Hardware

Strobit Wireless Widget

Wireless Widget

Widget Mesh

Rallylog

Makecontroller

CNC

Picaxe

CAD

Eagle3D Parts

I’ve put all the newer components online, sketchup models are now in googles 3d warehouse and Eagle3D added to the existing library.

(more…)

Here are the final renderings from POV with the basic personality board installed, along with a 900MHZ antenna.  I’m pretty happy now, looks OK and now will see how accurate this exercise really is when I get prototype boards back.

Some more components added to the Strobit Eagle3d Library.  Can be found here.

Sparkfun SMA PCB Edge

3.5mm Phone Jack SMD

Strobit Eagle3D Library now available for download….see Eagle3D Page

These are components I’ve created for Eagle3D.

You may also want to check out the tutorials on how to create your own components.  http://blog.everythingrobotics.com/tutorials/eagle3d-tutorials/using-google-sketchup-to-create-components/

Components

HopeRF RFM12B SMD 433Mhz/915Mhz RF Module

Microchip MR24J40MA FCC Approved 2.4GHZ 802.15.4 RF Module

Sparkfun SMA PCB Edge

PJ-326 3.5mm Jack http://www.switchcn.com/

900Mhz GSM SMA Antenna attached to PCB SMA Connector

Downloads:

Links

• http://www.matwei.de/doku.php?id=en:eagle3d:eagle3d
• http://www.volunteerlabrat.com/default.html?goto=eagle3Dguide.html
• http://www.instructables.com/id/Render-3D-images-of-your-PCBs-using-Eagle3D-and-PO/
• http://felixchenier.homelinux.com/doku.php?id=pcb:eagle3dnewpart
• http://download.matus.in/software/windows/other/eagle/Eagle%204.11/Eagle%203D/doc/Eagle3D_e.pdf

Disclaimer:

These are provided AS-IS and may contain bugs and or discrepancies and may not be to scale.

If you find any bugs or problems or make enhancements please feel free to contact me so I can update the downloads.

HopeRF 433Mhz / 915Mhz

Experimental 2.4GHZ

Tweaking the Settings

Now we have added the component into Eagle3d we need to tweak and fine-tune the settings.

1. Now render your PCB, more than likely a couple of problems will show up.  The first is your component is very small.  so we need to tweak the scaling from within the component file we recreated in the previous steps.

   Very Small component shown. (click to enlarge)
   
   07/08/09 update: (Thanks for the tip Jeremy)

   > Jeremy wrote:
   > Hey. I read over your tutorial on making Eagle3d components in Google
   > Sketchup, and I wanted to thank you for saving me a considerable
   > amount of time. I also found something you might have missed. Sketchup
   > records units in mm
   > (millimeters) but when su2pov plugin is run, it converts all the mm
   > into inches (1mm -> .03937 inch). The problem is that Eagle3D
   > interprets the numbers in the .inc files as in mm. So the best way to
   > fix the problem is to scale up your drawing in Sketchup by 25.4 times
   > (thus counteracting the plugin’s unit conversion).

2. To scale the component scroll down to near the end of the file where you should see something like this

      1:

      2: #object {MRFceJeaMA

      3: matrix < 0.1,0.0,0.0,

      4: 0.0,0.1,0.0,

      5: 0.0,0.0,0.1,

      6: 0.0,0.0,0.0>

      7: }

3. tweak the settings that have numbers in them, the following worked for me

      1: // Scale

      2: #object {MRFceJeaMA

      3: matrix < 2.55,0.0,0,

      4: 0.0,2.50,0.0,

      5: 0.0,0.0,2.55,

      6: 0.0,0.2,0.0>

      7: }

4. Now the component should be close to the right size, but the offset is off.
5. We now need to get the correct offsets, which is a bit ht and miss, but I found the following works best.
6. Locate the component in the generated POV file (step 8 above)
7. Change the translate values just after the macro name as shown below, the hit and miss comes in by taking a guess in what direction and value to use.

      1: #ifndef(pack_U2) #declare global_pack_U2=yes; object {MRF24J40MA()translate<-5,0,0> rotate<0,0.000000,0>rotate<0,-270.000000,0> rotate<0,0,0> translate<61.569600,0.000000,15.240000>}#end        //MRF24J40MA FCC Approved module U2 MRF24J40MA MRF24J40MA

      2:

8. We are heading in the right direction, so keep changing until it all lines up on that axis.

   

9. looks like we are right on here, onto the next axis

   

10. to change the next axis offset we need to modify the last value in the translate function

       1: MRF24J40MA()translate<-9,0,-5>

11. Just about there

    

12. finally looks right

    

13. Now we have found the values we need to put them in the 3dusepac.dat file or else the next time we run the ulp script we will loose these settings
14. In the line we added added to the 3dusrpac.dat file we need to add the values we have just fount to positions 15 and 1 7 as shown below.

       1: MRF24J40MA:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:-9:0:-8:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:MRF24J40MA(::

       2:

15. If this file is changed we need to re-run the ulp script to re-generate the POV file, then check that your values are there and renders correctly.
16. The same process can be followed if the component is not rotated correctly.  such as shown below

    

17. change this value in the POV file to tweak the rotation side of things. change the value show below (-180)  in this example the value that works for me is 90  once again this value must be updated in the 3dusrpac.dat file in position 14.

       1: {MRF24J40MA()translate<-9,0,-8> rotate<0,0.000000,0>rotate<0,-180.000000,0>

18. Remember to re-run the ULP script to regenerate the POV file.Happy component creating !!!!!

Integrating into Eagle3D

Now we have converted the file to work in Eagle3D we now need to tell Eagle3D how to use it.

1. Add your include file to the user.inc file

   #ifndef(__user_inc)
   #declare __user_inc = true;
   
       #include "MRF24J40MA.inc"
   #end

2. Now open and add the following to the end of 3dusrpac.dat (found in the Eagle3D install directory)

   PACKAGE_NAME:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:MACRO_NAME(::

3. To find the PACKAGE_NAME, first go back to your PCB editor in Eagle, click the info button, then click on the component we have just created the library for.
4. Replace PACKAGE_NAME with the Package variable. In this case it is MRF24J40MA Note that this is always in caps!
5. Next, we need to replace MACRO_NAME with the exact macro name we added to the file in step 2. In this example it’s MRF24J40MA.
6. The line should now look like this

   MRF24J40MA:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:MRF24J40MA(::

7. Now run the Eagle3D ulp script and create the the POV file for the PCB.
8. Open the POV file and scroll down until and check that the component has been added to the file (line 3 below)

      1: #ifndef(pack_S1) #declare global_pack_S1=yes; object {SWITCH_SECME_1K2_RH()translate<0,0,4> rotate<0,180.000000,0>rotate<0,-180.000000,0> rotate<0,0,0> translate<41.910000,0.000000,1.727200>}#end        // S1  SWITCH-SPDT-SMD

      2: #ifndef(pack_U1) #declare global_pack_U1=yes; object {QFP_TQFP_32_080MM("ATMEGA168V","ATMEL",)translate<0,0,0> rotate<0,0.000000,0>rotate<0,-45.000000,0> rotate<0,0,0> translate<26.670000,0.000000,16.510000>translate<0,0.035000,0> }#end        //TQFP-32 U1 ATMEGA168V TQFP32-08

      3: #ifndef(pack_U2) #declare global_pack_U2=yes; object {MRF24J40MA()translate<0,0,0> rotate<0,0.000000,0>rotate<0,-270.000000,0> rotate<0,0,0> translate<61.569600,0.000000,15.240000>}#end        //MRF24J40MA FCC Approved module U2 MRF24J40MA MRF24J40MA

      4: }//End union

9. Now render your PCB, more than likely a couple of problems will show up.  The first is your component is very small.  so we need to tweak the scaling from within the component file we recreated in the previous steps.

Convert POV file into Eagle3D .inc file

1. In the new POV file that was created by the plug-in now needs to be saved as a *.inc in the same directory as Eagle3D component include files this is usually called EAgle3D\pov

   

2. Next we need to delete all the information not needed and will cause conflicts with Eagle3D.

      1: // Persistence Of Vision raytracer version 3.5 (or higher) file.

      2: // Exported from Sketchup 6.4.112 (en-US) through SU2POV 3.2. by D. Bur.

      3: // 04/03/2009, 16:25

      4: //-------------------------------------------

      5:

      6:

      7: // Pov-Ray includes

      8: #include "colors.inc"

      9: #include "glass.inc"

     10: #include "glass_old.inc"

     11: #include "metals.inc"

     12: #include "woods.inc"

     13: #include "stones.inc"

     14: #include "skies.inc"

     15: #include "stars.inc"

     16: #include "finish.inc"

     17: #include "rad_def.inc"

     18: #include "textures.inc"

     19: #include "golds.inc"

     20: #include "sunpos.inc"

     21: #include "math.inc"

     22: #include "transforms.inc"

     23: //-------------------------------------------

     24:

     25:

     26: // Declare section

     27: //Gamma

     28: #declare GAMMA=2;

     29: //Default finish

     30: #default { texture { finish { ambient 0.1 diffuse 0.7 brilliance 0 roughness 0.005 } } }

     31: // Finishes

     32: #declare Dull = finish {specular 0.5 roughness 0.2}

     33: #declare Shiny = finish {specular 1 roughness 0.0003}

     34: #declare Glossy = finish {specular 1 roughness 0.0003 reflection 0.1}

     35: #declare Phong_Glossy = finish {phong 10 phong_size 300 reflection 0.1}

     36: #declare Phong_Dull = finish {phong 0.5  phong_size 1}

     37: #declare Luminous = finish {ambient 0  diffuse 20}

     38: #declare Mirror = finish {ambient 0  diffuse 0 reflection 0.97}

     39: // Lights colors

     40: #declare Incandescence = rgb <1, 0.9, 0.6>;

     41: #declare Halogen = rgb <1, 0.98, 0.85>;

     42: #declare Sodium = rgb <1, 0.6, 0.2>;

     43: #declare Neon = rgb <0.9, 0.95, 1>;

     44: #declare Mercury = rgb <0.92, 1, 0.92>;

     45:

     46: #declare Lightbulb = sphere {

     47:     <0,0,0>,1.5

     48:     scale <1,1.3,1>

     49:     texture { pigment {color rgb <1, 1, 0.5>}}

     50:     finish { Luminous }

     51:     }

     52:

     53: //-------------------------------------------

     54:

     55:

     56: //Radiosity settings

     57: global_settings {

     58: radiosity { Rad_Settings(Radiosity_Final, off, on) }

     59: assumed_gamma GAMMA

     60: radiosity { gray_threshold 0.8 }

     61: }

     62: //-------------------------------------------

     63:

     64:

     65: // Gradient Background

     66: sky_sphere {

     67:     pigment {

     68:     gradient y

     69:    color_map {

     70:     [(1-cos(radians(0)))/2 color White]

     71:     [(1-cos(radians(50)))/2 color rgb <0.741176470588235,0.819607843137255,0.815686274509804>]

     72:     }

     73:     scale 1

     74:     translate -1

     75:     }

     76: }

     77: //-------------------------------------------

     78:

     79:

     80: //-------------------------------------------

     81:

     82:

     83: //-------------------------------------------

     84:

     85:

     86: // Camera

     87: camera {

     88:     perspective

     89:     location <2.25145468567195,1.60043897233161,-1.06394822934727>

     90:     look_at <-0.466904134380124,-0.965594533672687,1.31022929677542>

     91:     right <1.3333,0,0>

     92:     up <-0.436428953203423,0.815008198675065,0.381171096619603>

     93:     angle 63.7985225255377

     94: }

     95: //-------------------------------------------

     96:

     97:

     98: //-------------------------------------------

3. Copy and paste the following code into the very beginning of the file.  replace ‘inc_MRF24J40MA’ with the name of your component, e.g. inc_YOUR_COMPONENT.

   #ifndef(inc_MRF24J40MA)
   #declare inc_MRF24J40MA=true;
   
   #ifndef(inc_testmode)
   #declare inc_testmode=true;
   #include "tools.inc"
   #undef inc_testmode
   #end

4. Now scroll down until you see the start of the object definition

      1:

      2: // LEVEL 0 #<Sketchup::ComponentDefinition:0x3e508c0> MRF24J40MA

      3: #declare MRFceJeaMA = union {

      4: mesh2 {

      5:     vertex_vectors {

      6:       4,

      7: <7.000109088,4.98688000008518e-006,1.35>,

      8: <7.000109088,0.32000498688,1>,

5. insert the component macro declare statement (line2 below) into the file.  The macro name needs to be the name of your component (in this case ‘MRF24J40MA’)

      1: // LEVEL 0 #<Sketchup::ComponentDefinition:0x3e4f8b8> MRF24J40MA

      2: #macro  MRF24J40MA()

      3:

      4: #declare MRFceJeaMA = union {

6. Scroll to the very end of the file and delete lines 3,4 and 8 as shown below

      1: //-------------------------------------------

      2:

      3: #declare MODEL = union {

      4: } // End of MODEL object declare

      5: //-------------------------------------------

      6:

      7:

      8: object { MODEL }

      9: //-------------------------------------------

     10:

     11:

     12: #object {MRFceJeaMA

     13: matrix < 0.1,0.0,0.0,

     14: 0.0,0.1,0.0,

     15: 0.0,0.0,0.1,

     16: 0.0,0.0,0.0>

     17: }

     18: //-------------------------------------------

     19:

     20:

     21: //-------------------------------------------

     22:

     23:

7. Finally insert all of the following to the very end of the file.  Replace MR24J40MA() with your component macro name.

   #end //end of macro  
   
   /**********************************************************************
   Testing
   **********************************************************************/
   #ifndef(inc_testmode)
   
   //Size of the Grid Plane (+/- span)
   #local XYZ_span=20;
   
   //Orientation axes
   cylinder{<-XYZ_span,0,0><XYZ_span,0,0>0.1 pigment{Blue}}    //X
   cylinder{<0,-XYZ_span,0><0,XYZ_span,0>0.1 pigment{Red}}        //Y
   cylinder{<0,0,-XYZ_span><0,0,XYZ_span>0.1 pigment{Yellow}}    //Z
   
   // Useful GRIDS:
   #local XYZ_step= 1 ;          // axis increment
   #local XYZ_cnt = 0;           //  loop counter
   #local xyz_thick = 0.05;     // grid line thickness
   
   // GRID PLANES: Remove comment begin/end to activate & select PLANES:
   #while (XYZ_cnt <= XYZ_span)
   
       cylinder{<-XYZ_span,0,XYZ_cnt><XYZ_span,0,XYZ_cnt>xyz_thick pigment{Blue}}        // Positive Z-Lines
       cylinder{<-XYZ_span,0,-XYZ_cnt><XYZ_span,0,-XYZ_cnt>xyz_thick pigment{Blue}}    // Negative Z-Lines
   
       //cylinder{<0,XYZ_cnt,-XYZ_span><0,XYZ_cnt,XYZ_span>xyz_thick pigment{Red}}        // Positive Y-Z Plane Lines
       //cylinder{<0,-XYZ_cnt,-XYZ_span><0,-XYZ_cnt,XYZ_span>xyz_thick pigment{Red}}    // Negative Y-Z Plane Lines
   
       //cylinder{<-XYZ_span,XYZ_cnt,0><XYZ_span,XYZ_cnt,0>xyz_thick pigment{Red}}        // Positive Y-X Plane Lines
       //cylinder{<-XYZ_span,-XYZ_cnt,0><XYZ_span,-XYZ_cnt,0>xyz_thick pigment{Red}}    // Negative Y-X Plane Lines
   
       cylinder{<XYZ_cnt,0,-XYZ_span><XYZ_cnt,0,XYZ_span>xyz_thick pigment{Yellow}}    // Positive X-Lines
       cylinder{<-XYZ_cnt,0,-XYZ_span><-XYZ_cnt,0,XYZ_span>xyz_thick pigment{Yellow}}    // Negative X-Lines
   
       #local XYZ_cnt = XYZ_cnt+XYZ_step;
   #end
   
   camera
   {
       #local tt = 40;                //let's you change the distance easily
       location <-tt,tt,-tt>
       //location<0,5,-50>            //alternate location
       look_at <0,0,0>                //best to select the approximate centre of the object
       angle 30
   }
   
   light_source { <100, 100, -100> White}
   light_source { <-100, 100, -100> White }
   light_source { <-100, 100, 100> White }
   light_source { <100, 100, 100> White }
   //light_source { <-tt,tt,-tt> White }
   //light_source { <-tt,tt,-tt> White }
   //light_source { <-tt,tt,-tt> White }
   background{Grey}
         MRF24J40MA()
   #end
   
   #end
   //End of Macros

8. Now test the inc file by rendering the component.  This will test to make sure the macro and file are all working.  A grid and the actual component will now be rendered.
9. UPDATE: You also need to copy any surface map graphic files across to the same directory as the new component file.

If you have successfully converted the file we next need to add it to Eagle3D

I’ve been playing around with Eagle3D on and off (like most things more off than on lately).  Eagle3D in a nutshell is a bunch of scripts to generates povray files.  Povray is then used to render a realistic representation of the PCB file with all components included. 

The problem I’ve always come up against when using Eagle3D is missing components.  I first looked at this tutorial – http://felixchenier.homelinux.com/doku.php?id=pcb:eagle3dnewpart, however I took one look at how to make library components and thought no way, I don’t really want to generate a 3D component by long hand.

As an example this is the Experimental 2.4GHz version of triggr PCB rendered with default output from Eagle3D, you can see how many components its missing (indicated by the red cylinders), you will also notice that its also picked up the wrong component in the top left of the board, this should be a right angle header, and it’s not correctly aligned.

Well I spent a couple of hours last night playing with Eagle3D to see if I could a) learn to create custom library components using Googles free sketchup program to create a part then export to Eagle3D, and b) to get a better understanding how components are selected and put on the board in the correct orientation.

I finally had success in exporting a sketchup component to use in Eagle3D.  I imported an already existing component for the MRF24J40MA RF module from sketchup and incorporated it into Eagle3D as a part library.  Here is the result.  A lot better wouldn’t you agree?

Here is how I did it in a sparkling new tutorial….Using Google Sketchup to create Eagle3D components

Exporting Sketchup Objects to POV

1. You first need to install the su2pov plugin as per the documentation.  Once installed you will see the plugin available from the plugin menu within sketchup. (click for larger image)

   

2. I use the the following settings for the SU2POV plugin.
   
   
3. Select ‘GO’ from the plugin menu.
4. The POV file is then created, open it up in povray.  You should be able to render it direct from this file so you can at least get a sense of what it will look like rendered on the PCB. (click for larger image)

   Note: Some errors were reported when I first tried to render the scene straight from the export line in the POV file.  It appears that this problem is related to the default Radiosity settings generated by the plugin, these are not used in the newer versions of POV.  The su2pov plugin is for pov3.2.  I safely deleted the Radisity section from the generated file.  (update: I have since found that if you change the Radiosity settings to ‘Final’ under the plugin render options this problem does not happen). Eagle3D ultimately handles all the radiosity settings anyway, but this is so we can view the test file in POV.

5. Now that we have successfully rendered the file in POV we now need to incorporate it into Eagle3D.

This tutorial will show you how to use Sketchup to create and import components into Eagle3D

Requirements:

1. Google Sketchup installed – I’m using v6, but I’m sure it will work in the latest  version
2. su2pov plug-in – this is a sketchup plug-in written in ruby that exports the a sketchup scene into POV for more realistic rendering.
3. Eagle3D and POV installed and working.  You should be able to at least render a board, even if no components are working.

Steps involved:

1. Export Sketchup object to POV using SU2POV, and test.
2. Create the component include file ready for Eagle3D
3. Mapping the new component into the library.
4. Fine tuning the placement.

As I work out how to do things I’ll add them here.

Eagle3d

• Creating and adding components using Google Sketchup – 04/03/2009

RFM12 Radio Module

• RFM12b Tutorials