GraphiCode GC-Prevue – Gerber & PCB Manufacturing Data Viewer

GraphiCode GC-Prevue is a professional Gerber and electronic manufacturing data viewer designed for PCB designers, fabricators, assemblers, engineers, and other professionals involved in the printed circuit board manufacturing process.

GC-Prevue enables users to view, inspect, measure, print, and verify PCB manufacturing data without requiring the original PCB CAD application. It supports common electronic manufacturing output formats including Gerber, AutoCAD DXF and DWG, DPF, NC data, HPGL, and GraphiCode job files.

Core Capabilities

• Gerber Viewing – Open and inspect Gerber files generated by PCB design applications.
• PCB Data Verification – Visually verify manufacturing data before fabrication or assembly.
• Measurement – Measure distances between PCB entities and data points.
• Printing & Documentation – Print manufacturing data and create supporting documentation.
• Dimensioning & Markup – Add dimensions, text, and symbols for documentation and communication.
• Revision Management – Review manufacturing data as part of PCB revision and verification workflows.

Gerber File Viewer

GC-Prevue provides engineers and manufacturing personnel with a graphical environment for reviewing Gerber files before PCB production. Multiple layers can be loaded and inspected to verify board information, apertures, drills, traces, pads, and other manufacturing data.

Supported Input Formats

• Gerber
• AutoCAD DXF
• AutoCAD DWG
• Barco DPF
• Fire 9000
• NC information
• Excellon data
• Sieb & Meyer data
• HPGL and HPGL2
• GraphiCode GWK, CWK and XWK files

PCB Design Verification

GC-Prevue helps PCB designers and manufacturers verify electronic manufacturing data before it reaches production. Users can inspect individual layers, query database information, check alignment, review drill and aperture information, and measure critical features.

Measure Mode

The built-in measurement tools allow users to quickly determine distances between PCB entities using several measurement methods.

• Edge-to-edge measurement
• Center-to-center measurement
• Edge-to-center measurement
• Center-to-edge measurement

Dimensioning & Markup

GC-Prevue includes dimensioning and markup capabilities for creating drawings, production documentation, engineering notes, and communication between PCB design and manufacturing teams.

• Display measured distances
• Add dimensions to manufacturing data
• Add text annotations
• Add symbols and markups
• Create supporting manufacturing documentation

Layer Management

Users can work with multiple PCB manufacturing layers and control how information is displayed for easier inspection and verification.

• Layer and information properties
• Layer alignment
• Positive and negative data handling
• Data selection and interpretation
• Aperture and drill table viewing

Printing & Screen Capture

GC-Prevue enables users to print PCB manufacturing information and capture graphical views for documentation, engineering review, quoting, and communication with customers or suppliers.

Typical Use Cases

• Viewing Gerber files
• Verifying PCB manufacturing data
• Checking PCB layers before fabrication
• Measuring PCB features
• Creating PCB documentation and markups
• Reviewing customer-supplied Gerber files
• Preparing PCB manufacturing quotations
• PCB revision management
• Sharing manufacturing data between engineering and production teams

Ideal For

• PCB designers
• PCB fabrication companies
• Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies
• PCB assembly companies
• Electronics engineers
• Manufacturing engineers
• Quality assurance teams
• Purchasing and quotation teams

GC-Prevue vs GC-PrevuePlus

GC-Prevue is primarily designed for viewing, measuring, printing, documenting, and verifying PCB manufacturing data. It does not provide the full data editing capabilities of GC-PrevuePlus.

Organizations that need to edit Gerber data, create or modify pads and traces, translate between Gerber and DXF, perform design rule checks, import ODB++, or create assembly programming data should consider GraphiCode GC-PrevuePlus.

Licensing

• 12-month single-user subscription license
• One license is installed on one PC
• 12 months of technical support included
• Network / floating licensing is available for qualifying multi-user requirements