Export PCB as image (PNG) for laser printer

[Anonymous]

Hello,

using EAGLE was very easy to export as image a PCB so through laser printer and PNP sheets creating the board with acid.

Well.. I'm not really able to find how to export PNG properly.

I tried with "production menu" --> "processor cam" but I'm only able to export a PNG that is not ready, I mean, if I select copper bottom layer for example I can't see holes. With Eagle there was a simple Export menu -> image and it seemed done on purpose. 

How do do the same in Fusion 360?

Thanks

Andrea

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous ,

I hope you're doing well. This is also possible in Fusion 360, you'll have to use the CLI to do it. In the command line type the word EXPORT and press enter. Now you'll get the option to export and image.

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

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot! We are in the right trak, I can see the well known image export window.. but.. It seems not working as expected:

I mean, I have a board, I selected the visualization of layers: bottom, pads, vias but selecting "monocrome" image as I did with eagle (perfect image ready to be printed) the result is like this:

Very strange. Can you tell me how to select layers to include in the export? If I select export image without monocrome flag, the image will be exported exactly as I can see in the design ide: 

Thanks in advance

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous ,

That is really interesting, I wonder why the issue with monochrome? @HelenChen-ElectronicsQA I think this one needs a ticket. Thank you in advanced for making it.

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

Best Regards,

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Sorry to hear that you're having trouble.

We tried both in Fusion and EAGLE, but we cannot reproduce the issue you mentioned.

Below are the results we exported PNG from EAGLE and Fusion with MonoChrome mode enabled, which looks OK for us.

Are you able to reproduce this issue with all the board files? Or only that file?

If only that file has issue, do you mind to share the design with us to have a look? I will send private message to you with my email address. Thank you.

Original design in Fusion (only show layer of bottom/pads/vias):

Regards,

Helen

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous ,

Thank you so much for your detailed information and comments in email.

We are able to reproduce this issue and a fix has been implemented. Please waiting for next release of Fusion. We will keep you be posted as well.

Sorry for any inconvenience again.

Regards,

Helen

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much!

The support was excellent, very fast and efficient.

I'm happy you found a solution also for the software improvement.

Thanks again to you @HelenChen-ElectronicsQA and @jorge_garcia !

Bye

Andrea

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Good news that a fix about the issue you reported has been available in today's latest Fusion release (v.2.0.10244). Could you please update to latest Fusion version and have a try?

Thank you very much for your reporting and hope all is good now. 🙂 

Regards,

Helen

[robduarte]

It seems crazy to me that a user could ever be expected to know that this must be done via the CLI. This was trivial in Eagle, before Fusion. Presumably the main reason to move Eagle into Fusion is for an improved user experience. Why is a basic function like this being removed from the UI?

This one is particularly frustrating because the CAM processor has options for exporting an image (which I have not gotten to work). A *third* potential method seems to be right-clicking on the image preview displayed in the CAM Processor dialog and choosing "Save Image..." (which has no options for how the image should be saved and has arbitrary dimensions). A *fourth* option seems to be "Export Image" from the CAM Preview, which is also not the right one for this task. Why are there FOUR options to export an image of the board, with the only seemingly functional/useful option being the hidden command at the CLI? It's particularly confusing because this was so easy to find/do in the old Eagle. It feels like engineers are working on different parts of the Electronics workspace, without an overall vision for the user experience.

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

Hi @robduarte，

Thank you very much for your comments, I will feedback with our development team about this. If we have any update we will keep you be posted.

For the Image option in CAM Processor, although it's a little bit different from the CLI export > image, just share with you how it works: Right click the Image node in CAM Processor, you could new image output or copy Gerber Configuration to get the default settings and modify if needed. Then run the CAM processor will get the exported images. 

Best regards,

Helen

[michal.horacek]

Hello,

you answered the question a long time ago, but apparently nothing has changed regarding the export function in Fusion 360 electronics. Why does such an important feature, I mean, have to be run by the user via the CLI and is not prominently located and easy to use like before?

Thanks.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @michal.horacek,

I hope this message finds you well. The CAM processor can now handle the image export and that can be done full GUI. Is there any reason this doesn't solve the issue for you?

Please let me know.

Best Regards,

[michal.horacek]

Hello,

1) sorry, I tried this a few months ago and then the image export only worked via CLI (plus I saw the problem in many other parts of the program). Now after the announcement that the Eagle will die in 3 years, I wanted to give Fusion electronics another chance and it didn't even occur to me that the image export has moved to the CAM processor. So this is partly or entirely my fault, but...

2) I now tried exporting in the CAM processor and it's terribly complicated - before a few clicks were enough and the image was in the world, now I spend much more time on the same thing and I'm horribly irritated by the settings of where the image is saved and how

3) leaving aside that the PCB export now takes an unnecessarily long time, I still haven't figured out how to export the schematic image (without using the CLI) - or am I missing something?

4) by the way - if we are talking about the CAM processor, could someone solve so that this dialog box can be seen in its entirety even on a display with a resolution of 1360x768 and the like.

Thanks and have a nice weekend.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @michal.horacek,

I hope you're doing well. Thanks for your feedback, I hope you're doing well. We have a ticket open to make the image export paths work better in the CAM processor. 

I'll create a ticket so that we can surface the CLI command in the GUI. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[kirsti_haro]

Hi,

I am also trying to export PCB top layer as a PNG image. When I type EXPORT in CLI, it just writes the following information: 

ExportCompliance - Export Screening

pretendModal - Toggle to pretend there is a modal showing.

resetDialogShown - For Export Compliance dialog, clear the setting for already shown dialog.

How am I supposed to proceed to exporting this as an image from here?

Thank you in advance for your reply!

[jsoyaG9H6K]

How can i get the white dots for drilling in the Pads ?

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @jsoyaG9H6K,

I hope you're doing well. Run the drillaid.ulp that will give your markers for manual drilling of the holes.

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

Best Regards,

[jsoyaG9H6K]

Do that also apply for using CAM to generate the PNG files (1200 dpi)

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @jsoyaG9H6K,

You can add the layer created by the drill aid tool to your image generation when you export. This will require adjusting the CAM job but that's easy to do.

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

Best Regards.