Can fills be edited numerically?

Layout
1

Is there a way to numerically edit a fill in the same way that a box or feature can be edited using properties? I have a workaround when creating a fill by making a box in a user drawing layer, entering X Y values in properties, then converting it to a fill. But if I later want to move any fill borders, I have to do it graphically and the results are not precise. There are no XY dimensions to edit in fill properties.

2

I cannot answer your question in quite the way that you are hoping.

But more than once, I have successfully used notepad to text edit a file in KiCad. I am certainly no software expert in any way. I have no idea how easy or difficult this would be in your situation.

But why not (first make a backup copy) and then open up the file in question with a text editor and have a look? You might find that it is easy to do what you want…

3

I don’t know either, but if it is absolutely critical to edit exactly, why not use the graphics and assign that/those graphics a net in properties.

4

I took a look at the .kicad_pcb file in one of my projects and this object seems to represent the boundary of the fill:

        (zone                   
                (net 1)
                (net_name "GND")
                (layers "F&B.Cu")
                (uuid "36421ee3-0162-4631-942a-264272e18c83")
                (hatch edge 0.5)
                (connect_pads
                        (clearance 0.508)
                )               
                (min_thickness 0.25)
                (filled_areas_thickness no)
                (fill yes
                        (thermal_gap 0.5)
                        (thermal_bridge_width 0.5)
                )
                (polygon
                        (pts
                                (xy 71.12 66.04) (xy 71.12 116.84) (xy 170.18 116.84) (xy 170.18 66.04)
                        )
                )

This is followed by a lot of filled_polygons representing the actual copper fills. After editing the file without the PCB editor running, you would have to refill in the PCB editor.

5

Thanks for the replies. All seem like they might help, but I think none would be easier than just deleting the fill and redrawing a box (that allows XY editing) with the corrected dimensions in another layer and then converting again.

6

You can draw the box in a user layer, so you can keep it after creating the zone.
Then if you need you can delete the zone, change the box size and recreate the zone.

7

However I’m not sure why you need to redraw the zone for simple changes. When you select the zone, handles will appear at vertices which can be dragged. If you find that it snaps to grid points, use a finer grid or turn off snapping.

8

I still don’t understand what your actual problem is. I suspect there’s – pun intended – XY problem here.

While manually editing exact coordinates of all corner points of a polygonal shape has been a somewhat recurrent and valid wish, I’m not sure how that’s related to a box being easier.

Let me guess: by “box” you mean a graphic rectangle. You can edit its Start and End points as numbers. You have a zone whose outer edge is a simple rectangle, and you want to edit that in the same way. But it’s not possible because a polygon doesn’t have such properties. Am I right?

But editing points manually is only a solution to another problem, and we don’t know what it is. Why can’t you use the grid system and the graphical editing points of the grid? Aren’t you familiar with all the graphical editing possibilities KiCad offers, or have you noticed there’s some real limitation for some specific use case? You have to describe the problem with more details and with a concrete example.

9

I can, but I prefer to do this stuff numerically rather than zooming in and driving the mouse. My eyes aren’t great I find it just takes longer and is more prone to mistakes when done with the mouse.

10

The point editor has “move corner to” and “move midpoint to”. This allows you to edit a rectangular zone (or any zone) by setting the point or edge location. As in most numerical entry fields, you can use an expression like “123 + 2”, which allow to “bump” an edge or corner:

And there’s “Move Exactly” if you want to move the whole zone by some numerical offset.

Moving points in the point editor by arrow key would make sense (and there’s an issue for it) Wishlist: Feature Request: Select and drag corners and endpoints of lines with keyboard and without mouse. (#3810) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab.

1 Like
11

I was not aware of “shape modification”. I never right clicked on corner or side points before. I would just click somewhere on the fill edge and only saw the fill properties and position commands for moving the entire fill. Thank you.