Dennis, I have used Cadnetix, Mentor Expedition (VeriBest) and Cadence Allegro. All give you the ability to provide Drawing Packages, some a little more complete than others, and some easier than others. In Expedition dimensioning will be added soon, Micrstation was dumped and not all of the needed drawing capability was ported into Expediton in the first release. It depends really on how sofisticated with repect to time needed you want to get with your drawings. Most PAB CAD tools do provide minimal drafting capability, and maybe the level of drawings you want would be better and faster done in a real drafting package, thats an individual's call. However the PCB tool should provide at the very least a means of producing a minimum document package on its own. Without that it would be like buying the car without the tires. Just like CAM output something needs to be there. There should also be the capability to import and export most common formats to be able to customize within the tool. There could also be a very good argument for let the PCB guys concentate only on the PCB world and just worry about th einterfaces. Let the Drafting guys worry only about drafting, and hopefully you would get the best of both. But then you could always be dealing with compatability issues, from rev to rev. Hope this helps. Bob Wolfe -----Original Message----- From: Beerman, Dennis [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 9:18 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [DC] Detail Drawings I am soliciting general feedback on the pros and cons of using board design software to generate Fab and Assy drawing packages. (Level 3, including notes and formats) Does your board software support adequate drafting tools to generate these drawings, or do you export the design to a drafting software? I would be particularly interested in feedback from anyone using Theda board software. Thank you in advance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To set a vacation stop for delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To set a vacation stop for delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------