I’ve watched several videos and been through all the messages here which are sadly closed so you have to start a new thread. I have version 5.1.3 and have followed the steps here:
Perhaps there is an easier way to do this, but I am lost as soon as he says to go into the “footprint manager” find a component and then right click and save it to my own library. When I try to save it, it asks if I want it in global or a project library. I select project. It creates a folder called <project_name>.pretty, but there is nothing in it. I then copy and paste the item into the library in the tree and now I see it, but it apparently went into “fp-info-cache”. I am very confused by the difference between the symbol library and the footprint library even after reading this: What is the difference between footprints and symbols?
So I’m not sure if this is already somewhere I can’t find it to drag and drop it, or if I have to edit a symbol and save it somewhere, or if I have to edit a footprint and save that somewhere. I did manage to create a bigger version somehow from Conn_24pin_DIP and gave it a footprint of Package_DIP:DIP-24_W15.24mm_Socket. So maybe I have to do something similar with something that has 8 pins.
This means you successfully made a new library. The .pretty folders in kicad are just containers to collect multiple footpirnts. Each footprint is in its own file with file ending .kicad_mod.
Now that you have a footprint library you should see it in the treeview of the footprint editor. (when opening the editor from the project you added the lib to).
If you can then you can either create a new footpirnt and save that into that lib or open an existing one and use save as from the file menu to get it into that lib in case you want to make a modification.
Library management in KiCad version 5 (for getting a deeper understanding of the kicad library system – not needed right at the start but potentially helpful to understand before you do more than just learning the basics)
And of course maybe my beginners tutorial might be a good idea before you even start to make something productive (could be an alternative to whatever tutorial you currently follow) – Note that i go deliberately slow in it to avoid getting users confused.
And before i forget: Version 5.1.3 is already quite old. There have been many bugs that are fixed in the releases since then. All 5.1.x releases are fully compatible with each other so there should be no danger in you updating to the latest version which is 5.1.10 See https://www.kicad.org/download/
In general i advice against thinking of sockets as if they are connectors. Draw your schematic as if you directly solder the IC to the board and then assign a socket footprint to the IC symbol to ensure you leave enough space for the socket when making the layout.
This will mean that the schematic can use the abstract representation of your component (so example if your schematic needs an opamp then you will see the normal symbol of the opamp with the pin numbers as needed by your component instead of just a connector symbol where you need the datasheet lying next to you just to know what pin means what)
Also don’t worry about 3d models at the beginning of your adventure. Get the schematic and pcb side nailed down and after that start to worry about learning what is needed to make nice 3d views of your system.
Excellent! Thank you. I am off to study your links. That got me a step further. I think the way to do it is as you say, to have a schematic with the actual symbols and then in the PCB layout editor, add a footprint and choose the appropriate “socket” under the “package_DIP” tree item. Then I double click on the actual chip component in the PCB layout and then the “3d settings” tab and raise the Z component of the offset section 4mm. Then move the socket footprint I added over top of the component. But as you say, back to basics and thanks again.