I ran into an issue with the Orcad PCB translator when a complex footprint is created with a STEP model. The resulting file .DRA file is too large to be used. I have created an example with a BGA 760pins. The resulting .DRA footprint file size is 78.9MB which is impossible for Orcad to handle. I made some research and I found that footprint expert is using the old 3d mapper. I have modified the migration file .SCR to use the new orcad 3D mapper (3D canvas). Now the resulting .DRA footprint file size is only 1.6MB .

I am using Orcad 17.4 hotfix030 and footprint expert 2022.09. I know that in the last few hotfixes, Cadence made changes in the way it handles a STEP model, possibly it has created this issue. If you decide to correct the issue in a future release, perhaps you should make it as a user option in the GUI to avoid creating problem with user of earlier versions of Orcad/Allegro.

If you want to reproduce the problem and see the solution, everything is in the attached archive: Library, option files, modified .scr files, & screen snapshots to show the .DRA file sizes with the two 3D mappers.

You can check how to use the new 3d mapper by comparing the 2 files:

-bga760cp80_28x28_2300x2300x296b50 (old 3D mapping).scr

-bga760cp80_28x28_2300x2300x296b50 (new 3D mapping).scr

uploads/16221/3D_mapper_test_files.zip" rel="nofollow - uploads/16221/3D_mapper_test_files.zip