Howto connect polygon to net

[slc]

Yep, maybe I misunderstood but I meant just draw a zone using using the imported shape as a guide to where to place the vertices

[eelik]

@ebike

All my usecase requires is that I can either:
a) draw a polygon on a PCB copper layer and link it to a net, or
b) I can import a .dxf outline of my “pad” and convert to a polygon, then link to a net.

As already is clear, b) isn’t possible without someone writing a script for it. BTW, I was confused about talks about “pads”. What you describe here is a copper zone, not a pad. A simple script could do that, but such script doesn’t exist ATM.

But the case a) can be done easily at least with the latest nightly builds and the upcoming 5.0 (which we all wait for eagerly). I don’t remember anymore how well 4.0.7 supports it, but the development version supports attaching net for a zone. Just draw a filled polygon shape to a copper layer - when you start, a properties dialog pops up and you can select a net amongst other properties. That works in the Board Editor - In the Footprint Editor you can draw a filled polygon and “Create Pad from Selected Shapes” if you need a reusable footprint with a polygonal pad. And it looks like you can import a DXF file in the Footprint Editor, too.

[ebike]

Hi eelik,

I updated my version of Kicad to the latest, and yes, I can draw a polygon on a copper layer as a zone and attach it to a net, that will do the job for now.

I had a quick look at the Footprint Editor, but could not see a way to turn on the dwgs.Use layer (to import .DFX into) … as I can in the pcb_new … all the layers from that one down to Margin are ghosted out, as is the copper layers … so I can’t even draw a polygon in a copper layer …

[eelik]

Yes, it’s a bit unintuitive and should be changed IMO in some way or another. But you should be able to use the silk or other available graphic layer. You should be able to import a DXF there draw a polygon on another graphic layer and make it a pad, in the latest nightly builds such a pad is also automatically moved to a copper layer. Earlier it required some extra steps, nowadays it works pretty much automatically - except that it’s not obvious and intuitive that you have to first draw on a non-copper layer. (I assume you mean a nightly build with the “latest” version.)

[Marko_Bosnjak]

When you open your PCB file in some text editor, you can get a better understanding of how things work, you can then manually change the netname, coordinates of some points, arcs and stuff like that, and then go back to gui mode and see what happens, helped me a couple of times