- Directory Structure
To organize your data for best use, unzip<camfiles>.zip in the <_job_> directory, preserving anyfolder names(creating relative paths). Here is the directory structure to use for Gerberfiles (CAM files):
| <_job_> | ___GCPREVUE |
OK. I know that looks confusing. So do this, download this tiny zip file (18 Kb) and unzip it. Besides illustrating directory structure, it will contain someinformation you may find useful.
The GCPREVUEsub-directory immediately below the <_job_> directorywill contain GCPREVUE.ZIP, which whenunzipped enables the use of GC-Prevue setups that in turn enableyou to view and print the CAM files with a minimum of effort using GC-PrevueVersion 8.
- Using GC-Prevue Version 8 to view and print Gerber files.
It will be easiest to work from a printed copy of this.
- Place the CAM files in their own directory.
Unzip the CAM zip file (<_job_>CAM.ZIP), preserving relative directories or "folder names"in a blank directory. "Relative directories" means that the sub-directoryinformation (the path to files that were zipped up) was stored in the ziparchivealong with the filenames. - Next, create a job-specific shortcut for GC-Prevue to make it start up in thisGCPREVUE sub-directory.
- Make a copy of any shortcut that would start GC-Prevue, such as theone the installation placed in your start menu. Rename the copy to includethejob name.Click here if you need help finding that short cut.
- Create a shortcut to the<_job_>/GCPREVUE directory.
- Right-Click on the GCPrevue sub-directory and select "Create Shortcut")
- Right click on the shortcut and select Properties.
- Select Shortcut tab and then type <ctrl-C> to copy theshortcut path to the clipboard.
- Modify your job-specific shortcut to open in the correct directory:
- Right-Click on the shortcut created in step A.
- Select Properties.
- Select the Shortcut tab.
- Replace whatever is in the "Start-in" line by selecting all of it and thentyping<ctrl-V> to paste the pathway to the <_job_>/GCPREVUEdirectory (the pathway you copied to the clipboard in step II.B.3) into this"Start-in" line.
- Click OK.
- Load in the CAM files for the board.
- Double click the shortcut just created.
- After GC-Prevue starts:
- From the File Menu, select Restore All.
- Select the filename. It would have an extension of .gwk , .cwk or .pwk)
- Load the CAM files:
- From the File Menu, select Load Layers.
- In the Data Type pop-up window select "Auto."
- In the Load Auto Data pop-up window, replace whatever number is in the Layerslinewith the text "all"
- Click OK. Any error messages encountered at this point can simply beacknowledged by clicking "OK."
- Close the Layers List window to get it out of the way. In the eventthat your screen is blank, use the menu items Zoom|Zoom Extents.
- You should belooking at all the layers in register, with the smallest objects drawn last sothat you cancan see portions of larger objects beneath. The drill holes are visibleas black areas with crosshairs in them.
- At this point you can turn on or off various layers for viewing orcheckplotting.
- The Layer Status sub-window shows "v" or "h" for view or hidden.This can be changed by typing v or h or toggled by hitting the space bar.The same keystrokes work for the Layer List window, where the v or h isreplaced with the words "View" or "Hide."
- To get a print of a layer, toggle to View any layers you want on the print,and all others to Hide.I set up my artwork files to be in register, therefore you can easily combinemore than one layer for a checkplot if you wish.
- Hint: You'll get great looking checkplots by having in view three files:
- An artwork file (such as the component side).
- The NC Drill file.
- The board outline file.
- From the file menu, select Checkplot.The Checkplot pop-up window contains many options.About the only one you might want to mess with at first is the Setup tab,for changing properties of your printer if needed, especially changing from"Portrait" to "Landscape" to match the orientation of the data on the screen.
- I place targets on a global layerin PCB databases and at the extremities of the data sothat Checkplot|Fit to Page (the default scaling option} will resultin all layers plotted to the same scale. This won't be an exact integerscale, such as 2:1, but they will be all the same. Thus, two or more printedcheckplots can be viewed as a stack of layers on a light table.
- Checking mechanical dimensions in CAM files with GC-Prevue.
Using "Jump-Nearest" and "Grids" to check artwork against mechanical drawingswithGC-Prevue.There are some important menu selections that will aid in checking mechanicaldimensions.
- Jump|Nearest <CTRL-N>—Snaps the cursor to the nearest object.
- Grid|Zero User <CTRL-SHIFT Z> or in older versions of GC-Prevue<ALT Z>—Sets a location you have selected to be zero for theuser coordinates 1shown in the upper right of the screen. This is helpful for getting offsetsrelative to a board datum.
- Grid|Zero Relative <Z>—Sets the relative coordinates 1to zero. When you move the cursor after that, the coordinates changeaccording to the distance moved.
Use CTRL-N to "jump" or snap the cursor to the board datum—The drill hole or board corner whichforms the origin or reference pointfor mechanical drawings. (This applies to the type of mechanical drawings thatshowsdimensions using cartesian coordinates as offsets from an origin.) Aftersnapping to the board datum, use CTRL-SHIFT Z to zero theuser coordinates to that point.
After that use CTRL-N for mechanically significant objects and read theircartesian coordinates from the User grid sub-window in the upper right corner.These should match the mechanical drawing, and if so, those dimensions on thehard-copy drawing would be highlighted in yellow to indicate they were checked.
For mechnanical drawings which use arrows, as in <---- 5.00" ----->, to showdisplacement between related objects, use CTRL-N at one object, then Z, thenCTRL-Nat the other object. The offset will appear in the Relative grid window on therightof the screen. If it matches the mechanical drawing, then that dimension wouldbehighligted in yellow to show it was checked.
