KiCad 5.1.0
When using a KiCad build from Fall of 2018 I could drag and select a group of objects, then move them relative to their center point.
For instance, I could move a circle or rectangle based on it’s center x,y value, to another x,y value on the sheet.
Presently, I’m only able to move the items relative only to the items, not the sheet.
Is this feature removed?
See 5.1.0 Move Exactly feature below.
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To move an object, use the “Move exactly” (absolute coordinates) or “Position relative” (offset) items found in the contextual menu.
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Will do.
The contextual menu is different in the previous builds. Did something change?
To move an object to new coordinates (relative to the sheet origin - if it’s what you mean) edit its properties (position X and position Y fields). But it won’t work with a group of objects.
I suppose it only works with pads placement because the pads are blocks.
I did resolve my specific problem.
My dxfs are created from SolidWorks part files.
When importing the DXFs I forgot to select Placement > At > 0,0 or any other x,y value like 50,50.
This allows me to import revised DXFs but maintain specific placement.
Don’t feel bad if what I write happens to be true; as at one time I forgot also.
The direct X,Y value of a parts location can be seen by selecting the part and pressing the hotekey “e”.
Yes this is true but not when selecting a group of objects.
It would be great if KiCad could function more similarly to AutoCAD or Rhino. Meaning allowing users to select a group of objects, select move, select a start point, select an end point, done.
KiCad is currently undergoing some major changes, and KiCad tends to do things differently than other programs (often for good reason).
If you know where you want everything selected to end up, you can use the Space Bar to “zero” the starting point, and then read the ending point where the mouse cursor ends up at the end point.
The Hotkey “Ctrl+m”, provided those X,Y values will then move the grouped objects where you want them to be.
ON EDIT: I suppose that since the origin of the parts is already fixed, the concept of moving selected parts to the Space Bar Hot Key ‘Zero, Zero’ might be a feature that others might want. Such a feature should be officially requested on the Bug Tracker on LaunchPad.
The move exactly tool seems to now be a move and rotate relative tool. It is much more useful now if one wants to move or rotate something relative to its starting condition but no longer allows using some relative reference point and move that to an absolute point. (At least not directly. One can use math expressions to get close to that feature.)
The old way of using that tool made the “i want to rotate something around this point” usecase near impossible. This is the reason why it changed.
As a workaround (assuming everything you have is on a single layer.):
Draw a line from your start to the end point (start point should snap to your part if you draw it on the same layer. Absolute coordinates of the endpoint are entered using the line properties dialog reached via e.)
Set the coordinate origin to the starting point using the snap to object feature again. (Necessary because the move start point can only be on grid. See: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1830166)
Then use the normal move command and the new snap to objects feature. (this sadly only works if your selection only contains stuff from the same layer as your reference line. See: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1830164)
If your stuff is on multiple layers then i would set the coordinate origin to your reference point. Copy its coordinates to a text editor and use the move exactly tool to first move it by the inverted distances such that your reference point ends up at 0,0 and after that make another move exactly command with your intended endpoint.
It is possible to skip the move to 0,0 by using math expressions in the coordinate fields of the move exactly tool. (enter endpoint-reference point for x and y coordinates)
And yes this is a kind of missing feature. I suggest you make a bug report about it.
Yes, moving single items in several ways is easy. Moving a selected group of items to a certain location is difficult, even impossible, because you can’t choose the reference point in the selection meaningfully. The move tool just goes to the nearest grid point when you press M, and the dialogs don’t let you select the reference point, it’s always the geometric center point of the bounding box IIRC.
The reference point does not really matter if the move is relative to the starting point. (every point including your desired reference point is moved by the same amount) It only matters if you want to enter absolute coordinates for a reference point which is not how the move exactly tool works (as noted it is a move relative tool)
And it matters for rotations (which is why you can select the rotation center)
To be honest i am not really sure that the assertion that this was really possible in v4 is true. As far as i remember the move exactly tool was always a relative move tool. (I can play with v4 this evening.)
Move Exactly and Position Relative To were changed radically for 5.1 (IIRC). We had a heated discussion about them in some bug reports.
Yes, the reference point doesn’t matter for moving relative to the starting point (i.e. moving for example 10mm left). I was talking about moving to some specific point, regardless of distance and direction. Now it’s not possible to move a selection to some specific known point using some point of the selection as reference
Let’s say I have two footprints and want to move them together so that the center of one of the footprints is exactly on top of the center of a graphical circle. How would you do that, assuming that the circle and the footprints aren’t in the grid?
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