Foodprint 3D

How can the height (third dimension) be entered for new, self-created food prints? Joachim

I’ll assume you mean ‘foot print’? :wink:

Can you give an example of why you would need this?

Hi Achim,
with the Footprint Editor you can design the footprint. This is all 2D and related to the PCB.
The actual component (that later will be populated on the PCB) is not modeled within KiCad.
If it is some component that you purchase there might be a 3D model available in the internet. STEP-format would be the most common.
If there is no 3D model available you can model one by yourself. FreeCad is an excellent open source software for this. You can start off fairly simple by adding a cube with the same base dimensions as your component and the height of the component, or you can model every detail of your component.
The KiCadStepUp Plugin from freecad helps to generate *.STEP and *.WRL files.
These files should be stored in a location that is known to Kicad. I have added the directory with my 3D-files using the KiCad Path variable KICAD_USER_LIB.
In the Footprint Editor you can select your component, then select Footprint Properties. There is a tab 3D Models. There you can specify the location of the 3D-Model that should be pulled for the footprint you are editing. Pick the *.wrl version if available. The 3D Model can be aligned over your footprint here as well.
Now your footprint should be displayed in the internal 3D-viewer (Alt-3) or exported along with your PCB via File → Export → Step.