hi to all,

i have a problem. i have a netlist i want to know how to convert it to schematic.

 

Originally posted by samanta@Feb 13 2006, 12:33 AM
hi to all,

i have a problem. i have a netlist i want to know how to convert it to schematic.

[post=14011]Quoted post[/post]​

Hi samanta,

Creating a schematic from a netlist is a bit tough.

Now, if you have access to the schematic capture software that was used to create the netlist initially, you have a fighting chance to pull off this feat.

There exists some printed circuit board layout software that can import a netlist and allow you to use it to layout a PCB board from an existing netlist but even this software requires a lot of effort once the netlist has been imported in that you have to create the package outlines for the devices used. However, to create a schematic from a netlist will require just as much effort as it would to manually enter the schematic from scratch.

In short I think you are in for a lot of effort to convert a netlist to schematic.

Maybe another member with more experience in PCB capture software can point you to a software package that can facilitate this effort.


hgmjr

 

Hi,

Interesting problem. The schematic capture part of the software is supposed to generate the netlist. It will take some luck to find a netlist - to - schematic program.

Meanwhile, look through the netlist. If it's text, you will have all the components and connections listed. It may be a pain, but that should give you enough to recreate the schematic.

 

Can any one tell me the exact software tool which converts netlist to schematics?
Is ORCAD supports the same feature?

 

I think we are saying that such a tool does not exist. It would help if we knew what kind of netlist you are starting with. For example if the netlist is from LTSpice you are done! The netlist is the schematic and vice versa. There is a small proability the netlist you have has the same relation to the graphical representation as it does in LTSpice.

Besides, how bad could it be to renter the schematic.

 

I hope someone googling for a solution finds this - apologies for this answer being a little late.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/netlistviewer/

 

I hope someone googling for a solution finds this - apologies for this answer being a little late.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/netlistviewer/

About 10 years late.

 

The general problem of the conversion is much of the detail of the schematic is simply not in the Netlist.

At base the netlist is a list of connectivity between items. It may contain part numbers but not always. Just a list of connections such as U1 pin 1 connects to Q7 pin 3. You could always add these things back in, along with the symbols, and a schematic could be drawn, but this will look like a bowl of spaghetti without any further editing by a human who understands the device in total.

 

Cadence (Orcad) recommend using the tools from this company to create schematics from netlists...

http://www.elgris.com/content/about_us.html#Visualisation

 

About 10 years late.

ha ha didn't notice the date!!!

 

The general problem of the conversion is much of the detail of the schematic is simply not in the Netlist.

At base the netlist is a list of connectivity between items. It may contain part numbers but not always. Just a list of connections such as U1 pin 1 connects to Q7 pin 3. You could always add these things back in, along with the symbols, and a schematic could be drawn, but this will look like a bowl of spaghetti without any further editing by a human who understands the device in total.

Hi ErnieM - I was looking for a quicker than manual way to expand equivalent circuits of passive components modelled by complex netlists provided by Murata. The linked tool and a few minutes of untangling let me see what the equivalent looked like better than reading the netlist and faster than doing it by hand. Agreed, it can be spaghetti before some adjustments.

 

Hi,

Came across this old thread as i was thinking along these same lines.
It's interesting how hard it is to create a nicely formatted schematic because there are different ways that humans understand circuits and how different elements should be depicted and grouped. Because of that i probably wont look too much farther, depending on how much time i want to invest, unless someone comes up with some interesting ideas to aid in developing this kind of software.

 

I worked with someone about 20 years ago who developed a netlist viewer for examining critical paths from timing simulator output. The viewer generated a schematic with minimal wire crossings. It was useful for working on timing; not so useful for understanding circuit function, but better than nothing.

 

There is a tool called "Schematic Builder" for LTspice available from the LTspice group.
It will read a spice netlist and add all the parts to an LTspice schematic with labels representing the interconnecting nets.
The user will have to re-arrange the parts and interconnect the labels with wires to complete the schematic, (however the schematic is functional without doing this).

 

I have my own pcbcad program and the netlist is simply a list of connections between pin son components.
The component reference used is simply component type (R,C,IC etc) and the component reference number.
It does have the component library name but that could be meaningless to another CAD package.
i.e. C_P2 is a capacitor with 0.2" inch pitch.