Help with dx dy?

I’m doing my first layout in KiCAD. When making footprints, I can’t figure out why the dx and dy in the lower right corner are not relative measurments that reset to zero when I start to move something. I’ve never seen a CAD tool do this before so I have to assume there’s some trick to achieve what I’m after here. When I grab an object and move it, I expect the dx and dy to be relative measurements that reset to zero and tell me how far I moved an object in each direction. How do I make this happen?

Those measurements are from a fixed position that you set with the space bar.

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Thanks Starbird I see that when I hit the spacebar the dx/dy reset to zero very helpful. All the cad programs I’ve ever used automatically reset to zero when you go to move something.

If you want to move something by a fixed amount then use the move exactly tool. Crtl+m starts it.

KiCAD has several “delightful idiosyncrasies” (also known as “annoying misbehaviors”) that require some time and patience - and maybe a post or two on this Forum - before you get accustomed to them. Have you looked into the polarity-sense of the Y-axis coordinates?

Dale

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In this case I disagree. It is not annoying at all. I usually set the (0,0) relative origin for different purposes. Reseting to (0,0) when moving a footprint automatically would be very annoying for me.

I agree with you . . . . NOW. I have learned to work with a mouse in my right hand, and my left hand over the keyboard, with spacebar under my left thumb. In some previous incarnation I became accustomed to seeing the relative coordinates reset whenever I left-clicked over a new entity. It took a week or so to un-learn the old behavior and learn the new behavior. Then, if I stepped away from KiCAD for several days, it took time to re-learn the KiCAD behavior. Something about old dogs and new tricks. Intellectually I can’t say either behavior is superior to the other - they’re just different.

Dale

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