So I figured to make her some out of a PCB with a bunch of neopixel leds. JLCPCB has a pritty purple solder mask nowadays.
I am using that image to draw everything. I did the outlines already. And now I adding copper zones on the black parts on both sides and no zones on the large open areas. That and some silk here and there should make her a nice butterfly.
The copper zones seem to be a pitfall of labour. So I was curious, happen to be there a KiCad way of using that image to do things faster?
I am also considering to turn the image into a footprint for silk. Perhaps that that can work for other layers as well?
It was a png. Now it has become a footprint. I was trying some things out after I placed this post. And I found a way.
It being already black and white made it simple to make a footprint out of it. I simply used the image converter tool to make a footprint. There was no option however to generate the footprint on top or bottom copper layers.
The footprint as generated exists just out of a zone. I could configure the zone’s properties to either the top or bottom copper layers. I could not set both. That I solved by simply using 2 footprints. As they are near symmetrical I flipped one to the the other side.
I also decided not to use neopixels, if you look closely you can see a 0402 led between the neopixels. So I guess to use an attiny chip and a few strains of purple LEDs
For PCB art you can make a bunch of combinations with (plated) copper, solder mask and silkscreen. With image processing software you can break out different sections to give them different colors on the PCB.
Svg2shenzhen used to be a nice program to export SVG parts from Inkscape into KiCad layers. I am not so in the artsy stuff myself and have not used it myself. I also have not checked if it’s still being maintained.
I found myself an issue. I cannot place copper tracks. This is because the wings are footprints and no zones.
I tried to fix it by opening them up in the footprint editor and copy paste the individual zones from footprint editor to board editor. But they are not pasted as zones just as footprints.
I am not sure what sort of object you get when you create a footprint out of your butterfly. I guess that vectorising it in some other program (Can Inkscape do this?) and then: PCB Editor / File / Import Graphics to add it to your PCB.
In KiCad V8 (this is new) you can assign net names to graphic objects on a copper layer. You can use it for current conduction and KiCad calculates clearances. But you probably have to “ungroup” it into individual objects for this to work.
I have not made artsy PCB’s myself, but I guess that a combination of KiCad and a graphic program (such as Inkscape) works. For example:
Import the butterfly into KiCad.
Place the LED’s and other footprints.
Export the whole shebang to Inkscape (or your preferred vector drawing program).
Cut the butterfly into sections. Maybe do half and then mirror, etc.
Export only the butterfly from your graphics program.
Delete the old butterfly in KiCad and replace it with the new.
Here’s what I did: an effort to determine the Best Approach that would work for ‘me’(and, I’ve done the Result-Below several times for real projects)
I’m still using v7 but this should still work in v8.
First: I spent much time to determine the most efficient process and no matter how I did it (in ways other than the Results-Below) it takes too much fussing around and, for a final result the differences in graphics just isn’t worth the extra effort.
Thus, the Result-Below - the process:
• Place the image on PCB using the Image-Tool
• Created Two individual Filled-Zones with Traced the Edges
• Place your Parts
• Fill the Zones
DONE
Screenshot shows:
• Top-Left Traced by Snapping to Grid
• Btm-Left Traced by No-Snapping to Grid to get more accurate representation
Can remove/add Parts and Refill the Zones. I Copied and Mirrored the the Left side, shown below to reveal the Image of right side…
I first started with that exact method. I put an image of the butterfly and I drew the outer edge lines. Than I also started with drawing the zones. Just like you said.
But than I realized that this particular pattern would require me more than those 3 minutes.
That is why I came with that brilliant masterplan to make a footprint out of the image. That would save all my precious time, that brilliant plan that failed miserably as I cant place component or traces now.
I think, what I should do is to ditch the smaller ‘holes’ and draw zones around the green areas. So the green areas remain copper free
After some intensive and mad clicking I made me 6 copper zones. I have not used any HASL zones (meaning solder masks), maybe to shiny Or even ENIG finish Perhaps nice for the body?
I have 2 IO lines going through the wings. (I thought that a single strain of LEDs would be too boring). So I can use 1 GND zone and 1 IO line zone. Than I only have to route one trace thru each wing.
I grouped my LEDs and resistors. I think that placing them is also going to take some effort
I had no idea JLCPCB did multicolor PCB. I once asked them if I could get black silk on a red PCB, the answer was no. Is this a relative new service? This looks very neat.
What about a simple PCB with THT LED’s? Then print out some nice colored paper, glue it onto the PCB and stick the LED’s through the paper. There are also “reverse” SMT LED’s that can shine backwards though a hole in the PCB.
Another option is to have her help. glue colored paper or plastic foil over the PCB, but maybe 2 years is a bit too young for that.
This is great fun.
Perhaps nice for the body?
