Is there a way other than plotting to get a high quality image of the schematic? I exported a few of the file formats (PDF, SVG, PPS), but when pulling them into power point, the resolution is not good.
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this is more a powerpoint āinsertā issue where it will reduce the resolution to something pitiful
- export to pdf
- open pdf in acroread
- edit ā copy from within acroread
- paste in power point
do a similar thing if you want to use svg. What I usually do is open the svg in inkscape, export what I want to png at a suitable dps (256) then insert picture in powerpoint. This gets around MSOffice backwards import default (unchangeable) settingsā¦
I donāt use powerpoint and am not familiar with it. .SVG is a vector format, and therefore it has no āresolutionā. Therefore the problem must be with something powerpoint does to your images. I suppose it has some settings somewhre in itās bowels to influence such things.
Euhmā¦
If this really canāt be changed, I suggest ditching it and witch to using some more decent software. āOfficeā software has been mainstream for 30 years or so, and if they still canāt do basic things like this in a decent way you should be compensated by them for wasting your time. (I wish you lots of luck in an attempt to do so 
).
Can you not export a bitmap image to the clipboard in KiCAD - seems this would be the best. Problem is I have to document my designs so this is why Iām trting to get the schema
I donāt use PowerPoint, I use either Libre or KeyNote.
In Kicadās Schematic:
File>Export_Drawing_To_Clipboard
In whatever software you use, Edit>Paste (it will grab the clipboard content). Thus, no need for Plotting or saving other typesā¦
In Libre, new document (any type) Paste. Result is okay but, a bit fuzzy and not sharp.
In KeyNote or Pages (Macās default Office software), document, Pasted - itās perfect! Screenshot belowā¦ So, software does affect immediate usage.
Both are Zoomed to 1:1 - donāt be misled by the visual size, my Kicad window is smaller than KeyNote windowā¦
Maybe so, but this screenshot is not a fair comparison, because of difference in scale. Below I took two pieces from the big screenshot and magnified them 4x. KiCad has always had some trouble with pixel rendering anti-aliasing and other processing, and this gets progressively worse when zooming out. The rightmost āKiCadā (LibreOffice?) part of the screenshot is zoomed out further, and it is getting into the area where KiCadās text processing is becoming problematic. Notice the differences between all the letters āDā.
I think youāre mixing resolution of my screenshot for Posting, versus actual Images in the Appās (Kicad and office softwareā¦)
Itās fair to say there are going to be differences. Below screenshot shows 4 imagesā¦ In all cases, the quality is good
Iāve tried the proposals above and the resolution remains below what is needed for a manual. No other programs I am using have this issue - even when using the Windows Snip tool the schema is not good, but if I take for example a DesignSpark or Circuitmaker schema its pretty much perfect.
Strange problem.
This seems to be a problem with Powerpoint, not with KiCad. An SVG file doesnāt really have a āresolutionā in the way you mean.
If Powerpoint cannot import an SVG properly, I recommend opening the SVG (or PDF) in a different program, and exporting a bitmap from that (a PNG file, for example) at high resolution.
If I zoom in and take a screen shot its great. It sems KiCAD is not rendering the image with enough resolution to be able to get a good quality picture. Iām wondering its the graphics on my machine - its a new one with a pretty good spec though.
If you plot the schematic to a PDF or SVG, it will be a vector graphic that doesnāt have āresolutionā like that.
You should do that and then convert it to a bitmap for Powerpoint, rather than trying to take a screenshot of the KiCad window.
Power point is a bit weird. Atleast in the past it worked as follows: Once you copy svg to clipboard paste it to PP, Then ungroup the result, its only now fully editable and fully rendering in PP.
Havent done this in a while. It works atleast in illustrator pastes well. But havent tried for a while
Hi
I have had good results using inkscale as that accepts SVG files.
Cheers
John
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Iāve made some progress on this. If I print to PDF and then take a snapshot of that in Adobe reader as someone suggested earlier, the resolution is acceptable, although still not as good as the other packages, so I will persevere with it.
I would respectfully suggest to the KiCAD dev team wherever they are, capturing a high res bitmap image is a fundamental capability because designs often have to be documented, manuals written etc. Further, the user base for this type of work in MS Office (Word, Powerpoint, Publisher) is huge - its an important demographic.
Generally people doing this kind of publication work prefer a vector image over a bitmap of any resolution when one is available, and KiCad exports those today.
From some quick searching, it looks like many older versions of Powerpoint donāt really support vector graphics at all, but modern ones do. If you are using the latest version of Powerpoint you should be able to work with SVGs directly.
Hi John!
Thatās great to hear. Inkscape is indeed a handy tool, especially since it accepts SVG files.
Iām using the latest Office 365 John
The SVG images coming into power point are unusable. It is true the MS has disabled a lot of the import filters it used to have (eg HPGL, DXF, PPS, EPS and many others) due to security concerns. Iāve used those in the past and they worked very well in Word.
Iām busy downloading Inkscape to try that.
However, the fact that other folks are also having to do a multiple graphics app jig to solve this issue tells me there is an opportunity for KiCAD to fix it.
I screen capture pieces of schematics then copy to Word. I also use a āpdf printerā to get good pictures. Set the paper size to something big to get better resolution.