Autorouting and autoplacement

I basically agre with your sentiment, BUT in the interest of learning and experimentation I’d like to give the auto-placement and routers a go.

But i cannot make them do anything. I have the ratsnest in front of me, select it all, pull down auto-place and “selected components”. It makes zero errors. Unfortunately that because it places zero components :slight_smile:

HELP!

You posted to a 3 year dead thread so this got moved to a new topic. 3 years might as well be eons in software/Kicad terms. :wink:

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thnx!

stuff for 120 char minimum

20, but who’s counting? :wink:

As much as it seems like a pain, learning to route and place parts is part of the learning experience. I use the push/shove interactive routing. The problem is that you can run into weird problems letting the machine do this kind of thing and you’re like to have no idea why. Letting the machine do the work is an attractive option for people who might be doing a one off project but the coding effort for that is just not worth it to the volunteer core developers.

That said, I know it’s been discussed for the next version of Kicad but I don’t know if it will happen and I know the when is further in the future than will do you any good for a couple years.

I don’t know why it does nothing, but as far as I know it was never meant to do anything complicated, it just should spread footprints a bit so that they won’t be in the same place. There was a time when the toolset and drawing canvas which are now called “legacy” did the initial placement in one place, so that you were forced to move all footprints to random locations manually first to even see them all. Nowadays the Modern toolset places footprints automatically first time you update PCB from schematic.

I agree with all that and have laid out countless boards, but I’m asking a simple question: why is there a menu item that does nto work? Is it a big or is there setup i am unaware of?

thanks,

G

What version are you on? Where should this menu entry be? (I can not find anything fitting your description in 5.1)

Edit: Found it (place -> place footprints automatically -> place selected or place off board. I would never had guessed that a tool is found in the menu normally used to select something new to place.). And it works (kind of) as long as you have a valid outline on the edge-cuts layer.

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A big improvement on just stacking new parts in a heap, which is what used to happen a few years ago.

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I was suggesting to move it to “Tools”: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1810301 but as I understood it is only the problem of translation and Auto-Place is a kind of Place so it is in right menu.

Aha! An edge cut outline, of course! It needs ot know its area.

And yes, while i understand its no more than a first cut, as someone said: “A big improvement on just stacking new parts in a heap, which is what used to happen a few years ago.”

Thanks, I will add edge cuts and try again,maybe tonight.

G

And just to let all know, especially Rene - once this idiot told KiCAD the dimensions it could work within (edge cuts) it worked as advertized. Ideal? Not even close. readable? Yep.

Now, how can I make all the labels (e.g.: R1) about twice as big with two clicks. I can’t read them!

TY all

Edit -> Edit Text & Graphic Properties

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Placing is a much harder job than routing. For a computer to do a good job, it needs to know a lot about the component and net function and also your design philosophy.
While possible, entering these variables into a system takes longer than just placing yourself

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My experience now having used it: invaluabel for one reason: it takes the pile and makes the components readable, and sometimes, maybe by accident, groups them together :slight_smile:

I would think it could be smarter about just grouping things just like the schematic since it knows both…

This has been discussed but I don’t know if it is in the roadmap. I work sections at a time so I do the schematic and the pcb in tandem so it isn’t an issue for me. I also try and use a numbering system by segment based on this. It helps me get things grouped.

The import options of 5.1 already group by hierarchical sheet. What version are you using that still puts everything on top of each other?

This depends so much on the personal or company preferences, design style and workflow and may be useful only for minority that I don’t assume this would be part of KiCad proper. Rather, after 6.0 where eeschema should be scriptable, it could be a python script.

I personally think you guys are making this much harder than it needs to be. I would never expect it to be “one and done”. But if KiCAD could even get parts distributed as they flow ont he schematic, this means the final human, in this case me, just a) neatens it up, b) moves the outliers, c) corrects inevitable errors.

Since many components have multiple connections (which causes ambiguity), we coudl set simple priority rules,like prioritize signal connections over GND net connections (which likely go to a ubiquitous plane/fill).

Speaking of that: i’d love to be above to turn off GND air wires and then turn them back on. All they do is confuse me on the orientation of parts. Is this possible?

TIA as always,

G

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What version are you using that still puts everything on top of each other?

5.1! I’ll have to look at import options. I dont recall seeing any dialog box presented. I get a dog-pile. With your help i now get a far better distributed dog-pile :slight_smile:

use “tools -> update pcb from schematic” to get the pcb in sync with the schematic.