FRQ: Support for Specctra Export/Import format ( to use freerouting.net, qautorouter ....)

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freerouting.net (http://www.freerouting.net/) is a free autorouter which 
produces very good results and can be used from many PCB layout software 
(kiCad,  gEDA, Diptrace, Eagle....) through the Specctra dsn (export from pcb 
software) and ses (import from router) files.

qautorouter (http://sourceforge.net/projects/qautorouter/) is a free (GPL) 
autorouter which similarly uses dsn and ses files.

There are other routers which also use this same format, which is something of 
a de-facto industry standard for pcb routing.

If Fritzing had a basic dsn export and ses import function then Fritzing could 
also use these autorouters.

The dsn and ses files are text based files, following a fairly simple syntax, 
the specifications for the dsn and ses file are defined by 
http://sm-7.net/upload/PCB/Autorouters%20and%20autoplacers/Cadence_specctra/Desi
gn_Language_Reference.pdf 

I've also attached a dsn produced by diptrace, and an ses file produced from 
that by freerouting.net, and a screenshot from diptrace after importing the SES 
so you can get a feel for what it's all about.

Looking at these documents, essentially the steps involved in doing this for 
Fritzing would be to generate a dsn which incorporates the net list a crude 
outline of each component (just a bounding box) and the land patterns for the 
pads/holes.  This dsn can then be used with the external autorouters, which 
produce an ses file, importing the ses to Fritzing would be a matter of reading 
the component placements/rotations, and wires/vias for each route, then 
reproducing those in the fritzing data.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by bitsybof...@gmail.com on 20 Dec 2013 at 4:25

Attachments:

• rt.dsn
• rt.ses
• dipt.png

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Original comment by irasc...@gmail.com on 21 Dec 2013 at 7:33

• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Type-Enhancement
• Removed labels: Type-Defect

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TopoR also supports Specctra/Electra formats.

http://www.toporouter.com/

Original comment by bitsybof...@gmail.com on 1 Feb 2014 at 11:05

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I don't use auto routing so I won't work on this issue but a good 
proof-of-concept would be to make a converter in some programming language of 
choice from .fzz (which is just an XML inside a ZIP file) to .dsn and another 
converter from .ses to a modified .fzz. This way we would see quickly what the 
potential hurdles are.

If qautorouter is very good and if it can be hacked to autoroute schematics 
(that is a big if?), maybe it could replace the integrated autorouter.

Original comment by kipla...@gmail.com on 5 Feb 2014 at 11:49

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Issue has moved to new issue tracker at github. Please continue the discussion 
at https://github.com/fritzing/fritzing-app/issues

Original comment by andre.knoerig@gmail.com on 23 Sep 2014 at 3:42

• Changed state: ToGithub