Hello.
I’m a long time EDA user. In the past i used Eagle, dabbled with altium (Circuit studio) but in the last 10 years i’ve used exclusively Diptrace, of which i love the intuitivity and the Just Works™ aspects.
From time to time i gave Kicad a try but i always uninstalled it within ten minutes of use, the UI and UX used to be just… ugh. It felt like i was using windows 3.11 again.
But today I installed 6.0.10 and gave a try at the current getting started tutorial and i have to say i am really, really impressed on what the package has become, I’m already beginning to love it.
By the way, good move on explaining how to change the scroll wheel behaviour on the tutorial. In one of the past tries it was enough to make me uninstall the damn thing i believe i’m not alone in this
Anyway, there are still a couple of nuisances, i’d like to get rid of them instead of adapting, if you can help me point at a setting, a hidden setting or something.
I can select a tool (like Route) by pressing on the appropriate button on the tool bar, then move the curstor to the starting point and click. Or i can use a shortcut.
My problem is that when i press the shortcut (like “X”) it will select the tool but also perform a click on where the cursor is.
I would like to change the behaviour and just select the tool. Is it possible to do so? I’m not used to be already pointing to the starting point and frankly i don’t understand why i should
I understand that routing is set up to work on a pair of layers at a time and the shortcut to place vias and switch layers relies on that. I get where it comes from, however when you start routing traces in inner layers it’s not unlikely that you use more than two layers to route a trace.
I already figured out that i can bypass changing the layer pairs by starting the routing and changing to an arbitrary copper layer using +/-, but then the router will keep the current segment to the previous layer, THEN place a Via, THEN change the layer.
I would like to place a via immediately, at the start of the new segment i’m going to place. I see that i can achieve the behaviour via the “<” shortcut (place a via and switch to another layer) but that opens a menu that takes the focus and i have to manually select the layer. Frankly, that feels like a huge productivity hit.
Is it possible to achieve what i want to do? It’s the default behaviour in Diptrace
Is there a preferred hotkey map for someone that want to use the left hand for most actions without moving it from the keyboard? because changing between layers (which i do a lot) is done via +/- which while they are obvious as a choice for semantics, they are placed at the opposite side of where the left hand is. Most people use the mouse with the right hand. I’m looking for a new mapping because i don’t really want to figure out one
no thanks, I’m too much used to how other cad software works. But i’m glad i have a choice, so i can change my mind in the future
It did many many thanks. Re: 2, that is more of a niche use for me right now, i can probably get used to it. 3, i will just make my own keymap if i can’t find anything
Hi Jackm,
welcome to the KiCad forum.
it is usually not of much use to post on both forums. The regulars who answer questions tend to keep an eye on some other forums too, and you’re likely to get the same answers.
This forum is much more active than the KiCad section on EEVblog though. This has about 20 topics per day, while EEVblog has a few each week.
I don’t see the radical difference between KiCad V5 (released 4 years ago) and KiCad V6.
I sow such mouse wheel behaviour for the first time when I installed KiCad V 4.0.7. My opinion after 5 minutes was - it is genius solution - why the hell all programs don’t work that way. Using only wheel and mouse moves (no clicks, no keys) I can get to any place at PCB and see it in any scale I want. I can do it during doing any task (like drawing a line) - I can be precision at the begining then using wheel I can fast (very fast) and easy jump to the place where I plan end of my line and I can at once have zoomed
in as needed.
I am surprised why you want to select the tool if you don’t want to use it at once (but only in some time in future). If you want to use it at once then you already have a cursor at right place.
consider the fact i’m much more active on the EEVBlog forum, i created the thread there first then decided to do the same here, i don’t just create accounts.
I don’t keep notifications active.
think earlier. I first tried kicad in 2012. Most open source software back then was an ungodly mess of UI and UX, openoffice was one of the very few packages that stood out in the open source crowd. That was a combination of attitude from the developers (try to start this discussion in the freecad forum, everyone gets on the defensive) and the lack of UI and UX esperts in the developer team. I’m a developer myself, i know i suck at designing UIs because i think of what’s good and convenient for me as a developer, not for my users, so i delegate that aspect.
V5 to V6 might have been little changes in the UI/UX but i welcome them. They said it themselves, they brang a number of UI changes but with the possibility to switch back to the old behaviour for those who don’t want to change their muscle memory.
I don’t want to change my muscle memory either so i welcome this decision. The scroll wheel thing, every other piece of software i used, let it be CAD or graphics, doesn’t behave as the default settings in kicad do and i’m glad they finally had the strenght to change it and conform to the standard industry practice (while retaining the possibility to change)
i can tell you they gained one more user, and i’m sure they lost none.
I can still do everything you say you do, middle click or right click pans around the window, it’s the usual way to do it
I don’t remember if the setting was added in V5 → V6 but i remember not being able to change the behaviour in the past
Re: Tools, when you do it manually it’s select tool → point → click. It’s natural that it has to be the same when using shortcuts, select the tool → point → click. Again, there is a setting if you want to keep the different behaviour (and that’s good)
I have V5 installed at PC I am writing (Win7 so can’t use V6).
From Mouse and TouchPad settings there were only:
[ ] Center and warp cursor on zoom
[ ] Use touchpad to pan
[ ] Pan while moving objects
Not sure if switching off first flag is enough to get behavior as you want, but it is not important now.
I didn’t used CAD programs a lot. Before KiCad I used Protel. There were key sequences following menu. In menu there were Place-Track, so pressing P and then T you switched on the tool for tracks. Advantage - you need not to learn hotkeys. Disadvantage - 2 keys instead of 1.
When in KiCad I got one key to start track at once it was for me something different than selecting a tool. For me it is start track here (like left mouse click). Switching on the tool is ‘side effect’.
I just tried to analyse how I think about it. I’ve never thought about it before. That is probably because I just use what I have without comparing it with another tools.
i believe i’m not alone in this
many many thanks. Re: 2, that is more of a niche use for me right now, i can probably get used to it. 3, i will just make my own keymap if i can’t find anything