Altium takes native 3D PCB to the next level of ECAD and MCAD integration

Altium has partnered with Desktop EDA to provide designers with advanced ECAD and MCAD integration. The new add-on application, Desktop EDA Solidworks Modeller and the IDF Modellers, is currently available for Altium Designer.

The extension apps for Altium Designer and their companion plug-ins form a bridge between the ECAD and MCAD design worlds. Productivity is greatly increased through the full synchronisation capabilities between the target applications.

Altium says this goes much further than simply eliminating the requirement to recreate MCAD assemblies each time, allowing the modelling of Altium Designer-specific features in the target MCAD system.

By transferring data directly between Altium Designer and SolidWorks programs running on the same PC, designers need not use intermediate files to synchronise design changes and facilitate engineering change orders (ECO). This approach eliminates translation issues, saves time and provides a more detailed model of the PCB design in SolidWorks.

By including PCB copper layers in the transfer, the design in SolidWorks can then be used as a starting point for more advanced mechanical CAD operations, such as thermal simulation.

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