OPEN SOURCE "PCB" program ... is there a way to import pictures/logosinto a layout?

[samiam]

I have been thinking about this for some of my hobby work. I would love
to import a small logo/picture into the layout. It would give a strong
personal touch to each PCB.

Anyone done this before or know if this is planned in some future version?

 

[DJ Delorie]

I have been thinking about this for some of my hobby work. I would
love to import a small logo/picture into the layout. It would give a
strong personal touch to each PCB.

The only way to do this currently is to draw one with lines, arcs,
pins, pads, etc. You can draw the artwork on a separate board
(i.e. separate file), and use File->Load Layout data to Paste Buffer
to paste it onto other boards.

I once wrote a program to convert an image into an array of copper
spots of varying diameters, but the results were not pretty.

Note that the old Xaw version of pcb allowed you to set a background
image behind the board, to be used as a guide for laying out your
board. The current version doesn't support it, but you can still
download the old version.

 

[samiam]

Note that the old Xaw version of pcb allowed you to set a background

image behind the board, to be used as a guide for laying out your
board.

I never saw this "feature". I must have missed it in the manual.
thanks

The current version doesn't support it, but you can still download
the old version.

Truth is there are "ways" to do this.
I normally use toner transfer so I save my files as .ps ... then print
them or convert to .pdf then print

But I could just use gimp to "insert" the logo into the .ps output of
PCB

Trying to hand draw it like I draw devices would be PAINFUL

 

[Hal Murray]

I have been thinking about this for some of my hobby work. I would love
to import a small logo/picture into the layout. It would give a strong
personal touch to each PCB.

Anyone done this before or know if this is planned in some future version?

I did something similar many years ago. Somebody scanned in
an image. What I got was a run-length encoded raster scan.
Each run turns into a line on the PCB.

It should be a reasonable task to write some code that translates
that sort of image into a library part/footprint
with a bunch of lines. You might want to include a scale
factor in the conversion utility.