Help with Allegro-Altium PCB conversion

[Rive]

TL;DR

I have an Allegro .brd file as design reference, but I need something Altium-compatible instead

I have an Allegro .brd file as design reference, but I need something Altium-compatible instead. Altium can import .brd only in case there is Allegro installed on the same PC, what I don't have.

Is there anybody who can help me with this?

 

[Baluncore]

Can you use a free viewer?
https://casper.ssl.berkeley.edu/wiki/Viewing_Cadence_Allegro_BRD_Files

 

[Rive]

Thanks, I'll check.
Usually this kind of 'viewer' does not allow conversion or save, though...

 

[Tom.G]

Apparently Orcad Lite has the needed file conversion in file "extracta.exe". Make sure it is on a path that Altium knows about.

For a little more info see:
https://designhelp.fedevel.com/forum/main-forum/altium/10764-allegro-brd-pcb-to-altium-pcbdoc

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Rive]

Thanks.

Tried it both way, and Altium likely finds the required file since the import starts, but then Altium throws an error.

I'll try to get a PC with a clean install or with a different version...

 

[Jody]

I've reverse engineered boards from the CAM tool that's built into Altium. Do you have Gerber or ODB++ for it? I cannot remember if it works with .brd

I know it has a warning for being outdated, but I also know I have done this on later version of Altium than it has claimed. The images are outdated, but the procedures are the same: https://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/CAM+Editor+Reverse+Engineering+PCBs

Something that stops a lot of people while doing it is they forget to assign all the layers ie. Top Layer, Bottom layer, Internal Layer... default from Import is Temporary and when you try to extract nets for it... you'll see it load, but nothing seems to happens.

 

[Rive]

I've reverse engineered boards from the CAM tool that's built into Altium. Do you have Gerber or ODB++ for it? I cannot remember if it works with .brd

It does not work, but actually the problem is not like that (not about reverse engineering). The 'thing' is a well documented reference design, so I have the item in my hands, the complete BOM, the schematics and even a screenshot ( ) about the PCB design (embedded in a protected PDF document, so I could make a screenshot only ).
The main problem is, that we have some persistent and annoying problems with high voltage clearance design rules in the Altium version we have, so I just do not trust it. I would prefer to import an existing design instead of re-doing it manually.
Seems like it was a futile attempt. This software just hates me

 

[Jody]

If you could get Gerber or ODB++ then you could reverse engineer it into an editable Altium file and make the changes you want; furthermore if you can export ipc nets then you won’t have funky default net names.