Cadence Allegro/OrCad~ Does anyone know HOW to use this stuff?

Phas3L0ck · December 3, 2019

Does anyone out there have professional experience with the Cadence Allegro/OrCad software? It's a huge PCB layout & design program suite, and I happened to come across the new version 17.4, and wanted to try it for a small (very small) deign project I wanted to start. (Don't ask how or where I got it, just know that it works, okay.)

Look, all I want to do is put a couple of parts on to a blank board plane, route the power/signal traces, and pack it up to send to a manufacturer.

I already have the part footprint files, and they open fine, but I can't figure out how to use or import them.

Does ANYONE know how this works?

Notes:

Need to insert .dra files (part footprint) into .brd (board layout) format, but apparently that doesn't work, and the only way to get the data into a .opj (OrCad Project) file is by creating/using a .olb or .lib library file! How the F#(K do I do THAT???

UPDATE: I did something with a weird conversion and import method, so I sort of have a start, but still not a clue what to do next.

I'll attach the files I'm working with. Let's see if anyone here can make sense of it.

SYM-45984-4141.dra SYM-45984-4141.plt sym-45984-4141.psm sym-45984-4141.txt SYM-2018431040.dra SYM-2018431040.plt sym-2018431040.psm sym-2018431040.txt WR-COM_USB_614004190021.dra WR-COM_USB_614004190021.plt wr-com_usb_614004190021.psm NEW PWR.DSN New PWR.opj Power PCB.brd

karsnoordhuis · December 3, 2019

youtube is your friend here, if you have never layed out a board id suggest starting off with a more basic package like easyeda. this allows you to get the hang of it and then switch over more easely. i did this with altium

Phas3L0ck · December 3, 2019

Just now, karsnoordhuis said:

youtube is your friend here, if you have never layed out a board id suggest starting off with a more basic package like easyeda. this allows you to get the hang of it and then switch over more easely. i did this with altium

I looked. NONE of that solves my problem of footprint import.