Import cadence Orcad design files(.dsn) to Eagle

[Anonymous]

i have Orcad schematic design file - .dsn,but i want to do PCB Design in Eagle,so how i ahve to import .dsn file to eagle.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, at this time we don't have a solution for importing OrCAD dsn files into EAGLE.

We are aware of the need, and we thank you for voicing it here.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

so, let me to propose something.

if we got the pcb without routing in orcad then got standard gerber file and import it to eagle program then we make the routing and pcb finishing by eagle.

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. That can maybe be made to work, but I wouldn't with that excersise on my worst enemy. The gerber files only contain artwork so you wouldn't have any real definitions of components and their netlist. Just a bunch of lines that you would visually have to make sense of and you would have to be super sure that everything is going to where it should. It would not be fun.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

First I have to comliment you guys again for the great work, updates and new features you made in the last couple of months.

Push and shove is an awesome feature and a really big thing that EAGLE needed.

But it is very important that you guys add the import feature for other pcb software like Orcad.

Most of the companys use Orcad so we have to use it because we need to view and edit the schematics and layouts. So the only reason we use Orcad is because all other use it. If we would have the possibility to import the designs we could get rid of the awful made Orcad/Allegro tools.

The usage of these tools is a pain in the A**. The EAGLE workflow makes so unbelievable much more sense.

I am pretty sure that EAGLE will left behind all the other tools some day 😉

Keep up the good work, you are doing a great job.

Thank you 🙂

[matt.berggren]

Thanks for your post! We’re working on it (it’s on the “wish list” for the coming year). The first step will be Orcad & Altium libraries. Next step, schematics and finally board files (hopefully, barring any ugly issues). A lot of energy is being put into this at the moment and we’re taking suggestions! Curious, what version of OrCAD / Allegro are you using? 16? 17?

I’d like to also consider building a script to run in OrCAD that way we don’t “translate” files but rather, use the OrCAD API to ‘generate’ EAGLE files. This makes a LOT more sense as it is much harder to abandon an API than to change a file format (which is done often to throw the competition off and to support new features).

The major issue is that to execute scripts, you need a license of OrCAD / Allegro. So it’s a bit of a dilemma — maintaining translators sucks and they're never accurate, but forcing people to use a script forces them to have at least a copy of the SW sitting around. Either way, the process is imperfect but this isn’t our first rodeo and we’ll make it happen as best we can, with all of the other priorities! (It’s not rocket science but binary file formats / MFC stream-writer stuff stinks...hooray eagle XML!)

Stay tuned! We hear you loud and clear!

Best regards

Matt Berggren
Director - Autodesk EAGLE

[Anonymous]

Hi Matt,

Are there any news on this issue? When will the import function be available?

Do you know any third-party products to convert designs that can help in the meantime?

Thank you very much,

Christoph

[Anonymous]

I'm also very interested in this feature, particularly as they've basically discontinued OrCad Layout 16.2 and switched to an even worse program in 17.2. I have easily dozens of legacy designs done in OrCad Schematic Capture 16.2 or 17.2 and if I could import those to Eagle I would be very happy.

Right now I have to update schematics in 17.2 Schematic using a network license server we had to figure out how to set up and then do the netlist import to 16.2 OrCad Layout just to generate updated gerber files. It's the only reason we still have an OrCad license, that on rare occasion we need to remake an old board that we've made manual fixes on or have discontinued parts for and want to update the design.

No idea how you'd deal with part libraries for this kind of import though, I'd be satisfied with having to create all the devices in Eagle Libraries and then manually selecting parts from actual libraries to swap out by pin number for the OrCad devices. Even if it screwed up the layout a bit if it got the part centers in the same positions that might be plenty to at least dramatically speed up conversion.

Otherwise we have to (and have actually) completely redrawn the schematics in Eagle and redone the entire layout by hand, so pretty much anything is an improvement even if it's just the schematic and a way to swap parts for Eagle devices in your libraries.

[tobias.diendorfer]

+1 please add support for importing ORCAD Files.

Any news from autodesk?

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @tobias.diendorfer,

I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, we don't have any news on this front at the moment.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Still No news? Any 3rd party importers?

[igcst]

Elgris Technologies (elgris.com) can import OrCAD designs to EAGLE and can import EAGLE designs to OrCAD

[tobias.diendorfer]

I solved it by going the way over Altium designer.

Yeah, i'll know its an paid application, but luckily an partner employee had an valid paid license.

So we imported the orcad files in altium and exported it to PCAD (pcb).

This we where able to import into eagle.

Not an nice solution but it worked forour needs.

[igcst]

That is interesting. I assume you spent significant  time cleaning such translation.Also I dont' think it works on complex designs

[tobias.diendorfer]

We converted the imx6ull evk design, its rather complex.

Sure you cannot just use the result but as an starting point for the design its not bad.

On this design, we also have to draw the schematic from scratch and the PCB layout.

We just use the import as a reference.

[ralfAKGD3 · Accepted solution]

I haven't worked with Eagle for many years. But if ULP's still work I have been writing an ULP called import-tango.ulp.

With this you can export your Orcad schematics into Tango format. The ULP converts the schematics into an Eagle layout PCB and you can route your board. I haven't looked into the possibility of taking this route to generate Eagle schematics but might be actually possible. One a day I have time I will have a look into that. 

[engineering]

@jorge_garcia

@matt.berggren

"We are aware of the need, and we thank you for voicing it here."

"We’re working on it (it’s on the “wish list” for the coming year)."

Any progress on that?  It has been over 4 years.  😉

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @engineering ,

The only progress that has been made on that front is the ability to import OrCAD libs but that's it. Once you start talking about importing competitors files, legal teams have to get involved and things stall. Our hurdle to this functionality is more legal than it is technical. Until that changes we are essentially in a stalemate on functionality like this.

I wish I had better news, but this is the current situation.

Best Regards,