I’m wondering how to make a footprint of some shape that creates an exposed copper area when put on the board. I have this footprint from a project online oshw.kicad_mod (44.9 KB)
and I can’t figure out how it was made. It looks like it is a design on the soldermask layer? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Correct.
Just create a footprint and move/relocate lines/arcs/etc. to the soldermask layer (or draw them in that layer if possible).
Once you place this footprint over a filled copper area the soldermask will not appear where you have drawn on the layer.
You can test this directly in PCBnew - create a filled zone - select the respective side soldermask layer - draw a line or text - then check the 3D view.
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It is possible in the footprint editor. No need for any text editor trickery.
You don’t need a filled copper area if you already but something on the copper layer like is done in the oshw logo.
Just a small hint: The oshw logo is probably designed in inkscape and exported to kicad footprint using svg2mod. (Designing something that complicated directly in kicad would be a pain.)
I was more thinking along the [properties] dialog for those elements, via the GUI ;-)[quote=“Rene_Poschl, post:3, topic:5746”]
You don’t need a filled copper area if you already but something on the copper layer like is done in the oshw logo.
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Didn’t check it… but one needs to be careful when placing this… thus I would try to use copper-free-logos if possible to avoid unintended trouble.
One needs to be carefull when placing this no matter what. Even if it is on silk. (you don’t want your logo under a component. You don’t want a hole through the middle, …)
If it is only on mask than you don’t want it somewhere where different nets are near each other. (or worse on top of multiple zones/tracks, or near a pad, …)
In other words: Everything that is placed on a pcb needs to be placed carefully. Everything can cause problems. (Including logos and text)
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