Altium

[Bzzz]

Hi,

here's a minimal example for modern-style Altium Gerbers (uniquename.gbr) - old naming scheme (allthesame.variousendings) works well with the Protel preset:

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section Altium
Copper     T       *_copper_signal_top.gbr
Copper     B       *_copper_signal_bot.gbr
Copper     M       *_copper_signal_N.gbr
Silkscreen T       *_legend_top.gbr
Silkscreen B       *_legend_bot.gbr
SolderMask T       *_soldermask_top.gbr
SolderMask B       *_soldermask_bot.gbr
PasteMask  T       *_paste_top.gbr
PasteMask  B       *_paste_bot.gbr
BoardOutline       *_profile.gbr

There's a couple more files, unfortunately the default locations for Gerbers and Drills are different (not sure if the importer can handle that):

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Gerber\<pcbname>_Bottom_Assembly.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Drawing_1.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Drillmap_1.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Keep-out.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Mechanical_1.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Pads_Bot.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Pads_Top.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>_Top_Assembly.gbr
Gerber\<pcbname>-macro.APR_LIB
Gerber\<pcbname>.apr
Gerber\<pcbname>.EXTREP
Gerber\<pcbname>.REP
Gerber\<pcbname>.RUL
NC Drill\<pcbname>_NC Drill-NonPlated.TXT
NC Drill\<pcbname>_NC Drill-Plated.TXT
NC Drill\<pcbname>_NC Drill.DRR
NC Drill\<pcbname>_NC Drill.LDP

Maybe those can be put to good use, but for now, the example above yields usable results already.
Bug report for import crash on the top soldermask file incoming...

[Zofz]

So, I have added the "search inside subdirectories" option. And I still need to find out the buried/blind vias numbering file name schema for the new Altium. (Good that I am a current user, just a moment...)


Just a reminder: The CAM_Load_Rules.txt file is not updated by default by the installer. You need to press the [Reset Rules] button to overwrite the file. This gives you the option of revising and merging your own changes into the new file.

[Bzzz]

Works for me, except for the error urging me to put the newly added (reset to default) mask into lowercase - this will probably affect all users, so it needs to be fixed in the next revision. There's also a typo in that message ("mask must be lowercse"

Altium with classic Protel-style file extensions also has optional *.gm* layers that aren't well-defined. gm1 is covered by the Protec board outline directive, others are not. If you ever implement an additional info/description/assembly layer type, a wildcard *.gm* line would be nice for Altium. Older projects of ours usually have .gm1, .gm2 and .gm4 files present, but all extensions from 1 to 11 plus 13 are actually used somewhere. Again, those layers are user-defined, so it's only useful as an info layer that does not represent a physically made layer in the production process.