I am trying to take gerbers, BOMs and pick-n-places data my company receives to manufacture boards and generate a step file to help make different fixtures to aid manufacturing.
Is there a way to do this? or do I need to be given an intelligent design file such as ODB++ to do this?
Most PCB systems can now export a STEP file, or an IDF file. To create either file, the software needs to know the height of each component, or in the case of STEP files, have a pre-designed 3D model of the component, that can be used instead of a plain extruded box. You may be better with ODB++, as you do require component height.