Any improvement to operate (move, delete) Zone cutout

Hi,
For looong time, “Zone cutout” feature is treated in a weird way.
Instead of being Just Another Object, it’s only a collection of points that form Cutout outline.
Because of that, it cannot be moved nor deleted normally (at least I don’t know they way to do it), instead one have to manipulate it corner-by-corner (even Delete cutout must be done Corner by corner).
Any plans to improve UX here? Why it can’t be treated like another zone-like objects? Even 7.99 does not rectify this.

You can start by calling it by it’s proper name. A few versions ago it’s name changed to Rule Area, as it has many more functions then just keeping out copper. I have not done it yet myself, but you can also give such an area a name, and then use it for custom rules.

And once you use it’s proper name, you can see it is also in the selection filter in the lower right corner:
image

And with the selection filter, you can drag a box around it to select all points that define the area, and move it like any other collection.

And even when you do not use the selection filter (i.e “all items” is selected) then you can still draw a tiny box from right to left over the border of a rule area to select the whole boundary, and then move it as a whole. (The grid snapping works weirdly here though).

But there is still room for improvement :slight_smile: It’s quite possible there are already some open issues for this on gitlab, but I have not checked.

I think you are confusing Zone Cutouts with Rule Areas / Keepouts.

A Rule Area is a separate object (“just another object”) that works the way @fred4u wants I think

Zone Cutout isn’t a separate object, it is a tool that modifies a zone outline by adding a hole in the outline.

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Indeed I do mean “Zone cutout” which is accessible via RMB > Zones > Add zone cutout.
I need it to nest a copper zone (RF signal) within another copper zone (GND plane).
In this case I create a cutout in the GND plane, and then locate the RF zone.
However, modifications to my Cutouts is PITA as I need to move them corner-by-corner (unlike other zones).

You don’t need it, you can also use a rule area with custom rule I think.

I want to use custom shapes, not only maintain clearance to outer zone. That’s why I use Zone-in-zone.
The point is, Cutout does what I need, but it’s treated in an awkward way compared to other KiCad’s objects.

Oopsie daisy. That was a bit of a *&^%$#@! on my side.

How far can you get if you give the internal RF zone a higher priority, and then work with the clearance of the zone itself?

You can use custom shapes with rule areas also, though.

Thanks for the hint. I will have to dig into this, then.

Actually I just tried and I may have been too optimistic, I can’t find a way to do it. Maybe @JeffYoung knows?

There seems to be no way to express a copper zone keepout in custom rules at the moment :frowning:

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No, there’s no way to do it at present. It’s been a feature request for some time, but hasn’t picked up any up-votes:

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