Looking for good libraries examples or/and policies

Hi all,

I was thinking to start create my own library (maybe I will adopt some parts from other libraries)

Would you point me for good managed libraries out there?
i.e: libraries that follow some policy.

That will be for symbol and footprints.

What are your policies?

Thanks all.

policy

use real part-names for “value”

put footprint and part in libs/directories using manufacturers name
put footprint into part-field
keep fab-layer usable

Andy_P linked his here:
http://www.latke.net/asp_digital/?p=35

My way of doing things is all over the forums :wink:

Oh, and be careful with manufacturer part names/number for KiCAD part names as those must not be unique.
Safest way is to decouple manufacturer name/ID from part name in KiCAD by either using an internal number (without a database you get lost = might work for teams/groups and has some advantages) or use distinguishable part names that work for your flow (I do that).

Example for 2 smd alu capacitors from Nichicon how I do it:
Capacitors_Alu.lib (1.3 KB)
C-ALU_SMD-6.3DIA-7.7H.kicad_mod (3.8 KB)
C-ALU_SMD-8.0DIA-10.5H.kicad_mod (3.9 KB)
C-ALU_DIA8.0-H10.5.wrl (225.1 KB)

It’s good for me, must not be good for you though :blush:

I wonder how much longer until someone cobbles together a tool that works as part manager…
It should be some sort of container that holds the symbol, the footprint, the 3d model (vrml + step) & the datasheet.
And it would need to be able to push/pull those parts into the KiCAD repos/libs/folders.

Any dev knows if stuff like this is being aimed for?

the all so common part-name (value) “10K” is unique ?

i dont understand this
parts are in libs
they are bound to be unique within that lib
no problem

manufacturers part-name rules, , post-processing BOM i am all for, but thats another story.

Mine’s not perfect - it was less well organized to begin, and I’ve been working on cleaning it up. But I do make an effort. So here’s mine.

Rendered previews: https://github.com/cpavlina/kicad-schlib-preview
Design guidelines: https://github.com/cpavlina/kicad-schlib/blob/master/DESIGN.md
Standardized keywords for part description: https://github.com/cpavlina/kicad-schlib/blob/master/DESCR.md

2 Likes

Nice work @c4757p Chris! It looks that you know what you are doing :stuck_out_tongue: … lots of g33k work on that. I will give it a try just to see…

1 Like

Well. I have my own library repo too. https://github.com/keruseykaryu/kicad-kerusey-library
Under development all the time.

1 Like

if you are referring to 3D STEP models (and then their VRML associated models), you can have a look here

So you’re talking not just a pre-rendered thumbnail, but a 3d viewer?

If you are talking technical and thinking on kicad, my current work on the 3d-viewer and @cbernardo may let you build something based on kicad source / integration that will let you visualize 3d model preview.
https://code.launchpad.net/~mrluzeiro/kicad/kicad_new3d-viewer

You already have integrated the 3d model preview on current KiCad main trunk, in the footprint model shape association dialog.

… but I suggest in that case that you think on something portable between OSs :slight_smile:

It might be possible to make a script to copy all the files used by KiCad to provide the rendering. From there it might be possible to create other applications which provide such a preview but it will be necessary to provide replacements for the Prj() and Pgm() variables. To support the internally defined model paths you will also need to process the kicad_common configuration file.
Of course this assumes that you want to use the plugins to render any model file which is supported by the plugins; if you only want to display STEP or IGES then it may be better to use the OCE visualization toolkit.