Generating Manufacturing Outputs - FAQs
Generating Manufacturing Outputs - FAQs
Use the following links to browse through frequently asked questions about generating manufacturing outputs in Altium Designer.
How do I include Altium Designer data, including parameters, in an Excel Bill of Materials?
Altium Designer data is mapped into an Excel BOM by entering Field=XXXX and Column=YYYY entries into the Excel template used to generate the BOM. For example, Column=LibRef adds a column listing all the components' library references, and Field=Title adds the value defined in the Title parameter. To learn more, read the article Including Design Data in an Excel Bill of Materials.
Why do I get the error "The Film is too small for this PCB" when generating Gerber files?
This error appears when the primitives in the PCB document do not fit into the area specified by in the Gerber export settings. This may be because the board/panel is too big for that area, or because there are off-board objects that are making the extents larger than expected.
To enlarge the film size:
- Select File » Fabrication Outputs » Gerber Files
- Go to the Advanced tab
- Enter appropriate X and Y values for the film size; Try generating the gerbers again.
- If these values already seem large enough for your PCB, return to the PCB editor, and check for off-board objects.
Finding and removing off-board objects:
Press Ctrl + Page Down, or select View » Fit Document. If the PCB file contains objects outside of the board's edges, the screen will resize to contain these objects. If these are far away, the board will appear very small. To remove these objects, go through the following steps:
- Deselect everything with the shortcut X A or through the menu option Edit » Deselect » All
- Use the shortcut S O or the menu option Edit » Select » Outside Area, and drag around the whole board.
- The off board objects are now selected, and can be deleted. Before deleting, it may be a good idea to open the List panel (by pressing Shift+F12, or choosing View » Workspace Panels » PCB » PCB List), and review the selected objects. Right-click for the option to remove non-selected objects from the list.
Once these objects are deleted, or otherwise returned to their rightful place within the extents of the PCB, regenerate the gerber files. The error message should not appear.