C-PCB

C++14 PCB router and solver.

Requires the glfw3 libs to be installed if you wish to build the viewer application.

Build everything with:

make -j

Build just the parts you need with:

make -j [c_pcb c_pcb_dsn c_pcb_view]

Example command lines would be:

./c_pcb --v 1 netlist.pcb | ./c_pcb_view --o 1 --s 7
./c_pcb_dsn test1.dsn | ./c_pcb --v 2 --z 1 --q 4 --r 1 | ./c_pcb_view --s 12

You can drop the output to a file and view it as an animation with:

./c_pcb --v 1 netlist.pcb > anim
./c_pcb_view anim

-h or --help for help on either app.

Format of .pcb input file or stdin follows, stdout format is identical:

DIMS : (double:width double:height double:depth)
POINT2D : (double:x double:y)
POINT3D : (double:x double:y double:z)
SHAPE : (POINT2D ...)
PATH : (POINT3D ...)
PATHS : ([PATH ...])
PAD : (double:pad_radius double:pad_gap POINT3D SHAPE)
PADS : ([PAD ...])
TRACK : (string:id double:track_radius double:via_radius double:track_gap PADS PATHS)
PCB : DIMS TRACK ... ... ()

Any character before an opening ( will be ignored, so comments can be freely added at any point the parser is looking for an opening (. Such comments are allowed in the input but will not be present in the output.

All track paths are assumed to have rounded ends and corners when testing for collision gap clearance. If the resulting board is milled or etched with beveled or square corners problems may occur in densely packed areas !

All the x, y, z co-ordinates of the board components MUST reside in the posative space ! Relative co-ordinates for SHAPE of pads will of course contain negative members, but the resulting value once added to the PAD position MUST be positive.

Special treatment is given to tracks with a track_radius of 0.0, they are used to hold unused pads and keepout paths. No attempt is made to route them, they are just added to the collision hash for all other routing. PADS can be empty as well as PATHS.

Tracks containing paths as input to the router are treated as pre existing wiring and are preserved as is in the output. Only pads of tracks with no existing wiring to them are routed.

DIMS : (double:width double:height double:depth)

Dimensions of the board in units and layers. depth is a double format but always has a fractional part of 0.

eg.

(100.0 50.0 2.0)

POINT2D : (double:x double:y)

2D point in units.

eg.

(56.7 24.3)

POINT3D : (double:x double:y double:z)

3D point in units and layer. z layer is a double format but always has a fractional part of 0. Layers are numbered from 0.

eg.

(56.7 24.3 0.0)
(50.7 25.3 1.0)

SHAPE : (POINT2D ...)

2D shape specified in relative units. These shapes are used to represent pad polygons, and are specified as closed polygons, the viewer fills these with a fan fill. An empty shape is used to signify a circular pad with radius of pad_radius. Two points are used to indicate an oval pad using the two points and the pad_radius. 3 or more points are a polygon shape for the pad.

eg.

circle -> ()
oval -> ((-20.0 0.0) (20.0 0.0))
square -> ((-5.0 -5.0) (-5.0 5.0) (5.0 5.0) (5.0 -5.0) (-5.0 -5.0))

PATH : (POINT3D ...)

A connected set of points on the PCB. Used to specify a section of a track or keepout. Transitions between layers must only be vertical through the layers and signify a through via in that position. All vias are through vias, there are no blind vias.

eg.

((10.0 10.0 0.0) (20.0 5.0 0.0) (20.0 5.0 1.0) (30.0 10.0 1.0) (40.0 10.0 1.0))

PATHS : ([PATH ...])

A set of path sections electrically connected with each other, normally via the pad terminals of components. Each track has a set of paths that are used to create the collision hash for that track. Paths data present in the input signify existing pre wiring for this track or keepout, and is retain unchanged by the router while it fills in any remaining connections.

PAD : (double:pad_radius double:pad_gap POINT3D SHAPE)

A single pad of a component. pads_radius is 0.0 if the pad shape is not a circle or oval. pad_gap is the collision gap required by the pad in units. The POINT3D is the position of the pad on the board and then the SHAPE is relative to that position.

PADS : ([PAD ...])

Represents all the electrically connected component pads of a track. A padstack should be grouped together rather than being spread throughout the pads data. This is because the router looks for a sequence of pads with matching x and y position and uses the z min and max to create grid deformation information for neck down.

TRACK : (string:id double:track_radius double:via_radius double:track_gap PADS PATHS)

A set of electrically connected component pads and paths, or unused pads and keepouts. track_radius in units for the radius of all tracks, via_radius for the radius of all vias within this track and track_gap for the required gap between the tracks and vias of this track any other components on the PCB. track_radius of 0.0 specifies unused pads and or keepouts.

The id is just a user supplied track identifier that is unchanged from the input to output, as the order of tracks in the output may be changed due to the routing process. This allows the identification or sorting of the output by the output consumer process etc.

C_PCB options

-t:  timeout in seconds, default 600
-v:  verbosity level 0..1, default 0
-z:  vias cost, 0..100, default 0
-s:  number of samples, default 1
-r:  grid resolution 1..4, default 1
-q:  area quantization, default 1
-fr: flood range 1..5, default 2
-xr: even layer x range 0..5, default 1
-yr: odd layer y range 0..5, default 1

More screenshots