KiCad StepUp: The Sketcher for Footprint generation

maui · November 21, 2019, 2:39pm

Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.

This seems an error on your graphic drivers as reported on FC forum

But it also depends how good the graphic driver works and supports the offered OpenGL version. I think it’s worth to check if there are updates available for your graphic driver.

An other option would be to use the FC 0.19 dev release to handle this task.

JSt · November 21, 2019, 4:30pm

Thank you for your immediate response. On my other computer it works.
I’l check the drivers on my first computer.

Best regards
Juergen

JSt · November 22, 2019, 8:16am

Updating the graphics card drivers didn’t solve the problem.
After installation of the 32Bit FC 0.18.4 Version it works.

maui · November 22, 2019, 9:14am

Thanks for reporting…
That is definitely a Qt5 or driver issue …
FC0.18.4 32b is based on Qt4

OS: Windows 10 Word size of OS: 64-bit Word size of FreeCAD: 32-bit Version: 0.18.4 (GitTag) Build type: Release Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-18 Hash: 980bf9060e28555fecd9e3462f68ca74007b70f8 Python version: 2.7.14 Qt version: 4.8.7 Coin version: 4.0.0a OCC version: 7.2.0

der.ule · November 22, 2019, 10:38am

Hi @maui I can confirm the error seen by JSt, after updating to the last version I receive it too:

Working version:

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 018-16131
kicad StepUp version 9.0.2.5
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is ++++++++
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 018
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader D:/Program Files/KiCad_v5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_Taiyo-Yuden_NR-50xx.kicad_mod
L_Taiyo_Yuden_NR_50xx_fp

Version after update (in another computer, before the update it was working correctly):

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 018-4
kicad StepUp version 9.1.0.7
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is 
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 018
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader C:/Program Files/KiCad_5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_6.3x6.3_H3.kicad_mod
L_6_3x6_3_H3_fp
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.

I hope this help, i was in the process of registering in GitHub to report this.

maui · November 22, 2019, 11:04am

This should be reported to FC forum, related to Qt5 & driver issues… it is not related to KSU code, but to pc drivers & Qt5 compatibilities.
I don’t know what has changed between FC 0.18.3 and 0.18.4, but on my PCs StepUp does work correctly with both releases.
Even FC0.19 is fine too.

duckduckgo search for ‘Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.’

der.ule · November 22, 2019, 11:09am

Both installations were working correctly with the previous StepUp version, only when I updated (today) to the latest version of StepUp in this computer, i started getting this error, I haven’t updated FreeCAD in the last weeks.

I’m copying StepUp from the MOD directory of FreeCAD of my other PC (v9.0.2.5) to downgrade in my current PC (v9.1.0.7 -> v9.0.2.5).

I will keep you post it.

Let me know if I can somehow help.

maui · November 22, 2019, 11:21am

Did you update also the PC drivers?

Thanks, yes it does help…
It should be an issue on drivers, but I will investigate if I trigger something that is not handled fine by Qt on my recent changes…

der.ule · November 22, 2019, 11:34am

Well, bummer, downgrading didn’t help:

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 018-4
kicad StepUp version 9.0.2.5
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is 
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 018
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader C:/Program Files/KiCad_5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_Taiyo-Yuden_NR-50xx.kicad_mod
L_Taiyo_Yuden_NR_50xx_fp
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation

EDIT:
No visible driver update:

maui · November 22, 2019, 11:42am

then probably your pc updated its video drivers (silently) or a win update messed up the driver installation, and now your issue is jumping in…
Please try to re-install your video drivers (a clean installation would be the best option, cleaning the previous settings)… I remember that often a win 10 update messed up my home mobile pc at an annoying level that I moved it to Linux
No more issues now …
At least no annoying updates.

maui · November 22, 2019, 12:18pm

@der.ule
you may consider to have a try with FC0.19
It is using Qt5.12 instead of Qt5.6 used in FC0.18
This seemed to have helped many users… btw be aware that FC0.19 is still a bit in the phase of being ready to stable release.

der.ule · November 22, 2019, 1:19pm

Thanks Maui I’ll give it a try.

So far, running the 32-Bit Version works like a charm:

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 018-4
kicad StepUp version 9.0.2.5
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is 
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 018
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader C:/Program Files/KiCad_5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_Taiyo-Yuden_NR-50xx.kicad_mod
L_Taiyo_Yuden_NR_50xx_fp

As does the v0.19:

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 019-18760
kicad StepUp version 9.0.2.5
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is 
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 019
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader C:/Program Files/KiCad_5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_Taiyo-Yuden_NR-50xx.kicad_mod
L_Taiyo_Yuden_NR_50xx_fp

I haven’t got the chance to nuke my graphic card drivers … but I may move to v0.19 and won’t need to do it, even of it is development version, I use FreeCAD almost exclusively because StepUp.

BTW: Opening FreeCAD projects, STEP files, Sketcher files, etc. works ok with the v0.18 X64…

EDIT: Tested with FCv0.17 x64 and all works as expected …

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 017-13387
kicad StepUp version 9.0.2.5
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is:
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 017
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader C:/Program Files/KiCad_5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_Taiyo-Yuden_NR-50xx.kicad_mod
L_Taiyo_Yuden_NR_50xx_fp

PzP · November 22, 2019, 1:32pm

I have experienced the same error on my old Win7-64bit machine when i upgraded from FreeCad17 to 18. It wasn’t even related to StepUp, but showed up when any of the parts had the transparency set to value different than 0. I was looking around for a solution, but it seemed it was a graphic card driver issue/incompatibility with the new FreeCad. No chances for a new drives, since it’s an older card.
Windows was making too many problems and as Maui i’ve switched to Linux. Everything works fine and to my surprise, KiCad works so much faster and stable now.

maui · November 22, 2019, 9:40pm

@der.ule
would you please try the attached ‘kicadStepUptools.py’ zipped file to see if you still have issues with FC0.18 R4 and 64bit?
kicadStepUptools.zip (246.7 KB)
In the ‘kicadStepUpMod’ folder, just rename the ‘kicadStepUptools.py’ old file to ‘kicadStepUptools.old’ and extract the zipped file to same folder; then restart FC0.18.4-64bit and see if you can load the footprint without any issue.
The ksu version should be then “9.1.0.8.x”
Maurice

der.ule · November 22, 2019, 10:45pm

I gave it a try, unfortunately still getting the error

PoM not present
using 'Part' container
FC Version 018-4
kicad StepUp version 9.1.0.8.x
tolerance on vertex applied
applying Materials to Shapes
your home path is 
export to STEP False
Tabified done !
done!
KISYS3DMOD=/
module_3D_dir=//../
FC Version 018
VBO status False
FootPrint Loader C:/Program Files/KiCad_5_1_4/share/kicad/modules/Inductor_SMD.pretty/L_Taiyo-Yuden_NR-50xx.kicad_mod
L_Taiyo_Yuden_NR_50xx_fp
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
Unhandled Base::Exception caught in GUIApplication::notify.
The error message is: Access violation
thread ViewFitting

Is the information that I am posting enough or is there more detailed log file that I can provide?

Thanks a bunch for trying to find a solution for this.

OS: Windows 7
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.18.4 (GitTag)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-18
Hash: 980bf9060e28555fecd9e3462f68ca74007b70f8
Python version: 3.6.6
Qt version: 5.6.2
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.3.0
Locale: German/Germany (de_DE)

JSt · November 29, 2019, 11:49am

Hello, everybody.
I’m trying to create the footprint of an ACS758 Current Sensor:

If I try to export the Footprint in the meantime I get the following messages:

exporting new footprint
saving to C:/Users/steinj/…
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
construction skipped
Text
Text001
2d closed path
2d closed path
2d closed path
2d closed path
horizontal
vertical
horizontal
vertical
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
pad in pad found!
Running the Python command ‘ksuToolsFootprintGen’ failed:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “C:\Users\steinj\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\kicadStepUpMod\kicadStepUpCMD.py”, line 1783, in Activated
kicadStepUptools.PushFootprint()
File “C:\Users\steinj\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\kicadStepUpMod\kicadStepUptools.py”, line 16741, in PushFootprint
export_footprint(name)
File “C:\Users\steinj\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\kicadStepUpMod\kicadStepUptools.py”, line 17340, in export_footprint
drl_found=collect_drl(pth_ordered)
File “C:\Users\steinj\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\kicadStepUpMod\kicadStepUptools.py”, line 18042, in collect_drl
pads.remove(d) ## remove drls from pads

list.remove(x): x not in list

Any idea if my sketch is faulty or the StepUpTools have a problem with the many holes in the Pad ?

This is my FC sketch:
5-Pin_PFF.FCStd (8.9 KB)

Tanks in advance for your help.
Juergen

Rene_Poschl · November 29, 2019, 12:29pm

From the screenshot:

I assume the small circles should be vias (plated through holes) inside the larger pad.
Move them into a separate sketch named for tht pads. Each such pad must also define a second larger circle that will be used to get a copper restring.

JSt · November 29, 2019, 3:55pm

Hello, Rene,
yes, the little circles are supposed to be vias.
I have now put them into an extra sketch called “Pads_TH”, but they are not exported. If I rename the sketch to “Pads_NPTH” they will be exported as PadType “NPTH mechanisch” in (german) KiCad.
Do you know the exact name of the sketch for this TH-Pads = vias?

Best regards
Jürgen

Rene_Poschl · November 29, 2019, 4:00pm

Check the examples that come with stepup. I think one of them contains tht pads.

maui · November 29, 2019, 10:17pm

@JSt
this is a tough footprint!
I managed to do it in 3 steps:

the main fp
the th pads for left pad
the th pads for right pad
export 3 fps and merge manually

acs758-FC-files.zip (50.6 KB)
RF-19S101-40ML5.kicad_mod.zip (1.7 KB)