About the IDF Translator
The IDF Translator enables the transfer of PCA data between PCB layout and mechanical design within Inventor Professional.
You can open an Intermediate Data Format (IDF) board file (IDF version 2.0 or 3.0) in Inventor Professional. An IDF file can be opened as a new assembly or part document, or placed as a component in an existing assembly.
An IDF format consists of:
These files have the name of the input IDF file name with different extensions.
About options in the Import IDF Options dialog box
The board components are summarized so you can determine which items to import.
- Each component is assigned a color to provide a visually correct representation of the PCB assembly. You can change the color of the entire board, other outlines, all components, or individual components as needed.
- Access the Filter Settings dialog box where you can filter the following components:
- Nonplated Holes A type of PCB hole which is defined in the IDF file.
- Plated Holes A type of PCB hole which is defined in the IDF file.
- Components The components which are placed on PCB such as resistor and chips.
- Outlines
- Board cutouts Defines the areas which are cut from the board.
- Keep-out areas Specifies the regions of the board where a type of item is not allowed.
If you already published the IDF components to the Content Center library when you import the IDF, by default Inventor will open these parts from Content Center instead of creating new parts.
If the parts in the IDF file you have selected to open have not been published to the Content Center library, open the part and use the Manage
Author IDF Component command to publish the part to to the IDF Component Content Center Library.You can run Check to identify any components that are not already in the Content Center library.
Ensure the original ECAD/PCB design creating the part names does not include the characters below so that after importing the file into Inventor, the IDF parts can easily be published to the Inventor IDF Content Center library. An IDF component name containing one of the symbols below cannot be published to the IDF Content Center library.
- (\, /, :, *, ?, ", <, >, |)
About the IDF Component Content Center Library
With the Manage Author IDF Component Authoring command you can publish IDF parts to the IDF Component Content Center Library and build your own IDF component library.
Any component published to the Content Center library will automatically be used in the imported model. New parts will be created for components not in the Content Center library.
About IDF data and Inventor
When imported as an assembly document, the board components are translated into multiple parts that are contained in the new assembly. Each part file contains the data for one or more component instance. The Autodesk Inventor browser and the BOM are updated with the IDF information.
The Autodesk Inventor IDF Translator supports many standard IDF board items:
All part files are named automatically based on existing board information. Notes defined in the IDF file are created and stored, but not displayed.
About nonlicensed IDF Translator sites and IDF board data
The only difference between a system that has Autodesk Inventor IDF Translator installed, and one that does not is that a nonlicensed site cannot import new IDF components. For example, both licensed and nonlicensed sites can do the following:
- Open and edit a regular assembly that contains an IDF subassembly.
- Determine interferences with board components.
- View the outline of IDF data within the context of an open assembly file.
- Turn visibility off to completely hide the IDF assembly component in the graphics window.
- Create detailed drawings of IDF data within any file.