Why can’t the footprint front/back color be changed? (Appearance/Object)
It was changeable at Kicad 5.1.9 (Items)
How can I change it footprint color (Kicad 6.07)?
Welcome @janyjozsef
The footprints are drawn on layers. eg. F. Silk & B. Mask.
To change the color of the layer you wish, go to:
Preferences / Preferences / PCB Editor / Colors.
Up at the top of the page. To the right of File and the Left of Help.
It’s not in Preferences/PCB Editor/Colors.
The pad color is same the F.CU/B/CU.
OK.
Where is the PAD color in the list?
How to add?
THT pads are at second from bottom in the very long list.
SMD pads are the same color as F.Cu & B.Cu
V6 does not allow to use separate color for SMT pads and other copper on TOP and BOT, respectively.
It was possible in V5 by setting PADS (Front/Back) color separately from FRONT/BACK layer. It is not supported now.
It is however possible to adjust the Transparency (Alpha channel) for PADS separately from other items on this layer.
Thanks for the reply.
Why was this feature removed?
Will it be able to be modified again in the future?
Can I overwrite any of the files to work like in kicad 5?
What is your use case? Why you want/need the SMD pads have different color than the rest of the copper?
It has better visibility.
The transparent line bothers me.
I can’t see the pad of the part when filled.
Those who do not need this function should not use it, but it should not have been removed.
Does anyone know how to restore it?
*.json or *.py ?
That change would be in C++ code, there’s no way to restore it without writing a proper patch for it and recompiling the software.
Sorry, I’m using google translate.
I don’t think it always translates correctly.
Where is the source code on GIT? Link?
Which file should be overwritten?
Or how to ask the module developer to revert this feature?
The git repository is here: KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab
You can also file an issue there, but I imagine there was some reason behind the change between 5.0 and 6.0, so I expect you’d need to describe the issues in your workflow and maybe some suggestion how to improve the situation (and going back to the 5.0 state isn’t necessarily the best option).
I have no idea which file contains the relevant code, but changing it is likely not as easy as overwriting one file. There were rather many changes between 5.0 and 6.0.
Could you post some images that show your V5 experiece and similar V6 situation?
Maybe we can suggest some other solution to your problem.
You mention “transparent line” that bothers you; Is it possible that you have the Pads contour mode turned on inadvertently?
Thank you for the answer.
The color of the SMD pad is important because the component is not visible in filled zone.
There is also a problem with drawing the line. Often does not follow the cursor.
Where can I report?
That looks wrong, filled zones should have a lower opacity. It looks like this for me, which I can distinguish no problem:
If KiCad is open the simplest way is to go in the Help menu and click “Report Bug”.
But i assume there is some error on your side. Make sure the opacity slider under Objects->Zones
isn’t completely on the right. If it isn’t and the zones are still not transparent, you might have an issue with your graphics settings or graphics driver. Try enabling “Fallback graphics” here:
if that helps, you might want to update your graphics driver and then try “Accelerated” again. or you might need to keep using “Fallback graphics” which is slower.
3 Likes
For simple coloring, Double-click the pad and add a Layer. Example shows three added layers to three pads… User1, User2 and Drawing
ADDED: Drew a Filled Polygon and set Opacity. The Layers I added (with color) to the SMD pads show up nicely (I played with different colors)! Last image…
User1 example
