Would be great! and I agree the room for error as you go through the steps. What doesn’t help is there are some export options that are reset if you change the output type as I typically plot the copper as GERBER and SVG and the outline as DXF. there are one or two options that are reset
I have a kicad checklist and some bash scripts that double checks the final generated files all exist.
there was talk about some “export all” button with settings specific to fab houses but I think that is in v7 now
I had exactly the same opinion using for 20 years my old Protel 3.
When decided to move to KiCad first what I was considering was how my footprints have to be designed to have this proces as simple as possible. I spend long time on it and changed my idea 2 times - each time redesigning all of about 200 footprints I have.
Now to get pictures to documentation I do the following:
Export as SVG 3 layers: Cu, Cmts.User and Fab (with References or Values I have there).
In Inkscape I:
import Cu, change its color to gray 10%,
import Cmts.User (I have dimensions there),
position it at 0,0,
save that result for later use.
import Fab with References,
position it at 0,0,
save it - it is ready to be used in documentation,
open file I have previously saved,
import Fab with Values,
position it at 0,0,
save it to be used in documentation.
Done.
SVG output can be easier inserted in LibreOffice Writer then pdf files.
One way to achieve this is using the Python API, kicad2step and similar tools. I use a combination of Bash and Python scripts to export my PCB data, and create individual PDFs and ZIP-Files for different people (PCB manufacturer, CAD designer, PCB assembler, …). Much better than it was when i was using Altium.
sometimes it comes to my mind if KiCAD developers migrate to Qt we will no longer rely heavily on python-based plugins, may be v7 is the place to start with Qt.
Yea there’s absolutely nothing Qt provides here that fixes anything. Our limitation is developer man hours to produce new features and fix bugs. wxWidgets while having its limits hasn’t really impeded us as much as inconvenienced. Qt ain’t no magic solution either when you find out you need to make all platforms use a 4 year old version because the oldest Linux LTS support only runs it
There are tools like Kicad Automation Scripts and KiBot that can be used. For most exports they run KiCad in docker and simulate screen+keyboard+mouse and do proper sequnce of clicks and keypresses
I’ve built my automation around them, git, etc… and while it has been a lot of time “wasted” it is working now that I just run the scripts and in few minutes I have complete outputs…
That issue isn’t necessarily for pcb only, eeschema was mention in comments. You can of course comment yourself there and add details what you wish for.
The output automation upgrade planned for V7 will cover outputs from both the schematic and the board (in other words it will be “project level” not “board level”)
