gerber-to-svg

gerber-to-svg

Gerber file to SVG converter for Node and the browser.

usage

command line

1. $ npm install -g gerber-to-svg
2. $ gerber2svg path/to/gerber (writes to stdout)

• $ gerber2svg path/to/gerber.gbr > file.svg will write to a specific file
• $ gerber2svg --out dir path/to/gerbers/* will create an svg in dir for every file in path/to/gerbers it can plot

api (node and browser)

For Node and Browserify:

1. $ npm install --save gerber-to-svg
2. Add var gerberToSvg = require(gerber-to-svg); to your JavaScript

If you'd rather not manage your packages:

1. Download the standalone library or minified library
2. Add <script src="path/to/gerber-to-svg.js"></script> to your HTML

Use in your app with:

var svgString = gerberToSvg(gerberString);

Where gerberString is the gerber file (e.g. from fs.readFile encoded with UTF-8 or FileReader.readAsText).

what you get

Not a whole lot, for now. This converter uses RS-274X and strives to be true to the latest format specification. Most of the Gerber file features are there. Since Gerber is just an image format, this library does not attempt to identify nor infer anything about what the file represents (e.g. a copper layer, a silkscreen layer, etc.) It just converts it from Gerber to SVG.

Everywhere that is "dark" or "exposed" in the Gerber (think a copper trace or a line on the silkscreen) will be "currentColor" in the SVG. You can set this with the "color" CSS property or the "color" attribute in the svg node itself.

Everywhere that is "clear" (anywhere that was never drawn on or was drawn on but cleared later) will be transparent. This is accomplished though judicious use of SVG masks and groups.

The bounding box is carefully calculated as the Gerber's being converted, so the width and height of the resulting SVG should be nearly (if not exactly) the real world size of the Gerber image. The SVG's viewBox is in Gerber units, so its min-x and min-y values can be used to align SVGs generated from different board layers.

things to watch out for

Step and repeat is very much a work in progress. If your Gerber file uses step and repeat (i.e. contains at least one %SRX_Y_I_J_*% where one or both of the numbers after X and Y are not 1) and is only one polarity (i.e. %LPC*% doesn't appear anywhere in your file), you should be fine. If you have both step and repeat and clear layers, though, don't necessarily trust whatever it returns (if it doesn't throw).

Arcs should work, but they've tended to give me trouble. If you see something circular and weird, that could be why.

If it messes up, open up an issue and attach your Gerber, if you can. I appreciate files to test on.

building from source

1. $ git clone https://github.com/mcous/gerber-to-svg.git
2. $ npm install && gulp
3. $ gulp or $ gulp watch to rebuild or rebuild on source changes

Library files for Node live in lib/, standalone library files live in dist/, and the command line utility lives in bin/.

unit testing

This module uses mocha and shouldjs for unit testing. To run the tests once, run $ gulp test. To run the tests automatically when source or tests change, run $ gulp testwatch.

There's also a visual test suite. Run $ gulp testvisual and point your browser to http://localhost.com:4242 to take a look.