Filenames used for Gerber Export

[david_c_partridge]

When I export an Ultiboard project as Gerber 247X, it seems to generate file names that look like Project Name(Project Name) - Board Outline.gbr

I would have expected names like Project Name.GM1 (for the Board Outline), Project Name.GTL for Copper Top etc.  

Why is the Project Name replicated in the output filename?

Do I need to export the NC Drill files as well as the Gerber Drill file?

Thanks

Dave

[Tien_P]

Hi Dave,

I am not sure why the developer chose the convention with Project Name-layer.gbr but that's Ultiobard convention and it has been like that for a long time. 

You should export the NC drill files, your board house will ask for it.

[david_c_partridge]

I understand Project name - Board Outline.gbr.  Nice and explanatory.  But why the added (Project Name) in the fileid?
 
For a real example: "Frequency Divider 2(Frequency Divider 2) - Board Outline.gbr"
 
Dave

[Tien_P]

Look at the top left corner of UB and notice the file name with the bracket, this is where the redundant name is coming from.  I understand what you're saying and will create a feature request to modify this.

[david_c_partridge]

If I understand you right - and I'm not sure that I do - you are asking me to look at the Title Bar?

That said "Frequency Divider 2 - Ultiboard - [Frequency Divider 2]"

Is this coming from a distinction between a Project and a Design?  That's to say the file names are: <Project Name>(<Design Name> ) - <Layer name>.gbr?

Thanks

Dave

Message Edited by david_c_partridge on 07-18-2008 02:42 AM

[RnDMonkey]

That sounds lie what he's saying. By the way, is there really any definitive specification of what gerber file name extensions should be? Like GM1, GTL, stuff like that.

[GarretF]

What Tien is referring to is the difference between the project name and the design name.

In Ultiboard, every file is a project, and every project can have multiple designs. By default, when you create a project (or transfer from Multisim), the project name is the same as the design name. You can see the project name and the design name in the Design Toolbox (near the top left); the project name has a little clipboard with a check mark next to it, the design name has a little cip next to it.

When you export to Gerber, the first part of the name is the name of the project, and the second part of the name (in the brackets) is the name of the design. You can easily see this if you add an additional design or rename your design (you can rename the design by selecting the design, then clicking the "Te" button in the Design Toolbox.

For the last part of the question, is there a standard? Unfortunately, no. Gerber format is very unstandard format - there is no "official standard" from any standards body. This applies not just to the naming of files, but also to the indivduals elements that make up the Gerber file.

[RnDMonkey]

It's funny that gerber is such a widely used unstandard standard. You would think that it would have been nailed down by now.

[kittmaster]

I'd like to also add that these rediculously long file names also corrupt most Gerber CAM file autoimporters to boot.

Example: I have two T-Tech routers to do my CNC milling of my boards

http://www.t-tech.com/order/product.asp?sectionid=1&catid=80&productid=614

and it uses IsoPro to import the RAW Gerber data into the work field to isolate the traces and route the board.

Well the auto import routine is completely hosed when multiple layers are parsed because it causes a buffer overrun and only imports one layer instead all 5 (which it is designed to do). If I truncate them to coppertop.gbr, copperbottom.gbr......so on, then they all import and build the data quite nicely.

It just adds another step to my process, but this is an extremely annoying feature. I DO AGREE, that there should be a default assigment output for the NI NOOBS....

It should be output as >

Top-Copper.gbr
Bottom-Copper.gbr
Top-Silkscreen.gbr
Bottom-Silkscreen.gbr

and so on and so forth.

The LAYER should always come first, many PCB houses like 4pcb.com identify RS274x Gerbers and always ask you to confirm which layer is which and it is always reversed and a pita to try to match them up. Try submitting to freedrm from 4pcb.com and watch and see.

The project name should be a GLOBAL not a pcb property that follows through for any and ALL designs, not just the current one, kind of like how the LAYER COLORS were SUPPOSED to be but again, never implemented. The option to prepend the project name should be a check box option for the USER to determine.

This is JMO though.

Will they ever listen?

[GarretF]

I will definitely add a request to make it easier to control how gerber files are named during export.

One thing to notice here is that Dave and Chris have asked for mutually exclusive options - I'll capture both preferences in the request.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the project name should be a GLOBAL not a pcb property that follows through for any and ALL designs, not just the current one." The project name is the name of the file, so I'm not sure what you mean by making it global. Could you clarify what you mean so I can add your feedback to the request.

One final suggestion. Have you tried bringing the crash issue with T-Tech? I agree that our file names could be shorter; however, there also seems to be an issue with the IsoPro software.