Sharing what I just discovered.
KiCad (I’m using 8.0.3) can import schematics (.sch) from Eagle 9.6 (the latest AutoCAD version of Eagle). However, importing pcb boards (.brd) does not work - the import fails silently.
However, Eagle can export in legacy 7.x format. Go to File … Save Copy for EAGLE 7.x
This will produce both a schematic and a board file (remember to use a different filename, if saving in the same directory).
KiCad can successfully import the version 7.x board file.
You will get a dialog box to match up the Eagle and KiCad names for each layer, so you can set these up how you want. For example, Eagle Top is KiCad F.Cu
There is also an “Auto-Match layers” option which seems to work well. Hit OK and there is your board.
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I have been experimenting a bit with this, and it looks like I can import Eagle 9.6.0 files with the following workflow:
- Start KiCad, create new project, with the exact same name as the Eagle project.
- Exit KiCad. (over cautious).
- Copy the Eagle schematic and PCB (.brd) file into the KiCad project.
- Import the schematic and PCB into KiCad.
If the KiCad project has a different name then the Eagle files, then KiCad does something weird with creating two projects, it gets confused and (sometimes?) crashes.
I have created an issue on gitlab for this:
This is great. Thank you!
I did an import a few months ago, but this process was much better. One difference
compared to the @paulvdh workflow was that after I imported the schematic the
board was already there. I’ll have to check the layer auto-matching, but it seems right
at a glance.
My Eagle files were from 9.6.2 and I imported to KiCad 7.0.8.
It helps the KiCad developers if you can upload an Eagle board that fails to import to the Gitlab issue tracker, with an explanation of what did not work. You can make the files confidential if they are sensitive.
