When I am starting my PCB layout, I load the netlist and all of the components are stacked. In my schematic, the component layout is somewhat geographically accurate. Is there a way for the PCB layout to follow the schematic geographically? Also, I have many components and it takes a while to un-stack. Thank you.
In legacy (default) canvas right click on any footprint. There is a global spread entry. Play around a bit with the different options available.
Switching between canvases can be done under the view menu entry.
In nightly/development the footprints are already spread out after importing the netlist. (Grouped by hierarchical sheet.) This will not be included in any kicad v4 release. It will be included in kicad v5.
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I am now in the pcb mode. All I see that looks relevant is Align/Distribute. It only takes the grouping and right/left etc. justifies it and leaves the footprints stacked.
Are you sure you are in legacy mode? I can’t find your align/distribute tool.
In legacy (as mentioned above) there is a global distribute entry. What i forgot to mention is that you need to be in “footprint mode”. (button i marked red in the screenshot)
Right clicking on any footprint results in the following menu. (I am using KiCad v4.0.2, should look the same in all stable releases)
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You need to be in default/legacy canvas.
Switch to it via view -> switch canvas to default (or legacy, depends on kicad version how it is named) You can also press F9. Press F11 to get back to open gl when you are done. (If you want to use the new features.)
Thank you very much.
Sometime ago I read a post (on htis forum?) about a Python script to place the footprints in roughly equivalent order on the PCB as they are in the schematic.
quite a nice idea, but I haven’t tried it myself.