Yes, that is the idea. It just needs a background that is not any of the copper layer colors and gives good contrast. One identical with the defined Background color of the canvas should work just as well with respect to the design conventions as the one currently presented and be a safe logical choice. The reddish border around the black area in the edit above is an artifact from the color replacement function in the image editing application I used and not intended. (That is a nice dropoff!)
Another icon graphic rule: layer colors depicted in icons generally need a border color compatible with all themes (that’s why they have black borders in the appearance manager, otherwise it cannot be guaranteed that a colored feature is displayed correctly).
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They had black borders, but not any longer:
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sigh
Also seeing this earlier really makes me question whether contrast was considered at all
Which one has a color field, which one doesn’t?
Not a wise choice.
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Wow guys, those icons are getting reeaally good 
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The current icon set is (explicitely, somewhere) made for light theme and will have a “dark” version when all artwork is fixed.
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Guys, related doubt: I try to active to show the icons on menu at v5.99 Ubuntu/Linux/GTK by https://answers.launchpad.net/kicad/+question/269770 to check last advances.
It worked before but not now on Ubuntu 20.04. Some tip?
I cannot make icons on menus work in my Ubuntu machine either, which is why I focus mainly on the toolbar icons (personally I think icons in menus is a pointless feature in general, not just in KiCad)
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Yes, totally agree. I kept it disabled on previous Ubuntu because it created more spaced list into the menu-bars (like it supposed to be used on touch screen displays, not good for mouse users).
This is just a minor issue and it may be just some new GTK configs…
Quick question how you all perceive x, y, z axes represenations. Which one is more intuitive to you?
A: buttons representing a 3D coordinate system with Z pointing upwards,
B: X, Y coordinates are in the screen plane, Z pointing towards the viewer.
I just look at the text: X, Y, Z the rest don’t mean much to me.
For anymore standardization, X as goes positive to the right.
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Second on right, (my) arguments:
- It how I most used on calculus classes;
- As far I now Z is the height on 3D printers and most mechanical draws. Also they usually use the XY plan to footprint/2D perspectives.
So, I usually expect a XY board with Z/height given by the element packages used.
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Matching with the current arrows: your blue (Z), red (x) and green (Y) is exactly that I understand as usual.
Because the default point of view of “3D Viewer” is Z coming out of the display, I think B icon set is more direct interpreted by users as “rotation operation”. But, if it is possible, could the the X/Y/Z letter be placed at the end of the respective axis?
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For me this is the “natural” way…
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Your window manager/theme probably has icons in menus globally disabled for all you GTK applications. Currently the KiCad setting won’t override this though, so you have to enable it both in KiCad and your theme. I have thought about adding an override into KiCad, but it isn’t high on my todo list.
if it is possible, could the the X/Y/Z letter be placed at the end of the respective axis?
The best we can do given that the icons have to be pretty small is to make the connection to the axes visually by putting the characters in line with the corresponding axis. Putting the letter at the outer end would require the origin to be moved around or everything to become smaller. This would make the icons less same-y.
But then again…
it might actually make them easier to distinguish, especially Z looks more like the horizon has been put back in a proper place and X-Y looks more like it’s the base plane in the coordinate system.
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What if we just got rid of those buttons? I can’t think of another 3D program that has 6 toolbar buttons for rotating around a given axis.
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Are there hotkeys for this function? I find this feature useful to get the same viewport each time when rendering pictures of different boards.
That said, I wouldn’t mind using X + mousewheel, Y + mousewheel, Z + mousewheel to apply incremental rotations.
You can assign hotkeys to them; none are assigned by default
yeah… but I guess key + mousewheel it not gonna fly 
Anyway… the 3D viewer isn’t exactly running out of room, the buttons serve a purpose and especially for beginners it’s a nice way to get acquainted, even if they’re a bit idiosyncratic ( I mean, who doesn’t go to the 3D viewer to just rotate the board around for a while just to admire it 
might even need to put more fidgety things in there, hehe )
secretly opens feature request for easter egg
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