:
The Properties panel supports editing multiple objects, where the property settings that are identical in all currently selected objects may be modified. When multiples of the same object type are selected manually, via the Find Similar Objects dialog or through a Filter or List panel, a Properties panel field entry that is not shown as an asterisk (*
) may be edited for all selected objects.
Panel pages: PCB List, PCBLIB List
A PCB List panel allows you to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling quick inspection and modification of object attributes. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering, it enables the display of just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter – allowing you to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.
There are a number of tools and techniques for working with 3D Body objects and working in the 3D Layout mode. Some of these are summarized below. Refer also to The Advantage of 3D in ECAD-MCAD Integration page to learn more.
Add Component Clearance design rules to check for collisions between components that include 3D body objects in the X, Y and Z planes. This allows you to the check the clearance of component over another component. Multiple rules can be defined to handle different clearance requirements. Note that the Design Rule Check does not test if a 3D body object is passing through the board.
Refer to the Component Clearance design rule to learn more.
3D Body objects are normally placed on a mechanical layer. If the 3D Body object is to represent a component, the 3D Body object should be added to the component footprint in the PCB library editor.
Any mechanical layer can be used to place 3D Body objects. Typically a layer is chosen and named and that layer is used for 3D Body objects only. Because PCB components can be mounted on either surface of the finished PCB, the software supports the pairing of mechanical layers. Working in exactly the same way as the paired top and bottom silkscreen layers, when a component is flipped from the top side to the bottom side, any object on a mechanical layer that is paired is automatically flipped on to the paired mechanical layer.
Layer pairing is not required for rendering of the model in 3D; the software uses the Board Side property to determine which surface the object is on and in which direction to render the 3D Body. Layer pairs are important if you need to generate side-of-board assembly printouts that include components on one side of the board.
Reference and Snap Points provide a way of holding a 3D Body object during placement. If the Snap to Center option is enabled in the PCB Editor - General page of the Preferences dialog, the cursor will automatically snap to the nearest vertex / reference point / snap point when you click and hold to move the object.
Each of the 3D Body types - Extruded, Cylindrical and Sphere - has a reference point or origin.
Standard 3D Body objects have a reference point, as shown in the images. Note that the reference point lines are not long so they may not appear outside the object.
To display the reference point, enable the 3D Body Reference Point / Custom Snap Points option in the System Color section of the Layers & Colors tab of the View Configuration panel and set the color as required.
Snap points are user-defined locations, which allow the object to be held at that location as it is moved in the workspace. Snap points are typically assigned to an edge or corner of the object or a center location, for example, the center of a pin or mounting peg.
Snap points can be added by entering the X, Y & Z locations in the Snap Points region of the Properties panel or they can be added interactively using the Add Snap Points From Vertices command. It is easier to interactively add Snap points in 3D mode.
To add snap points:
It is common that a generic model designed in an MCAD tool will need to be re-oriented to use in board design. This can be achieved by:
The software includes commands for orienting and positioning a component. It requires the designer to select three snap points that lie on the surface of the PCB then indicate the three reference points on the PCB to which each of these snap points should be mated. The process is described below.
To position and align a model to a footprint:
This process is demonstrated in the video below.
Video demonstrating the process of re-orienting a Generic Model.
An excellent approach to orienting a model is to use the 3D Body mode of the Properties panel. Because the values can be edited from the keyboard, it is easy to quickly test various X, Y or Z values and change the orientation as you observe the model in 3D. The keyboard can be used to:
Extruded objects also can include an image overlayed on the upper most surface. When a Texture File is added, it is automatically stretched to fit to cover the entire upper surface of the 3D body, as shown in the image below. This can be adjusted by altering the Center location, Size and Rotation settings in the 3D mode of the Properties panel. Note that the texture file is embedded in the Library or Board file.
Supported Texture File formats include: *.bmp;*.dds;*.dib;*.hdr;*.jpg;*.pfm;*.png;*.ppm; and *.tga.
A texture or logo can be added to an extruded 3D Body object.
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