SANTA CRUZ, CA – Artwork Conversion has joined the IPC-2581 consortium and will develop a reader that will bolt together with several of the firm’s translation engines used by electronics designers.

Artwork Conversion says supporting IPC-2581 will enable its customers and OEM partners to work with any type of intelligent board data files.

IPC-2581 is an industry-driven standard supported by several major printed circuit board CAD and CAM companies, including Cadence and Zuken, and such OEMs as Fujitsu and nVidia.

Once the reader is completed, the company will be able to offer the following outputs from IPC-2581: GDSII stream; Gerber RS274X and Excellon drill; high-resolution Raster output (TIFF/BMP) for photoplotters and inspection equipment; Micronic's MIC format; AutoCAD's DXF format; Artwork's 3Di (3D) format and companion converter to SolidWorks; Ansoft's (now Ansys) neutral file (ANF) and component file; Agilent's ADFI format (for import into ADS Layout), and AWR's layout and microwave simulator.

The company said development of the IPC-2581 parser will be completed in the first quarter of 2012, and the first translators using the front-end will be available 30 days thereafter.

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