Why do you want those eagle libraries in KiCad in the first place?
KiCad can import both eagle schematics and PCB’s, so why do you need the library?
I’ve dabbled a bit with import of eagle projects, and it’s good enough to get the important information (Schematic, PCB footprint locations and tracks) from eagle to KiCad, but I do have a tendency to replace schematic symbols and footprints with versions native to KiCad in a “cleanup pass”.
I have also never used that webench thing. A quick look around the 'net suggests that it’s export to eagle is already quite flawed, so you would probably need a cleanup after two conversions anyway.
I’m going to be combining multiple schematics from TI to make my own PCB, so I want to import the footprint libraries and build the PCB from scratch.
From what you’re saying about the flawed eagle export from TI, and @maui’s response, I will give the Altium export a shot and try importing that footprint library.
Worst case I’ll use the converter @Karl linked above, that looks like the best converter so far.
Stay tuned!
If the components in those schematics have industry standard packages, why not use the generic footprints in the KiCad library? You’d only need a special footprint if it is a special part.
As an alternative, you can make a simple project that has all the schematic symbols and PCB footprints, port that to KiCad, and then create a library from those imported parts.
I’m with @retiredfeline on this. Can you supply the names of some of the project components with symbols, but without footprints, so others are able to check to see if the footprints are listed in Kicad libraries.
I don’t like guesswork, and that is where I usually loose interest in responding to a thread.
Why would you need that other library at all if you can export the projects?
And if you’d still want a library, it’s easy enough to create one in KiCad from the projects.
To me it seems like there are lots of solutions, but OP wants it in a particular way for reasons that I don’t understand. There is nothing I can contribute to.
As suggested by yourself and a few others, I will replace as many components as I can with ones already in the Kicad libraries. For the components that aren’t there, I’ll search on SnapEDA, and worst case create my own.
Sorry if it seems like I have tunnel vision on this one; as @jmk pointed out, I’m very new to this.
In searching for the “path of least resistance” (which I thought was simply importing an already-built library from TI), I now realize that I was mistaken and that there are many other fixes I can try.
For most parts It’s not difficult to create your own schematic symbols or footprints in KiCad. It has quite good editors for this with a very similar user interface as the rest of KiCad. The first few parts you make will probably take some time, but once you’ve learned a few tricks to use them efficiently, (simple) parts can be made in 10 minutes or so. Sites like Snapeda and PCB Libraries can be useful, but the downside is they do not create native KiCad parts and they probably need some “tweaking”. But making small changes is also a good way to get acquainted with KiCad’s symbol and footprint editors.
Just give it some time to get into a comfortable workflow with KiCad.
Jumping in to this conversation, with my perspective…
I have 20+ years of Eagle projects that have contributed to a large personal library of validated/proven footprints.
I’ve learned to not blindly trust community provided components (not just an Eagle problem…), but to explicitly validate and tune them to work well with my production processes. As expected, along the way it became faster and easier to create from data sheets than it was to google() and pray() when I needed something new.
Whether it was because I wanted silkscreen conformity, tweeked pad sizes for SMD reflow perfection, or simply a structure that reflects my current inventory of stocked parts, I’ve created and curated a large Eagle library that I’d like to bring forward - as a reusable library - into the KiCad environment.
I’ve spent some time searching, and I’ve yet to find footprints in KiCad for the dozens of “common to me” board and panel outlines that work well with my stencil printer and PnP machine; same goes for a large handful of uncommon ICs and “modules” that have found their way into my workflow.
Thus the desire to not reinvent all those years of work, but to find a clean and robust way to go forward, and (once revalidated) contribute the new things back to the KiCad community.
This is common among the whole industry. Never trust data from external sources. You can use it, but always pay extra attention and verify the details.
I have never used Eagle, so my interest in this topic is low, but apparently KiCad can directly use Eagle libraries. If you go to: PCB Editor / Preferences / Manage Footprint Libraries, then you can add libraries to your setup, and you can also change the Library format to Eagle.
The repository from Sparkfun you mention also use some scripts (and links to more scripts).
KiCad already has a: PCB Editor / File / Export / Footprints to new Library, so that leaves the import, and KiCad’s PCB Editor does have python scripting capability. I guess that with a few lines of script, you can import all footprints from an Eagle Library into the PCB Editor. Then use for example PCB Editor / Edit / Edit Text and Graphics Properties to adjust font and sizes of text to harmonise it with your native KiCad libraries, and then export all the footprints as a native KiCad library.
I also like the Idea of having a “library project” which has an overview of all personally created footprints next to each other on a PCB. I once bought “UltiBoard” with a book which had all the footprints printed out, and that was not very useful, but for personal libraries it makes more sense.
