Configuring blendcfg.yaml¶

You can customize outputs by editing the blendcfg.yaml file which defines rendering options and variants to be generated. The file needs to be placed in the main directory of the hardware project. A default blendcfg.yaml is copied into the project directory when one does not exist. Alternatively you can copy it from the template file using gerber2blend with -g argument.

The file includes the following config sections:

SETTINGS¶

General board and conversion settings:

• PRJ_EXTENSION - string containing EDA software main project file extension, used to read the PCB project name from it. Can be set to "" if the extension is undefined. If no files with this extension are found, unknownpcb will be used as name.

• FAB_DIR - string with the name of a directory containing all input Gerber files, stackup files, temporary files and a final board model. The directory can be described as a path relative to project’s main directory. By default the fab/ directory is used.

• DPI - target dot density of bitmaps exported from Gerber files; influences quality of PCB soldermask shaders and board model creation time. Standard value is 900.

• DEFAULT_BRD_THICKNESS - default board thickness used to generate PCB model when rendering without stackup provided. Default value is 1.6.

• SILKSCREEN - silkscreen marking color on PCB texture, options: White (default), Black

• SOLDERMASK - soldermask color on PCB texture, options: Black (default), White, Green, Blue, Red. To use custom RGB values, input a pair of hex values: AABBCC, DDEEFF (colors for areas with and without copper beneath). gerber2blend converts provided RGB codes to Blender color space.

• USE_INKSCAPE - helper Inkscape SVG convert operation that can be used for boards with footprints with overlapping holes that cause problems with generating a PCB mesh from Gerber-based SVG files. Requires Inkscape >1.2.

EFFECTS¶

Enables additional render effects:

• STACKUP- generates separate models for each copper layer of the PCB, requires stackup.json to be provided in the fab/ directory. This file format is specified in the Getting started section.

• SOLDER- generates solder on pads of mounted components, requires solder paste gerbers to be provided in the fab/ directory.

GERBER_FILENAMES¶

Configuration for input Gerber filenames. Each of the following options specifies a wildcard pattern - the following operations are supported:

• * - match any amount of characters

• ? - match exactly one character

• [] - match one of the specified characters (for example: [abc] will match characters a, b or c).

Gerber filenames:

• EDGE_CUTS - pattern for Edge Cuts Gerber

• PTH - pattern for the PTH drill file (optional)

• NPTH - pattern for the NPTH drill file (optional)

• IN - pattern for Inner Copper layer Gerbers, files matched by this pattern are treated as inner layers (optional)

• FRONT_SILK - pattern for the Front Silk Gerber

• BACK_SILK - pattern for the Back Silk Gerber

• FRONT_MASK - pattern for the Front Mask Gerber

• BACK_MASK - pattern for the Back Mask Gerber

• FRONT_CU - pattern for the Front Copper layer Gerber

• BACK_CU - pattern for the Back Copper layer Gerber

• FRONT_FAB - pattern for the Front Fab Gerber (optional)

• BACK_FAB - pattern for the Back Fab Gerber (optional)

• FRONT_PASTE - pattern for the Front Paste Gerber (optional)

• BACK_PASTE - pattern for the Back Paste Gerber (optional)

Layers marked as (optional) can be removed from blendcfg.yaml to skip using them during mesh generation. In case optional layers are missing their Gerber files in fab/ directory while they are listed in GERBER_FILENAMES section, gerber2blend will throw a warning but will continue working.

STAGES¶

A list that defines modules to be run when executing gerber2blend. The module names are followed by a :, for example:

STAGES:
    - CLEARSCENE:
    - GERBCONVERT:
    - BOARD:
    - VERSIONSTAMPER:

For description on how stage names from blendcfg.yaml are translated to Python modules for execution, see the Processing pipeline chapter.

Custom config settings¶

gerber2blend can run with a specified configuration preset by typing gerber2blend -c custom_preset as mentioned in usage chapter. The current template file contains a single, default preset. You can add a new preset and save it in the blendcfg.yaml template file as follows:

default: &default
    SETTINGS:
        FAB_DIR: fab
        DPI: 900
        PRJ_EXTENSION: .kicad_pro
        ...

custom_preset:
    <<: *default
    SETTINGS:
        FAB_DIR: fabrication_dir
        DPI: 1200
        PRJ_EXTENSION: .kicad_pro
        ...

In blendcfg.yaml presets, only the fields that are modified need to be included in a new preset. The remaining values are inherited from the default preset through mapping merges.