Render 3D images of your PCBs using Eagle3D and POV-Ray

Using Eagle3D and POV-Ray, you can make realistic 3D renderings of your PCBs. Eagle3D is a script for EAGLE Layout Editor. This will generate a ray tracing file, which will be sent to POV-Ray, which in turn will eventually pop out the finalized image of your PCB.

Step 1: Things you'll need

-EAGLE Layout Editor -- This is the PCB CAD/CAM program used for making your PCBs. Westfw has some great tutorials on how to make a schematic and turning that into a printed circuit board using EAGLE.
-Eagle3D -- This will generate the file used by POV-Ray
-POV-Ray -- This will render the final image of the PCB.

Comments

[douglaslyon]

POV-Ray no long works on macOS 10.7 or newer. This is due to a lack of rosetta. The Unix build will not configure cleanly on a mac.

[jdorne]

What if I use Eagle 6.2.0?

[rocketman221]

Will this render on the graphics cards or is it stuck rendering on the CPU?

[nitrox027]

I copied over the eagle3d files but povray says its unable to open 3edtools.inc
what can i do to fix this?

[nitrox027]

i am running eagle 5.10.0 and povray version 3.62

[andres2504]

I have this problem: Cannot open INI file 'C:\Users\user\Documents\POV-Ray\v3.6\ini\povray.ini'. Could you help me to solve this? Thanks

[andres2504]

sorry i've fixed it and i have obtained good results!!! thanks for the info... :D

[steastiw]

how did you fix it. i have the same problem. i am using windows xp.

pls help

(kindly post your reply as a comment on this post. my email id has changed. so dont mail it)

[coleyy]

for some reason, my switches/relays/9v battery snaps/capacity diodes all show up as disc capacitors
please help me get it to work

[ongissim]

Sorry, but not all parts are modeled in 3D. Most parts, unfortunately, don't show properly. I suggest modeling your own components (step 5) if it's crucial.

[danger89]

My how-to: http://pastebin.ca/1913638

[pyroten]

Could you possibly do an i'ble on how to make a small video/animation of a flyby or circling the board? I can't work it out ^:( According to the docs, it's possible. ^{: D}

Thanks

[pyroten]

oh yea, and also i can't get the background to change. I'v tried everything in the settings dialog but nup.

[cdousley]

one thing for the animation go to the little thing where you ajust the camera angle and save pictures of it at a bunch of different angles and put them together for an animation

[Cybergeek004]

Hi I noticed that you are missing a cap in the render that happens to me to I also miss pots and other parts how can I make it so I can add all the parts in it?

[poddy69]

This is just the thing I have been looking for. I love Eagle because it is so full of usefull tools and library's, and to find out that you can now make 3D images of your work is great. Only 1 problem!!!! I can't get the thing to work. Everytime I run go to render my board in POVRAY, it stops at the '#include "tools.inc". I am using the latest version of all the programs, including Eagle (which is 5.6 I think). Any ideas guys????

[Rportal]

it worked well thank you

[lunuwaththa]

please post a article for PCB Design using Proteus 7 Professional

[cyberian]

Excellent contribution!

[Seifpic]

I always get an error:

[Seifpic]

It's OK, it works now. Anyone know where to get a free working printer with its software?

[ongissim]

Are you sure that you used the correct Eagle 3D script file (.ulp)?

[societyofrobots]

I had written up a nice Eagle3D Tutorial in 2007. Its definitely worth reading through for more details . . .

[wegunterjr]

what is the difference in eagle 5.4?

[brandon borick]

is eagel safe to download

[ian]

Instead of copying the include files (step #3) I added the Eagle3D path to the last line of povray.ini.

[ongissim]

Thanks, I'll add that as another method.

[awkrin]

Crocodile 3d(which is not free) can make pcb in the same program, but it cannot render, yet is a time saver

[ftking_83702]

Thank you so much!

[spike shadows (secret agent man)]

thats cool, i guess it helps to see it beor you build it right? What was the circuit for, I see a 555 chip in there...

[skawesome]

Depending on the resister values, that'll send a 5 volt pulse to the "out" pin at a regular interval. If you hooked up an LED going from "out" to "sgnd" it would blink. Also, that's really slick, good Instructable!

[ongissim]

To be specific, it would make that LED blink around 17khz ;). This circuit was just designed so I could annoy people by hooking up a piezo speaker.

[James Moxham]

This is great - especially for creating the image on the first page of an Instructable. It also looks clearer than a photo of a real board which would be very useful for showing someone where all the parts go. +1 rating. James Moxham aka Dr_Acula

[guyfrom7up]

:O This is the coolest thing I have ever seen related to electronics on a computer, this is like.. I dunno.. awesome!!!! +5, eh really +1 cause that's all I can do.

[westfw]

I was hoping someone would write this up. Thanks!

[GorillazMiko]

Great job! These look awesome, now I can make some instead of having to draw everything out, with all the PRESSURE PUSHING DOWN ON MY SHOULDERS, CAUSING ME TO BURN INTO A PILE OF ASHES.