Ground-pour behaves unexpected

I provided an example of creating a cross hatched polygon in pcb-rnd in the following discussion thread, which can then be exported in kicad format for use in pcbnew:

There is also a related blog post:

We had to implement polygon cross hatching to allow export of non rectangular fills when saving in legacy Protel Autotrax/Easytrax file formats, but the :PolyHatch(interactive) routine can be used on any polygon in a layout.

IIRC, the PolyHatch() command is in svn head currently, but I believe the next pcb-rnd release scheduled for release in the next week or so will include it by default, so that debian/Ubuntu should have the new package which includes it shortly by default.

Two cautionary notes:

  1. kicad does not support arcs on copper, so any arcs on copper created in pcb-rnd will not export nicely to copper layers at present (interpolation with segments is planned)

  2. if you have vias in the polygon zone, their connectivity will not map properly during the round trip to and from pcb-new. In Eagle, gEDA PCB and pcb-rnd a polygon is just a polygon, not an “administrative zone” dictating connectivity of vias within it.

Enjoy responsibly,

Erich.

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