This method looks promising (But I have not used it myself)
Most of the webpage is about flatbed scanner versus DSLR for making pictures. Then the photograph is converted int Photoshop to get monochrome bitmaps on layers. Then the bitmaps are imported in KiCad as Footprints.
It was one of the first results of this search:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=reverse+engineering+with+"KiCad"&t=h_&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
To get from these images to a real PCB my workflow would be:
- Put all the components in a schematic.
- Assign footprints to all schematic symbols.
- [F8] to get all footprints in Pcbnew.
- Place all footprints on proper locations, draw PCB outline.
- Make a few connections in Eeschema.
- [F8] to update netlist in Pcbnew.
- Make those few connections in Pcbnew.
- Repeat from step 5 until finished.
Just trying to duplicate the PCB is probably more work then doing the schematic and the PCB at the same time. If you have the schematic, you are also far more likely to spot silly mistakes you made on the PCB. Comparing these 2 is a good sanity check.
Edit:
KiCad V5.99 has gotten the ability to load a background image in the PCB Editor. See: