Forums » CircuitLab Feature Requests

I will be very pleased (and others too sure) if you add a option to import old designs, or even export new ones to Eagle to do the final part of work (PCB design).

This can be a good idea?? A future improvement.

This is a neat idea, but I think the primary trouble would be in the creation of a meaningful component library for the exchange.

In CircuitLab, there's no option to select a package for inserted parts. In Eagle, this is mandatory.

A good first step would be to create an Eagle library for all of the default components in Circuit Lab, but think about the difficulties you'd encounter: I use 0603 resistors and caps in most cases, and they all have the same pinout :) so that should be easy. I've got a few favorite opamps, diodes, FETs, and BJTs that I keep stocked, but there's a wide variety of packages, speeds, power ratings, pinouts etc. so there would be some decisions that would need to be made. Ideal supplies are practically meaningless in Eagle, voltage is usually supplied through connectors of a wide variety of styles. Digital gates come in various packages and gate quantities...the list goes on.

The simple conclusion Eagle is not good at Spice/CircuitLab output, and that CircuitLab/Spice is not good at Eagle output. This is reflected in industry, few circuit design tools have Spice output late in the process (design rule checks and electrical rule checks excepted, those are easier). It's actually quite common to have separate tools for simulation and circuit design. It would be very difficult for a program to include, deduce, or guess the required information to generate a layout-able design from a Spice-oriented tool, but should be quite easy for a PCB designer to do so. This wouldn't take long for most circuits.