hi,
i had create schematic file, and routed it in pcb. Then i had repeated the schematic channel, but how can i to duplicate a piece of pcb already routed?
I don’t find, how to anchor the routed items in PCBNEW manual.
(i mean the feature like existed in altium Designer - u can route some piece in the “room”, then make few duplicated rooms with the items and routes)
There exists an action plugin for this, see Replicate layout: Action plugin or https://github.com/MitjaNemec/Kicad_action_plugins
There are plans to get this functionality into v6, #1998, but it can’t help you right now. Until then the mentioned plugin is the solution.
If I’m not missing something in what you want, it should be as Simple and ‘Copy & Paste’.
Below shows copying a circuit with parts (without the two corner holes) and Pasting multiple copies.
The ref point can be anywhere you want, it doesn’t really matter, a minute of trying different ref point’s will clear-up any confusion about that…
If there are items you don’t want copied, such as on Silk, Comments… simply Hide those layers before selecting what to copy or just copy the items you want.
You can paste into a New PCB, too…
thanx, i’ll try it, just i’m not sure, that designators copied in PCBNEW will be accordingly netlist, consists of 3 channel eeschema.
Tip…
If you place an Auxillary Ref on the PCB and use that as the Ref for copying and pasting, then all your copied elements will be just where you want them (as they were in the pcb they were copied from).
And, of course, select a similar Ref when pasting, if desired…
I’m clicking the lower corner of PCB shape as the Ref, in video
i had think about it, but there are no difference between manual editing in a such case.
in any case, thanx for Ur advicement.
OK, so i can basically copy a PCB and paste. Now, how do i match it to the schematic? I’, not even sure i’m asking the right question… i guess i need to copy and paste the schematic from on project to another, then copy and paste the PCB from one to another. I will need to re-number the parts int he schematic to ensure they are unique. Now how do i associate the footprints with the schematic symbols? trying to get my head around this… TIA, G
by now you may have seen my reply to your other posted question - here. That my help answer the questions in this post.
Some additional info:
• For a new project needing similar circuit and similar PCB, ‘yes’, I copy them and paste into new project with changed names.
• If needing to replace (exchange Footprint, Double-click the footprint and replace it as needed.
That panel provides for replacing/updating from Library or just dealing with the specific one in question. It’s pretty simple… After doing it a few times and getting it right, you’ll say, “Duh!”
[EDIT] added answer to Questions below:
•I don’t find a need to renumber anything except, possibly, pin numbers but, generally I don’t bother.
•Double-Click the Symbol in the Schematic and set the path to the desired Footprint (screenshot). This is sort of Vary Basic and may be good idea to review documentation…
Hmmm. To both Rene and BlackCoffee.
Either i am missing something fundamental, or you are, or i have not communicated the problem.
but the goal is to avoid re-doing the layout of a board i have already completed, and is quite complex. To do that I must copy BOTH a schematic segment and a PCB segment. The question is "how does the schematic know that those specific footprint instances are associated with the schematic elements? If the answer is “re-associate each”; that is likely more work than just laying it out again, and therefore not useful. So i’m still pretty flummoxed by the answers.
I’ll point out that i also amat a stand-still with the “append schematic segment” command. It was explained to me that when i did that it would be grouped and floating so that i coudl position it and then later connect it in either manually or with references. Neither is true in my case:
1 it is not grouped
2 it is not floating
It is just dropped into the same position in the new schematic as it was in the old one. It is not grouped so i cannot move it without selecting each component individually. Something is not working as it ought to (maybe me, but still…)
TIA,
G
(see mess that results from append below)
By the reference designator that must agree for both the schematic and layout. And you then also must select “by reference” in the update dialog (more details see the FAQ topic).
Or you know use the “replicate layout” plugin posted as the first answer in this thread as it will take care of everything.
I think i need to look at that plug in. It seems - although you have never said it outright - that all other methods mean i must edit each and every symbol-footprint association, which would take ages…am i correct?
Well, one more open issue - if the reference designator exists in the original schematic file, and i import the schematic, what happens next:?
TIA,
G
You’re probably correct that I don’t understand what you want to do. So, this may not be helpful…
But, if using Original schematic layout and wanting a copy of layout without need to re-make it, then it’s easy.
The trick is to use EESCHEMA in ‘Stand-Alone’ mode (meaning boot Eeschema, don’t boot Kicad).
• First, Make a copy of the Original schematic
• Boot EESCHEMA stand-alone
• Open Original schematic and ‘CopyBlock’ the circuit
• Open the Copied File (original will close) and Paste the copiedblock of schematic into the copied file.
Simple but, can do this only in the ‘Stand-Alone’ mode while it’s running… If exited, the copied circuit is lost.
@BlackCoffee I think @Just_Me got that part down. What he wants to have is copy both schematic and pcb side without needing to manually annotate either of them. However, this is not possible without the replicate layout script.
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