I have a footprint that I am wanting to reuse on many different board designs that I market. With the uncertainty of chip availability, I have designed an ATMEGA328P to have both a DIP package and QFP package right next to each other and to share IO pins and a crystal. I would like to create a custom footprint based on this layout.
I have found that I can copy a component layout in PCBNew and paste it into the footprint editor, however the traces do not come through and there are a lot of traces that I want to have accurate as they weave in between the DIPs through hole pads. Drawing a line directly on the copper layer works (with some caveats), I just don’t see myself being able to replicate it as accurately as I would like by doing it manually.
Is there a way I can translate the traces directly over to the footprint as a copper layer via a script or diving into the pcb board through a text editor? If I create a group of components + traces, will the coordinates be local to the group?
you can copy/paste at least tracks+vias from one project to another, how easy it would be to position those tracks onto the right place may vary, you might need to use a “helper” object (like a via) to try and force kicad to grab the copied items relative to that object…
thus, right now, i would make a project just for this construct, and then when i need this sub-circuit i’d use this project to copy the tracks+vias from
stepping back and looking at the whole problem, this is a perfect example of a use case for my “prefabs” idea
it’s gathered dust, it was written with v5 in mind, and not completely finished, but it was submitted to gitlab as a wish
it got marked as related/duplicated and closed
clarification: this is only an idea, meant for inspiration, it doesn’t mean i’m gonna implement it into kicad, who am i to do such great things
you can see the existing “related” issues in gitlab and perhaps press the Like button and/or add your comments