Greetings,
Fellow KiCAD users, any info will be grateful regarding the subject of this topic.
please have a look at this YouTube video from 40:07 thru 41:32 where he demonstrates aligning a 3D part with top of board and holes. i am wondering if KiCAD has this native ability.
YouTube Channel: “Robert Feranec”
Title: “Tutorial OrCAD and Cadence Allegro PCB Editor | 2022 | Step by step | for beginners”
Please advise.
KiCad does not have any graphical functions to (auto) align footprints (yet). At the moment you have to manually type in some numbers for rotation, offset and scale in the settings for the 3D model.
Maybe some more advanced alignment method will be implemented at some future time, but I guess this does not have a high priority.
On the plus side, KiCad does have the KLC Many footprints in KiCad already have 3D models attached and for those you generally do not have to do any fiddling with those settings. The KLC is a quite successful set of rules that bring uniformity in a lot of the artwork in KiCad, and as a result KiCad’s own libraries are quite good.
@digitronicguru
you could use kicadStepUp to load the footprint in FreeCAD, then load the 3D model and finally align the model to your fp. Exporting the 3D model with the new orientation & placement, will give you the same position when assigning the model in kicad.
Here a very old video (5 ys old) in which the concept is shown.
StepUp has evolved a lot and also in FC you can use Aligner from Manipulator WB which can help in aligning the objects in mechanical way.
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