Quick start¶

This scenario will generate a 3D model of the Open Source Jetson Orin Baseboard populated with components as an example. This guide uses the gerber2blend tool to prepare the base PCB model.

Clone the board¶

git clone https://github.com/antmicro/jetson-orin-baseboard.git

Clone the 3D model library¶

git clone https://github.com/antmicro/hardware-components.git

In order for the library to be visible by picknblend, specify it in the environment variable MODEL_LIBRARY_PATHS:

export MODEL_LIBRARY_PATHS=path/to/library/directory/hardware-components/

Alternatively, you can provide this path in the blendcfg.yaml file:

MODEL_LIBRARY_PATHS:
      - path/to/library/directory/hardware-components/

Install KiCad¶

The open source EDA tool, KiCad, will be used for exporting input files for the board. KiCad (from version 7.0.0 up) provides a CLI that can be used in the command line and CI environment. To install KiCad run:

sudo apt install kicad

Prepare input files from the hardware design¶

To generate a 3D model of the PCB, gerber2blend requires Gerber files and picknblend requires PnP data (and optionally BOM).

To generate Gerber files, run:

cd jetson-orin-baseboard  
mkdir fab
kicad-cli pcb export gerbers --no-protel-ext -o fab/ jetson-orin-baseboard.kicad_pcb
kicad-cli pcb export drill --format gerber --excellon-separate-th -o fab/ jetson-orin-baseboard.kicad_pcb

To generate PnP data in CSV format, run:

kicad-cli pcb export pos jetson-orin-baseboard.kicad_pcb -o fab/jetson-orin-baseboard-pos.csv --format csv --units mm --side both --use-drill-file-origin --bottom-negate-x

Generate PCB Blender model¶

Use the gerber2blend tool to generate a Blender model of the PCB:

cd jetson-orin-baseboard
gerber2blend

Refer to gerber2blend’s Quick start guide for detailed instructions.

Populate PCB model with components using picknblend¶

In order to populate an already existing PCB model with components from PnP files, run:

picknblend

To preview the generated .blend file with populated components, open it with an instance of Blender in version >=4.1.