I wanted to print the negative artwork from a PCB that I've designed. The problem is that I couldn't find that option in Altium Designer. I found that I can create a solid layer and then play with the colors of the print. But I wanted something better. I found that Altium can export a Gerber with negative, but I couldn't put the holes and the negative affects all the page (I wanted to negate only the PCB, so I don't waste too ink). What Can I do? Thanks!
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\$\begingroup\$ Good question to start with. \$\endgroup\$– Bence KaulicsCommented May 13, 2016 at 8:24
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2 Answers
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You can use the
File>Fabrication Output>Gerber
to generate the output of the required layers. Then on the generated Camcastic file you can go to
Tools>Film Wizard
There you can select the Negative for the layers and then you can also mirror the layers you want. Afterwards you just have to print the file. The printed file can be imported into Gimp and thus you can select the unused black parts and delete them to save the ink. I hope this makes sense.
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For Altium Designer you can try the following for making negative :
- Do a Polygon pour taking Board Outline at any mechanical layer.
- Go to Board Layer & Color Options
- Make the the following changes to the layer i) Top Layer / Bottom Layer - White Color ii) Multilayer - White Color iii) Mechanical Layer - Black iv) Pad Holes - Not Black but any similar value (like 16 no.) color v) via holes - same as pad holes
- Go to Page Setup - color Set as Color and Click on Advanced
- Add the above layers in the set
- Go to Preferences and click on retrieve colors from pcb.
You will get the negative artwork.
