Footprint/track dimming behavior (net highlighting) which I do not understand

Software
1

Thanks to this forum I recently discovered the net highlighting capability in version 6.0.

I think that button works pretty much as desired when I select a net on the schematic. One thing that happens is that the footprints and tracks (which are not on that net) are dimmed. So far so good.

But if I exit that function (lets say I now hit the top right button in the schematic toolbar to select items) the footprints and tracks do not return to normal brightness. I can perform a fair amount of editing without the brightness restoring to normal. Actually it also seems that the previously-highlighted nets tend to remain highlighted even after I perform other actions. But it seems that if I click on a power port in the schematic, that restores the brightness to normal.

I had not previously been using the net highlighting function so I do not know if this is a new modus operandi. Is it my brain that is dim or is this a minor bug?

Dimming1
Dimming1948×498 1.91 MB

Application: KiCad Schematic Editor (64-bit)

Version: (6.0.0-rc1-119-g126563c839), release build

Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.1.5
libcurl/7.78.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.2.11

Platform: Windows 10 (build 19043), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW

Build Info:
Date: Nov 22 2021 12:00:10
wxWidgets: 3.1.5 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.76.0
OCC: 7.5.0
Curl: 7.78.0-DEV
ngspice: 35
Compiler: Visual C++ 1929 without C++ ABI

Build settings:
KICAD_USE_OCC=ON
KICAD_SPICE=ON

2

Don’t directly exit the tool. Click once in the white space in eeschema canvas. That clears the net selection.
IIRC same was case in 5.1.x too.

3

Net highlighting remains active until turned off (there are a few ways to turn it off, including highlighting empty space, or using the hotkey Ctrl+` in the PCB editor, or right-clicking something in the PCB editor and choosing Clear Highlight from the Net Tools menu)

The idea is that you may want a certain net highlighted while you do some other operations (moving things around, drawing new items, etc).

4

With my setup it is black space! :slight_smile:

Thank you @craftyjon and @apurvdate for correcting the error of my ways…

EDIT: Yes I see that clicking on blank space indeed clears the dimming and highlighting.

5

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