Did the paths for the 3d models change in a recent update?

After the recent update I can nolonger see any 3d models. After checking the default path (/usr/share/kicad/modules/packages3d) I noticed it’s gone. Instead there’s a (/usr/share/kicad/3dmodels) directory. Changing the path to that one doesn’t seem to solve the issue.

Version 5.1.7 in ubuntu

Changing the Preferences/Configure Paths -> KISYS3DMOD to

/usr/share/kicad/3dmodels/

did help in my case. KiCad 5.1.7 on Mint19

That’s what I did. But it doesn’t seem to be helping

Notice the correct path ends with 3dmodels, not 3dshapes as you mentioned. Maybe that’s the problem?
kicad3dpath

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It does.
I made an error in typing my first comment. It certainly ends with 3dmodels
(/usr/share/kicad/3dmodels/)Screenshot from 2020-10-20 16-03-08

I think I see the problem now. I should remove “modules” from the path.

It’s now working.
Thanks

This was an inadvertent side effect of moving things in master. Jean-Samuel is splitting the 3d models build repository into a v5 branch that will restore the previous behavior.

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Thanks for the update

What is the future of the way the footprints and models work together?\

I have spent enough time working with KiCAD to find that it would be nice to have a function like…

Get part from either locally or remote and place to board.
Board preserves a read and writeable file locally with the 3d file attached to it.

In other words, instead of having this giant crazy web of libraries configured for each project, either single or globally, just have all libraries considered external in which one picks parts from, then when the user uses the part on a board in a project, there is either automatically another library bonded to the board, or to a necessary local user library, that includes the 3d image.

Every single part that I have ever used from the provided libraries has been modified by me and then must be saved into my own personal library. So in doing so, I also have to seek out the 3d image file and copy that file to another personal folder. Then I have to go through the process of editing each part to connect it to that 3d file… I find it a little extreme that we must download a GIG to use just a few 3d files for a project.

Any insight as to what the future holds for this?
Thank You

You can download single libraries (compressed format) from https://kicad.org/libraries/download/

And you can download single files directly from gitlab or github.

This is usually what I end up doing

I would think that nearly everyone finds themselves having to deal with similar issues when dealing with footprints. Sometimes we have to create our own simply because it isn’t part of the pre-provided libraries. Think about it, imagine being able to just pull a part from the standard libraries and use it. Using it creates another personal library and links the part to the newly created personal library. This part can now be edited and saved without fears of being overwritten by updating the software. It would be nice for it to also get the 3d file and save that locally as well. This I would consider a solution and save huge amounts of labor having to know all these tricks.

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