Ever since KiCad 8.0 different grids were introduced for different types of elements. This is really nice. But if I want to move a text element, a line element and some schematic elements, then the positioning is kind of broken. It selects one of the elements and places everything based on its grid.
It can be the text, which results in all of it being placed in the text grid which then breaks the schematic elements. Or it moves along the element grid which might result in weird outline placement if the two grids don’t align.
Is there any way to solve this besides setting all grids to the same scale? I’m using the default settings right now.
I did only have a little bit trouble with understanding “it”.
Mineotopia is using grid overrides and has set different grid override resolutions for different item types. And now KiCad is apparently confused which grid resolution to use for a block move.
I did a few short tests with block moves of blocks which contained both wires and text, but for me it did not move the wires off the (coarse 50mil) grid I set for connections. Moving wires off a course grid would be a very bad thing in KiCad, and if this happens accidentally because of a block move which includes text also (with text on for example a 10mil grid), then Yikes!
Are you using V8.0.4? Each month (which result in an increment in the thrid digit) some 70 to 100 bugs get fixed in KiCad, and a bug like this is typically among those that get fixed in such updates. I had a brief look at the blog in the fixed bug list for each V8.0.x release but did not see this.
A workaround / is to turn off the grid overrides. It’s the grid icon with the red lock near the upper left corner in all 4 of KiCad’s editors (Schematic, Symbol, PCB, Footrpint)
Hey, thanks. Yes “it” is the assortment of selected items. I’m using 8.0.4. And some of it is hard to reproduce, but for me moving anything that isn’t of the same type just never works the way I want to. I guess it is because from the symbol’s point of view my outlines are “off-grid”. So when I move the selection, the symbols move accordingly, but the outline is now badly placed.
I guess it probably boils down to the fact that I have the freedom to use three grid pixels between each logic box (I like to separate my schematic in boxes, I know some people on here hate that), but that this is not a multiple of the 2 pixel symbol resolution. Therefore I run into problems where I’m unable to keep the desired distance when moving items. This problem also exists when the box next to the moved box has a size that can not be devided by 2.
Probably the best solution for me is to set the line resolution to the same that the symbol resolution is set to. I don’t think there is a good solution from the dev’s side to improve my UX here.
So this post is probably pointless, but it helped me to think about the issue at hand. Maybe it is usable as feedback for one of the devs though.
Hate is a big word, but I dislike it because it is a big time waster and has no real benefits.
But KiCad does give you quite an amount of flexibility. You can both set the main grid, assign hotkeys to change it quickly between presets, and enable or disable the grid overrides.
My own preference is for simplicity. I use a 50mil grid for anything that has to do with electric connections, and a bit smaller for text and graphics.
