Exporting a Design to Ansoft Neutral Format from Altium Designer

Supporting your need to work with design files in other formats and with other tools, Altium Designer provides an exporter to export your PCB layouts to the Ansoft™ Neutral file format.

Version Support

Altium Designer's Ansoft Exporter exports into version 4.0 Ansoft/ANSYS Neutral file format.

Installing the Ansoft Exporter

The Ansoft Exporter can be installed alongside all other importers and exporters as part of initial installation of Altium Designer. Ensure that the Ansoft option - part of the Importers\Exporters functionality set - is enabled on the Select Design Functionality page of the Altium Designer Installer.

If support has not already been added during initial installation of the software, it can be added from the Configure Platform page when managing the extensions and updates for your installation through the Extensions & Updates view (click on the  control at the top-right of the workspace then choose Extensions and Updates from the menu):

1. From the Installed page of the view, click the Configure button at the top-right to access the Configure Platform page.

2. Scroll down the page and enable the entry for Ansoft in the Importers\Exporters region of the page.

Enable the Ansoft option under Importers\Exporters.

3. Click the Apply button at the top-right of the page. Altium Designer must be restarted for the changes to take effect, so click Yes at the dialog prompt.

Accessing and Running the Ansoft Exporter

To access this feature, choose the File » Export » Ansoft Neutral command from the PCB Editor's main menus. In the Export File dialog that opens, specify where and under what name the file is to be stored. By default, the file will be named using the PCB document name and stored in the same folder as the parent project.

With name and location specified as required, click Save. The Ansoft Export dialog will open. Configure further options relating to component naming then click OK to proceed with the export. Once the export has completed, an Information dialog will appear to confirm;  click OK in this dialog.

Export dialogs when exporting to the Ansoft Neutral file format.

Importing to Ansoft/ANSYS Tools

With your PCB design exported, you can then import the design into the required Ansoft/ANSYS tool. These include:

• ANSYS™ SIwave™ (which can also import data generated from Altium Designer in ODB++ format).
• ANSYS™ HFSS™
• Ansoft™ DesignerSI™
• Ansoft™ HFSS™

Notes on Supported Layers and Objects

All appropriate Altium Designer PCB layers and objects are exported to the file, with the following exceptions:

• All enabled copper, power plane, mechanical and overlay layers are exported.
• Layer-stack details, including copper thickness and dielectric properties (material, thickness and dielectric constant) are exported.
• Text strings are exported as objects rather strings, ensuring that their shapes are accurately represented in the ANF file, regardless of the font used in Altium Designer.