How to export from Eagle to pdf

[Anonymous]

Hello !

Please how can i convert my PCB layout into a pdf file .

Thanks 

version :Eagle 8.0.1 premium

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for participating! To do this click on File > Print. For the printer select Print to File(PDF). When you do this the dialog will change slightly, you'll see there is a field called Output File on the on the far right their is a button with ... in it. Click it, this will allow you to determine where you want to save your PDF file. Select any other pertinent options and then click OK to export the PDF.

If you want the text to be searchable make sure you are using proportional font, vector font isn't searchable in a PDF.

Please accept as solution if my post fully resolves your issue, or reply with additional details if the problem persists.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Not yet ,i want the pdf to do printed circuit board , i want to print the pcb layout .

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

Ok, in that case you want to make sure that you only have the layers you need for one side of the board active. So in this case you would make two pdfs, one for the top and one for the bottom. To make the top PDF make sure that only layers 1,17,18, and 20 are on and the follow the procedure in the previuos post. Likewise for the bottom make sure that 16,17,18,20 and then go File Print. The Print command will only print the active layers.

I recommend that you set Black option, that way you can get the thickest toner possible on your board. It's also useful if you are doing phototransfer.

For this application you may want to consider using the CAM2image.ulp that comes with EAGLE. You can use it to export high quality images of the layers for DIY PCB processes.

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

Best Regards,

Jorge Garcia

[Anonymous]

It worked ! but the colour is inverted black and white . The layers should be coloured black .

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

This is where it would get tricky. The print command doesn't offer and invert colors option. In Adobe Reader, there is an option to invert the colors you can find it under Edit->Preferences->Accessibility->Replace Document Colors. The foreground and background colors that one wishes to be used can be specified here.

As I mentioned in my previous post and image is better suited for this type of process than a PDF. Here is the procedure I would recommend.

1. Open your board file

2. Click on the ULP icon on the top toolbar.

3. In the dialog that pops up double click cam2image.ulp

4. In then next dialog select gerb274x (this cam job is for 2 layer boards like yours)

5. In the next dialog, make sure to that the Monochrome option at the bottom is checked.

6. Set the DPI to 600 (Higher resolution will produce a thicker toner layer)

7.I would say leave the bitmap as the output format since it won't be compressed and will give you the purest result. Click OK

EAGLE will place the images in the same location as your board and schematic file. You are interested in the cmp(component side aka top) and sol (solder side aka bottom) files. If the colors are not what you want you can easily invert them in a program like MSPaint or GIMP.

You can see how other do it with this tutorial. A quick google search will pop up more ways to do this.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hello sir 

The same thing !

I couldn't use gimp

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. Any drawing tool can be used to invert the colors of the image(Photoshop, GIMP, MSPaint, Autodesk Sketchbook, etc.) so if you have a graphic tool you are familiar use that. Here is the procedure through MSPaint which is what I usually use because it's so simple to do this operation.

1. Open the image in MSPaint.

2. Click on Select and then click on ALL. This will make the entire image the selection.

3. Right click anywhere on the image.

4. In the context menu that pops up, select invert color.

Voila! You'll get the image I have just attached.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Thanks !

It worked !

[Anonymous]

The second dialog box does not show up in my project.

[Anonymous]

sir i am trying to get only bottom layer.

i am currently  using version 9.2.2.

i made my .brd file now when i go to layer setting to show me the only layers i want and i select just 16,17,18,20 layers it shows me its effect bùt as soon close layer setting window it agian changes to original brd file with all layers on. and i cant get pdf with all lyers on .

in prev version there was option for apply these settings so when i close the layer setting window , the changes would be applied but in this version there is no such option

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. When using the layers dialog in 9.2.2 make sure you click on the eyeballs on the left side to control the visibility of the layers. If a layer is visible, it will have the eyeball icon in the layers dialog.

Always click OK to accept the settings. This new paradigm avoids the use of the Apply button since you can see the changes real time.

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

Best Regards,

[ordersDDCMN]

Here's a puzzle.

I have been able to print to pdf for a single layer, such as bottom, to get the paths of the traces. I have been able to place that file into a Graphic (https://graphic.com/mac/) and it would show as a grouped vector drawing. I could then ungroup and select the paths, assign a width to them and then expand the path and join overlapping ones to create a millable path.

I have just upgraded to 9.5.2 EAGLE and my pdf export will only place in Graphic as a single, non-editable item now, i.e. I can't access the paths separately to apply thickness or convert to expanded paths.

And the puzzle is - From Graphic, I export the layer as a pdf and then place that resulting file back into Graphic and it now shows as it did before, an editable vector drawing.

Is there anything that was changed in the way EAGLE 9.5.2 creates its pdf files from what it did before. I tried numerous experiments changing the way I was printing to pdf from EAGLE, including single and multiple layers, black, etc, all behave the same other than their preview image that shows, but is always non-editable.

[ordersDDCMN]

I found that I can "convert pdf to objects" in Graphic, takes care of it although the "objects" recenter themselves on the page, not in alignment with other layers. That's not difficult to correct by just lining up the page title that "prints" at the bottom of the pdf file, being a monospaced font it is consistent from one layer pdf to another.

[brunopasquini]

Hello, I was able to export my schematics to pdf, but how can I change the text at the bottom of the file, the one that says the hour and root of the file?

[ordersDDCMN]

Unfortunately you can't. Eagle changes the text to the letter shapes when it prints to a pdf file, each letter its own object. The only way to get that text to be what you want it to read is to create the folder/file structure that you want where you're saving the file(s).

I hope this helps! Good luck!

Donn

[ordersDDCMN]

You can remove parts of the text, just by deleting the character objects.

[Anonymous]

And its strange that still print option is not having facility to print top layer, bottom layer in same page for DIY to reduce unnecessary efforts, yes cost of professional printing PCB is less but courier cost and cost of waiting is still limiting factor to order cheap PCB alternative and we need to test PCB by DIY way only, so just simple adding this option in new version is must, should be addressed as feature addon !!!