Help on developing an optimization algorithm to build pour copper .

[PCBWING]

Hi, Guys.

Simply say, I hope there would be a filling program such as attached animator. It can avoid raster way to produce very thin lines, while avoiding vector way causing the data overload. Is it possible or is there already one such algorithm in some kind of software?

View attachment 62821

 

[duffy]

Not quite sure what you're asking. Gerber uses a "fill" command (G36) so it doesn't really save a bitmap or a bunch of vectors - just a polygon outline and a fill instruction, no excess data involved. It is left to the manufacturer of the PCB photoplotting equipment as to how they want to handle the mechanics of filling in the polygon.

 

[PCBWING]

Not quite sure what you're asking. Gerber uses a "fill" command (G36) so it doesn't really save a bitmap or a bunch of vectors - just a polygon outline and a fill instruction, no excess data involved. It is left to the manufacturer of the PCB photoplotting equipment as to how they want to handle the mechanics of filling in the polygon.

Sorry for my language expression skills, but please take a look at this Gerber file. It has not G36 command. It's in line hatched mode and has excess data.

I found a lot of Gerber files include G36 command,but while they would include many very fine line and very sharp angle. So I hope to combine these two algorithms. In the other words, I want to draw the outline by lines with width then do internal padding by G36 command.

 

[PCBWING]

Upload it again

Given the EXT name .txt and upload it again.

 

[duffy]

Your file has a bunch of G10 0.010 "draw" commands on layer 1.

When I first started making PC boards in the 1980's there were still a lot of the original Gerber machines in use - they had a wheel with 35mm slides and had to draw everything. These were replaced by the Fire 9000 laser plotter - but PCB software manufacturers made the codes backwards-compatible to the old machine.

There are provisions for newer Gerber codes with "fill", but I suspect the demand to use them risks incompatibility with the older machines.