The PCB Design Professionals

3D Component Design – 09

So now you can view your PCB in 3D you probably want to add some 3D information to your components.

I’m going to use a surface mount cap for this example. The first thing you want to do is draw the outline of the body in 2D on a mechanical layer (Image 1). Then if you go to “Place” then “3D Body” or press “P” then “B” you should get a dialog box where you can enter the 3D information (Image 2).

In this example you’ll want to choose extruded from the 3D model type box. After that set your mechanical layer, heights and colour click ok to draw your 3D shape. Now if you have your electrical grid turned on and your active layer is the mechanical layer that you drew the 2D outline on then your cursor will snap to the corners of your 2D shape. Click on each corner to define your 3D shape right click to finish. The 3D dialog box will pop up again you can just close this (unless you want to draw another 3D shape).

Now if you press 3 you can view your newly created component in 3D and it should look something like image 3. With a bit of patience you can create some quite nifty components, here’s one I made earlier shown in Image 4.

If you want to make some really detailed and accurate components you can model them in a 3D package, then, import a step file straight into you PCB library.

Enjoy making 3D components, if you have any questions or you would like us to do a tips and tricks on a specific topic, post a comment or email us at blog@blackstick.co.uk