Assembly Reverse Engineering (ARE is an Optional Module to VisualCAM)
Extracting centroid information from Gerber data has historically been a cumbersome process, prone to significant amounts of difficulty and error. VisualCAM streamlines the process with five different automated methods for reverse engineering component footprints, providing processing times ranging from just seconds to minutes depending upon the methodology you choose.
Extracting centroid information from Gerber data has historically been a cumbersome process, prone to significant amounts of difficulty and error. VisualCAM streamlines the process with five different automated methods for reverse engineering component footprints, providing processing times ranging from just seconds to minutes depending upon the methodology you choose.
- Component Footprint Library
Load, Save and work with standard footprint libraries built from previous Reverse Engineering jobs. You may assign Part Numbers, Descriptions, Value, and Tolerance information for any given device created with a given footprint.
- IPC-D-356 Identification offers the fastest, most accurate, and the highest level of automation for reverse engineering component footprints. Since many design data sets include IPC-D-356 files for verification purposes, VisualCAM allows you to use that same file for a fully automated reverse engineering flow that can process most jobs in seconds.
- Centroid Identification
VisualCAM will take a pre-existing ASCII centroid report file and use it to guide you through the Reverse Engineering process. A semi- automatic method uses the reference designator and part number or device name from the report file to identify the parts. Most jobs can be processed in a matter of minutes, depending on the number of components.
- Silkscreen Identification
With Silkscreen Identification, you have some amount of automation, even though all you have to work from is Gerber data (no IPC-D- 356 or centroid files are available). VisualCAM offers a unique Character Recognition feature that automatically converts drawn Reference Designator text to True Text. Using True Text allows you to use Reference Designators to guide you through the Reverse Engineering process. This method offers a relatively high level of accuracy and throughput. Most jobs can be processed within an hour, depending on the number of components.
- Footprint Library Identification
Footprint Library Identification uses a library that you have built yourself or obtained from elsewhere. During processing, footprints in the library are automatically sorted from largest to smallest, after which VisualCAM identifies parts on the board in that order. Although the identification process is automated, you must label the footprints manually with this method.
Assembly Reverse Engineering