Hi everybody,
is there a way to rotate freely or mirror silkscreen text belonging to the footprint of a component?
I can only rotate either 0° or 90°, not 180° nor 270°.
Thanks for your answers.
Dschangiz
Yes.
Edit the reference. Then, under rotation, select “other” and set the angle you want.
That is on purpose. You want to be able to read all text at once. So if some of the text is turned by 180° you would need to be able to read up-side-down.
It was not a reference, but a text I guess belonging to the footprint. This free rotation was somehow not an option in the opened dialog.
I did it now by hand. Adding text fields as needed. I can just turn the PCB now and I will instantly be able to read everything on the bottom if I was able to read the top silkscreen before.
I can’t figure out what you mean. A text belonging to a footprint is its value or its reference.
Maybe you meant flip the text from bottom to top?
If the footprint is on the bottom layer, you’ll see the text mirrored.
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Hi pedro!
It is not possible to rotate the f*ckin text freely. It seems to be a reference, yes, and the hole footprint is on the bottom of the board. I am using KiCad 4.0.2. The edit dialog does not provide the option you described.
So right now, I just gave up and added the stuff manually. Does it have something to do with the KiCad version or am I just retarded?
What I want is just being able to turn the PCB and read what’s on the other side.
Hi,
Yes, you are right. I have just checked the stable versions only allow vertical or horizontal rotation, i.e. 0 or 90 degrees. Nightly build allows any angle.
But regarding bottom/top layers, pcbnew shows the top layer texts as they are, while bottom layer texts are mirrored. This way, when the bottom layer is seen directly, the texts are right.
If you try the 3D view, you’ll see straight text in both sides.
What I don’t understand is what you mean by adding the stuff manually.
You’re turning the pcb along it’s X-axis and expect the text for the backside elements (B.Cu) to follow that logic.
Fate now caused that the programmer who made this turned the pcb along the Y-axis instead (*)… or better the elements that go onto the backside of the PCB are flipped that way.
You can test this yourself with a piece of paper:
- Write a big A on the front.
- Now turn it over like a book-sheet (KiCAD logic).
- Write another big A on it.
- Turn it over like a book-sheet again.
- You should see the A upright.
- Now turn it over like a notepad sheet, that is hinged at the top (your logic).
- The A is now upside down.
To conclude:
- you’re not retarded, just different, yay
- KiCAD does not do what you expect (and isn’t adaptable to your logic as far as I could find out)
To make your design work, just reset those texts again to the original state (remove your custom ones) and rotate the logo of your university by 180 degrees.
PS: I usually turn my pcbs along the Y-axis in the 3D viewer if I want to look at the back as this means what I see in pcbnew just changes from left to right and vice versa, not from bottom to top. Seems more natural to me…
PPS: turning your design by 90 degrees in pcbnew doesn’t help. The programmer must have expected that move, while also disabling other countermeasures, like being able to change the text angle to values bigger than +/- 90 degrees (nightly version) 
*) pcbnew has no option (I think there will be a patch in the nightlies for this though) to see the pcb ‘from the back’ which means that the backside is only available in ‘see-through-mode’. The choices for text then become upside/down or mirrored, depending on the axis you flip it over - mirrored was favored I guess.
disclaimer: I’m not a dev nor am I involved with the development of KiCAD, just helping here to the best of my knowledge