toner transfer from Orcad PCB Design

[blek]

new to de forum guys!

neways, so i started teaching myself EDA and specifically designing pcbs. the software i'm using is Orcad PCB Design. so when i'm finished with a project and want to etch it, i'll be transferring it to the pcb using the toner transfer method. but i'm not really sure as to which file to print for that. there's like a .brd file that's directly edited... shows,silkscreen, labels, traces and stuff. but i've learned from reading an ebook that it usually outputs it as a gerber file as a standard.

now i'm confused ???  :-[  do i finish it up with the gerber-"jibberish" files, then use a veiwer to print it through, or do i print it directly from *.brd flies?

 

[Hero999]

I'm not sure what you're asking.

Just open the file and print the copper layer. Turn the silk screen and solder resist layers off.

 

[blek]

i'm using the pcb designer from orcad 16 suite and by the looks of it, there is no "layer by layer" printing. so can't really "turn-off" the silkscreen and extras all at once.... nope.

there is the option changing the visibility option of tolerances, silkcreen, values and those thingamajigs from the screen. but its levels and levels of grouped categories! and each one having checkboxes... dozens and dozens.

so my best guess is, it's not the way to "turn off" those extra stuff just for printing.     then back on for editing.

as i understand, these types of softys output several layers of gerber files each one different. one for tracing, another for solder mask, one silkscreen, etc, etc..

so i thought i'd always have to open the "trace gerber file" with a viewer then print that.

 

[Hero999]

I've never used OrCAD before but on most PCB packages you can turn off layers you don't need and print the board for toner transfer.