You may not have an internal MCAD department. There may be situations when you either can’t or simply don’t want to use a STEP model for snap points. Altium Designer ® supports embedding STEP models to provide accurate modeling information that can not only be passed over to the MCAD world, but can also be used directly in ECAD tools. Others use outdated methods like DXF or IDF to exchange information. Some have none at all, so all mechanical information needs to be supplied by an MCAD tool. Does Your Design Tool Support 3D Modeling?ĭifferent EDA environments offer different levels of support for 3D modeling.

And regardless of the electrical design tool’s 3D capabilities, without accurate component 3D layer modeling information, you can’t accurately analyze mechanical clearances. Transferring inaccurate design data back and forth between the ECAD and MCAD worlds not only causes frustrations for both design teams, but can also drastically increase the number of design spins required to fit the PCB into its final assembly. In today’s PCB design process, you need to be able to integrate mechanical design workflows into an electrical design tool.

Altium footprint library