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Cadence to Hierarchical PDF

Drwinco

I am trying to lend some help in reviewing a customer's design. They are providing bookmarked PDF output file from Cadence schematics however some of the hierarchy are RTL generated which makes for very dense drawings. The result is I lose the ability to read wire names, pin names and instance names in some of the higher level blocks. Is there any way to increase the resolution in a VIrtuoso schematic to PDF so as not to lose the pin/instance and wire name information? I understand that in the cdsplotinit file you can specify the dots per inch DPI resolution, page size etc for plotting and that this is then used in converting the .ps file to PDF. Also is there a tool that Cadence has that will allow traversable hierarchy in PDF or is that the bookmark scenario?

  • Here are some sample cdsplotinit settings that create various resolutions for pdf files on 8.5x11 or 11x17. The higher resolution will give you the extra detail you need. You can follow this model to increase your resolution further if necessary. These plot settings actually spool directly to our ps2pdf converter and then open the final pdf in acroread without any intermediate steps.

    As for the hierarchy, I think bookmarks are you best approach. Take a look at the documentation for pdfmark. You should be able to write some Skill to build a bookmark file to use with your ps to pdf distiller.

    Derek

    PDF_6000dpi|Large Postscript: \
            :type=postscript2: \
            :spool=ps2pdf13 - > /tmp/plot_${LOGNAME}.pdf ; (acroread /tmp/plot_${LOGNAME}.pdf &): \
            :resolution#6000: \
            :maximumPages#30: \
            :paperSize="A" 48000 63000 1500 1500:
    PDF_3000dpi|Medium Postscript: \
            :type=postscript2: \
            :spool=ps2pdf13 - > /tmp/plot_${LOGNAME}.pdf ; (acroread /tmp/plot_${LOGNAME}.pdf &): \
            :resolution#3000: \
            :maximumPages#30: \
            :paperSize="A" 24000 31500 750 750:
    PDF_1000dpi|Small Postscript: \
            :type=postscript2: \
            :spool=ps2pdf13 - > /tmp/plot_${LOGNAME}.pdf ; (acroread /tmp/plot_${LOGNAME}.pdf &): \
            :resolution#1000: \
            :maximumPages#30: \
            :paperSize="A" 8000 10500 250 250:
    PDF_6000dpiB|Large Postscript: \
            :type=postscript2: \
            :spool="ps2pdf13 -sPAPERSIZE=11x17 - > /tmp/plot_B.pdf ; (acroread /tmp/plot_B.pdf &)": \
            :resolution#6000: \
            :maximumPages#30: \
            :paperSize="B" 63000 99000 1500 1500:
    PDF_3000dpiB|Medium Postscript: \
            :type=postscript2: \
            :spool="ps2pdf13 -sPAPERSIZE=11x17 - > /tmp/plot_B.pdf ; (acroread /tmp/plot_B.pdf &)": \
            :resolution#3000: \
            :maximumPages#30: \
            :paperSize="B" 31500 49500 750 750:
    PDF_1000dpiB|Small Postscript: \
            :type=postscript2: \
            :spool="ps2pdf13 -sPAPERSIZE=11x17 - > /tmp/plot_B.pdf ; (acroread /tmp/plot_B.pdf &)": \
            :resolution#1000: \
            :maximumPages#30: \
            :paperSize="B" 10500 16500 250 250:

  • Thanks for your reply. We already had the customer generate a PDF on 11X17 using the 6000 DPI but all we got was a mass of black lines and what may be instance symbols, rectangular boxes in the sea of black. Do you know if there are any additional parameters that need to be set on the Cadence side to insure readable text, pin names etc are generate? I assume that if you can zoom in and see the information on the Cadence side then it should appear in the postscript file and then the converted PDF? I seem to vaguely remember some issue regarding pixel size/resolution where certain text would not view when zooming in on a Cadence schematic. Also if we increase the resolution is there a limit and would a different paper size help, i.e larger such as D-size 22x34  or E? What we are dealing with are RTL generated schematics of logic blocks containing ~ 600+ logic gates, inverters, buffers, nor’s, nands, FF’s etc. Do you have any experience with this type of situation and do you foresee issues?  Also as another aside how does Cadence specify the paper size   :paperSize="B" 10500 16500 250 250: in other words can you translate the fields i.e. realtionship to 11x17 paper or is that a dumb question? Thanks again for your help.

  • You said: I assume that if you can zoom in and see the information on the Cadence side then it should appear in the postscript file and then the converted PDF

    This is not correct. If you still cannot read the data, you'll need to increase the resolution. I do not know if there is a limit, you'll just have to try. The reason I sent all six examples was so that you could see how the numbers were determined. Take a look at PDF_6000dpiB as an example. This is printing at a resolution of 6000. A paper size of B is 11x17. The paperSize parameter values are using a 0.25" margin. Thus, 11x6000 = 66000 or 63000 + 1500 + 1500 (two margins). Likewise 17x6000 = 102000 or 99000 + 1500 + 1500.

    Try a resolution of 24000 if you think you need 4 times more resolution and just do the math for an 11x17 paper. I don't think your paper size really matters since you are not printing. You basically need more than 63000x99000, so try some bigger numbers. If it fails, you'll have your answer about whether or not there is a limitation.

    Derek

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