1. - Short presentation to give a general overview of CircuitWorks
- Only SolidWorks Gold Partner Product for IDF translation
- Take questions at the end & come round to the CW booth for full demo

2. What Does CircuitWorks Do?
Reads IDF files from ECAD systems
Creates an accurate SolidWorks Assembly of the PCB
and components
The resulting assembly can be edited in SolidWorks
IDF files can be saved out of
SolidWorks for reuse
in the ECAD system
- Very simply
- Takes IDF file & creates a 3D SolidWorks assembly of the circuit board and components
- Or vice versa, it can create an IDF file from an existing SolidWorks assembly

3. What is IDF? Intermediate Data Format
Industry standard data exchange format between ECAD systems
Supported by most ECAD systems
Visit for more information
- Basic overview of IDF
- Stands for Intermediate Data Format
- Industry standard data exchange format for transferring information between Electronic and Mechanical design packages
- Used by majority of ECAD packages
- More info from Intermedius website

4. Who Uses IDF?
The following ECAD packages produce IDF output, either directly or via a Third Party translator:
Allegro
Board Station
CADES-G
Cadvance
CadStar for Windows
CR-5000
Expedition PCB
OrCad Layout
PADS PowerPCB
P-CAD PCB
Pantheon
Supermax E-CAD
THEDA AUTOBOARD
Visula
- List of ECAD packages have the capability to create and read IDF files
- If your ECAD package is not listed let me know after this presentation and I will find out if the functionality is available

5. Why use CircuitWorks?
To obtain an accurate assembly for collision detection and minimum envelope size to develop enclosures for PCBs
To produce complex PCB outlines for the ECAD system
Thermal Analysis in SolidWorks
Allows electrical and mechanical engineers to collaborate more closely on design projects
- Allow the user to obtain an accurate solid assembly of the PCB
- Developing PCB enclosures
- Increases collaboration and communication between electronic and mechanical design departments
- Decreases the possibility of errors

6. Features Support for IDF 2.0, 3.0 and PADS files
Works completely inside SolidWorks
Easy to use wizard based interface
Fully bi-directional
Supports board cut-outs and drilled holes
Fully supports part configurations
Supports custom properties for linking to PDM or SolidWorks Bills of Materials
- Supports the most widely used IDF versions
- Fully integrated within SolidWorks
- Just an additional menu drop down & toolbar contains 3 simple buttons
- Fully bi-directional – IDF files can be imported and created
- Import cut-outs & drilled holes on the board part file

7. Features Supports all IDF objects :-
Place keepouts and outlines
Route keepouts and outlines
Via keepouts
Place regions
Can use a pre-built component library or can generate library parts dynamically based on the footprint received from the ECAD package
- CW component library automatically builds components using information from IDF
Can import pre-modelled components to the library to build board as background image
- Import and export all sections of IDF
- Locate components on populated board

8. Features Comprehensive filter support includes:-
Show only components on either the top or bottom of board
Filter by Component height
Filter by name (including wildcards)
Filter holes by type or size
Select which Board cut-outs to include
Save filter settings for easy reuse
Number of filtering options:
Components on top or bottom of board
Certain height components
Specific component names
Board holes
Board cutouts

9. CircuitWorks in SolidWorks 2005
CircuitWorks Xpress is included with SolidWorks 2005:
Produces a part from scratch each time, not an assembly
Import only - no ability to save as IDF
No tools, such as annotation, locate component or show changes
No filtering of any type
Mechanical holes only
No Library
The full version of CircuitWorks 7 can analyse and Export the Part files produced by CircuitWorks Xpress in SolidWorks 2005

10. Test Drive CircuitWorks and see for yourself
CircuitWorks Xpress is included with SolidWorks 2005
– just open an IDF file in SolidWorks.
To try the full version of CircuitWorks free for 15 days, download it from:
For further details contact your SolidWorks VAR or
Should have general overview of CW & what it is capable of
Come round to CW booth for a full demo
Download eval from website & try on your own files
Any questions