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Brand new to this product. I extracted a net list for my board. I need to create a PNP file ( Centroid ). Problem is that the option at Assembly>Convert external IPC netlist to Centroid is not on ( grey ). How do I solve this? Do I have to manually load the netlist somewhere?

Thanks for your question.  The Convert external IPC to Centroid is greyed out because there was no IPC-356 imported.

(1)  If you have an IPC 356 Netlist (generated from your PCB CAD), it may be imported directly into FAB 3000 and all PNP centroids will be generated; then export the PNP file (menu: File / Export / Centroid...)  Please view the following blog post for Step-by-Step instructions:

http://www.numericalinnovations.com/blogs/news/how-to-generate-a-centroid-file-aka-pick-and-place-for-any-pcb-in-less-than-2-minutes

(2)  If your PCB CAD cannot generate an IPC-356 netlist, can it export an ODB++ file?  If yes, then generate the ODB++ (from your PCB CAD), import the ODB++ into FAB 3000, and you can export the PNP file.

(3)  If your PCB CAD cannot output anything other than Gerbers, Drill, DXF, etc -- than you can manually create the PNP file by using the Paste & Silk Gerber files.  Here's a tutorial movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FCVIHFhI_k&feature=youtu.be

Basically the more information you can get from your PCB CAD tool, the less work is required to generate a PNP file.

Thanks.

Simon