OrCAD to Allegro problems

[Dewald]

Does anyone know what problems there are with translating an OrCAD
Layout file to Allegro?
I've been to the OrCAD web site, but there is not much information.

 

[FitzDean]

Cadence, who owns OrCAD, does have
a translator from OrCAD layout to Allegro.
Although its hard to find on Cadence's
web site, but it is there. The translation
is good, but the challenges come when
translating from copper pours to Allegro
shapes. But since PSD14.2, the
interface between OrCAD and Allegro is
pretty solid. If you are using OrCAD 9.2.3
stick with it. 10.0/10.1 is buggy when
netlisting to Allegro. Unfortunately, it's
on the OrCAD side and all of OrCAD
software is now developed out of the
country . OrCAD will now only see
small incremental improvements and bug
fixes. Nothing new or earthshattering
will be done there sinse the primary
design team was let go (a previous
engineer on that team told me about
this, so that as close as I can get to
what's really happening).

Allegro is a solid tool. Much better than
layout. It really hasn't changed much in
many years, but it is stable and has no
usability problems.

The best tool out there, imo, is Mentor's
expedition series. If it had better service
bureau penetration and better coordination
with front end tools, that would be a better
long term choice, yet a bit pricy. But with
CAE tools, you typically get what you
pay for. For most medium size design
teams, Mentor's PAD's Suites and
Cadence's Studio Suites are where you
should spend your time investigating
what you need.

Does anyone know what problems there
are with translating an OrCAD
Layout file to Allegro?
I've been to the OrCAD web site, but
there is not much information.