Hi,
I have designed heatsinks for my pcb and added them as 3d models. Now to add the 3d model to the footprint i have to rotate and translate it to get it right. I have to do this for every time i use the part. Is it possible to get a feature where you add a 3d footprint in Eeschema or in the footprint editor add the 3d model with the right orientation. I have to manually adjust every single part now and it seems like this could be fixed easily.
Big Fan of Kicad, great work Devs. Its awesome to work with a 3d model of my pcb, its perfect for seeing how it looks!
Why don’t you have the model attached to the footprint permanently? Open the original footprint from your personal library (not just from a board, or a copy of the original unless you use that copy in all projects). Attach the model and rotate it and save the footprint. Next time you add that footprint to a board it has the model correctly attached.
You can also pre-align the 3D model with the footprint in FreeCAD/StepUp workbench and export the model to KiCad-compatible STEP and wrl.
Kicad has a lot of options but sometimes it is not very obvious. I was under the impressions that editing a footprint in pcbnew was a shortcut to the footprint editor but its not. There must be a local copy somewhere of the footprint in pcbnew then. Also in the footprint editor, it isn’t very obvious how to add 3d footprint while that is actually a really huge feature. Just a bit of feedback, as i said, im very happy with the program and very thankfull for it!
Definitely check out @maui Freecad workbench - StepUp. Even if you use Freecad for nothing else this alone is worth the download as you can export correctly scaled and rotated models - including mechanically accurate STEP and vrml models with ease. This makes using 3D models much more user friendly.
Also, to amplify on @eelik you really need to save your footprint and model in your own, personal library space. If you don’t, you risk wiping out all your hard work when you update the system libraries.