topic Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline in Fusion Electronics Forum

Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

rob_rare — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 01:58:29 GMT

I'm able to insert a DXF board outline (created in Adobe Illustrator), and the layout viewer appears to recognize the shape as a closed polygon (inside is darker than outside), but I cannot move any new parts into the board shape, nor can I move a component once it is in the board area (placed before the DXF is inserted).

For the component that is within the the board outline space, I'm getting "Smd-Spline" DRC errors for every pad, and "Edit rule" for those errors pulls up the Copper/Board outline, which is 0.01 in.

I'm able to draw a new board outline with the line tool and move parts in and out of the board without issue, so I don't think it's a DRC issue (I've also used this DRC ruleset many times in the past without issue, at least with Eagle 9). I've also tried loading the default ruleset in and have the same problems.

Additional things I've tried is changing the dimension line width (I didn't think this would be it, but tried anyway).

I'm trying to transition to Fusion after being a long time Eagle user, so I'm not sure if there's something I'm doing wrong here (using Place > Insert DXF/DWG). One thing that's strange is I cannot change the board outline object's layer once it is placed. I'm not sure if that's any sign of an error with the import. I have tried inserting just a simple circle DXF (without the 3 notches) and that worked normally, so maybe the notches are creating a error?

I really don't want to have to transition this design back to Eagle 9, but I'm also on a bit of a time crunch and I need to be able to import a custom board outline.

Any ideas for things I could try or do differently?

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

yqliu — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 06:24:07 GMT

Hi @rob_rare , when you move the components, make sure you have the origin selected and the try the move.

You mentioned other issues in this post like changing outline layer or dimension line width. Those should work. It will be helpful if you post videos to show the problem you saw. One thread for one problem would be better so that others saw this issue can help.

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

rob_rare — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 13:48:21 GMT

Thanks for your reply, @yqliu. Sorry for the confusion, there's only one problem I'm looking to solve, and that is I've imported a DXF object as a board outline and something about it (or possibly my settings) makes the area within the board outline unroutable to the point I cannot even move a part into the board area. The layer and line width were mentioned only if it helped to better understand what could be causing my issue.

I've attached a video showing what I'm experiencing. Notice I'm able to move Y1 around without issue outside of the board area, but when I try to move the component onto the board area, I can't get it past the board outline. For U1, the component was there before I inserted the DXF board outline around it. Once the board outline was set, I'm unable to move U1 around.

Please let me know if my issue is still unclear. Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

rob_rare — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 14:24:52 GMT

After sleeping on this problem last night, I have created a work-around solution (below), but I still would like to find a way to do this properly in Fusion since my temporary solution requires the use of Eagle.

To get around this issue, I created a new Eagle 9 board design and used a third party DXF import ULP (not the included Eagle DXF import functionality) to pull in my DXF board outline. I then created a new Fusion electronics design and linked that Eagle board design. From there I could copy the board outline as a group and paste it into my current project's board design file. Importing the board outline in this round-about way seems to avoid the issue imposed by inserting the DXF as a board outline directly into my board design in Fusion.

I do not see this as an acceptable solution, but it is enough to unlock my workflow. As mentioned above, I would like to keep this post open to hopefully find a more direct solution, or at least understand what could be causing an inserted DXF to have this routing limitation.

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

yqliu — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 14:38:13 GMT

@rob_rare , can you press "Alt+I" or click "Ignore Violators" from the toolbar at the bottom and try again?

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

rob_rare — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 17:46:17 GMT

Ignoring violators does allow me to move these objects around, within the board space, but as soon as I change that setting back to Push Violators, the footprint is either locked within the board space or I'm unable to move a new component in.

Surprisingly, I am able to route signals without issue in the board space.

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

jorge_garcia — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 20:37:30 GMT

Hello @rob_rare,

I hope you're doing well. Could you confirm if the component has any features in the dimension or milling layers? These layers serve as barriers to routing and moving operations so keep that in mind.

If you do have them, then it would be good to evaluate if you really need them in the component.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

rob_rare — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 15:48:03 GMT

Hi @jorge_garcia,

I've experienced this issue with multiple components and none of them have features in the dimension or milling layers.

Would it be helpful to package up an example project that demonstrates this issue to share in this thread?

Re: Unable to move components into inserted DXF board outline

jorge_garcia — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 19:12:53 GMT

Hello @rob_rare,

I hope you're doing well. A small example design would be very helpful. Upload it to here and I'll take a look at it.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,