Gerber2eps

Gerber2eps - A program for converting Gerber RS-274D files
             to Encapsulated Postscript (EPS).
Copyright (C) 2002 by Dirk Baechle (dl9obn()darc.de)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gerber2eps


0. Disclaimer
-------------

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
License along with this program; if not, write to the 

Free Software Foundation, Inc.
675 Mass Ave
Cambridge
MA 02139
USA


1. What it does
---------------

Gerber2eps can convert Gerber RS-274D files to EPS files.
At the moment only a small subset of the RS-274D standard is 
implemented:

X : X-Coordinate
Y : Y-Coordinate
D01 : Exposure on 
D02 : Exposure off
D03 : Flash aperture
Dx : Select aperture x 
Mx : End of program

All measures in the input file are interpreted as mil units!

So far, gerber2eps has only been tested with the demo version
of the PCB layout program PADS that I use.
Reports about experiences with other programs are welcome!

While it scans the input file, gerber2eps detects the usage of
apertures that have not been defined yet. Then you are asked
to enter the aperture type and some additional parameters for it, such
that gerber2eps knows which output to produce.
So be sure to have these informations ready, either by printing out
the aperture table (DOS) or by opening the file in a second 
window (Windows, Unix/Linux).

You can select the following apertures for the output:

SQUARE  : Filled square
CIRCLE  : Filled circle
DONUT  : Circle with inner hole
SQUARE_DONUT : Square with inner hole


The following parameters have to be entered for the apertures:

Color/Polarity : 0 = Black, 1 = White
Outer diameter : The outer diameter in mil
Inner diameter : The diameter of the inner hole in mil

2. How to install it
--------------------

2.1 Unix/Linux
--------------

After unzipping the file gerbeps.zip to a new directory
you change into this directory and just type:

make

After the successful compilation you can use the executable "gerber2eps".
If you don't have g++ installed, replace the CC variable in the Makefile
with the C++ compiler that your system offers.

2.2. DOS/Windows
----------------

Unzip the file gerbeps.zip to a new directory.
Use the C++ compiler of your choice (TurboC++, Borland, MSVC ...), include
all source files and headers and build the executable as described in the
manual of your compiler.


3. How to use it
----------------

Gerber2eps is called with the input file and output file as arguments:

gerber2eps test.pho test.eps

While scanning the input file, new apertures are encountered and gerber2eps
asks you about the parameters. So be prepared to enter some data as described
in 1.

4. Source code documentation
----------------------------

All source code files include special comments for generating a documentation
using the program "Doxygen" (http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen). 
For further information read the manual.


5. TODO
-------

I don't know if I will ever have the time to complete this program.
But if I do, these are the things I'll probably take care about first:


- Support for the full RS-274X standard
- Reimplement program using STL (Standard Template Library)

6. Postscript intricacies
-------------------------

If the bounding box of the EPS output gets bigger than 
DIN A4 (210x297mm)---which happens very quickly if you convert
schematics for example---your postscript viewer probably clips the
schematic. This is not a fault of gerber2eps since Encapsulated Postscript
(EPS) does not contain any information about papersize!
So, in this case you have to help your viewer by explicitly setting a
larger papersize, like A3 for example.