CircuitWorks Overview

CircuitWorks lets you create 3D models from the file formats written by most electrical computer-aided design (ECAD) systems. Electrical and mechanical engineers can collaborate to design printed circuit boards (PCBs) that fit and function in SOLIDWORKS assemblies.

The CircuitWorks™ application is an add-in to the SOLIDWORKS® software from Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS Corporation.

CircuitWorks has both a dedicated user interface and a SOLIDWORKS interface. You can perform some operations, such as opening an ECAD file, from either interface. Other operations are specific to one interface.

CircuitWorks supports the industry-standard Intermediate Data Format (IDF) used by a wide variety of ECAD systems for PCB design. CircuitWorks also supports the PADS® ASCII file format from Mentor Graphics® PowerPCB® as well as the Prostep EDMD collaboration format used by Mentor Graphics and Cadence®.

CircuitWorks Lite

CircuitWorks Lite lets all SOLIDWORKS users import IDF 2.0 and 3.0 files to create SOLIDWORKS part models.

CircuitWorks Lite capabilities are limited as compared to the full version of CircuitWorks. Some key differences are:
  CircuitWorks CircuitWorks Lite
Model creation Board assembly with component part models Single part model
Capacity Thousands of components Hundreds of components
Uses the Component Library Yes No
Import formats IDF 2.0, IDF 3.0, IDF 4.0, PADS ASCII, Prostep EDMD IDF 2.0, IDF 3.0
Export formats IDF 2.0, IDF 3.0, IDF 4.0, PADS ASCII, Prostep EDMD None
Filtering capabilities Yes No

For details on using CircuitWorks Lite, see the SOLIDWORKS Help IDF topics.