PCBNew: any ruler?

[RRPollack]

@tobalt

When starting a PCB I want to know the origin of the coordinate system, because I like to build stuff near the origin. This could be also provided by just emphasizing the origin somehow.

With V6, I suggest this:

1. In the “Origins and Axes” preferences, change the display origin to “Drill/Place origin”.
2. If desired, change the Y axis direction to “Increases up”.
3. When starting a layout, place the “Drill/Place origin” at the desired location on the board. I prefer the lower left corner.

From this point, the displayed coordinates will be relative to the Drill/Place origin, rather than the upper left corner of the “page” on which the layout is drawn.

[RRPollack]

@BlackCoffee

Most likely you don’t know about the Auxiliary Origin and the Grid Origin…

Two tools in the Tool strip. After placing them, Move cursor to desired 0,0 location and press the spacebar to set it as 0,0

V6 allows you to display all coordinates relative to the Drill/Place (aka “auxilliary”) origin or the Grid origin by setting to the “Origins and Axes” preferences. You can also change the direction in which the X and Y axes increase.

This is a persistent, per-user configuration. It does not change the board file at all, so you can experiment with it without changing the board layout.

[hmk]

If someone is still thinking about the rulers, my idea would be that the rulers follow the displayed coordinates, that is, origin and direction like RRPollack has described in the steps 1-3 above.
Thus no additional settings for the rulers would be needed, just a “rulers on-off” for those who don’t want them.
Of course it would be good to have some kind of smart algorithm to make the scale and numbering on the rulers intuitively helpful.

[jmk]

@hmk

If someone is still thinking about the rulers, my idea would be that the rulers follow the displayed coordinates, that is, origin and direction like RRPollack has described in the steps 1-3 above.
Thus no additional settings for the rulers would be needed, just a “rulers on-off” for those who don’t want them.
Of course it would be good to have some kind of smart algorithm to make the scale and numbering on the rulers intuitively helpful.

This is good!

The request on Gitlab is sadly lacking detail.

Those wishing for a ruler should detail exactly what they want on Gitlab otherwise the request will probably be dismissed.

[tobalt]

Hey that looks good. But I couldn’t find these options …

I can change the origin to depend on Drill Origin in the Prefs, but I cannot graphically highlight the Origin. Where is this option ?

Nevermind, I just found the “Add Layer Alignment Target” crosshair and placed it at the Origin.

[jmk]

Hi @tobalt

There is also “Grid Origin Target” (second from bottom in “Place”) I mentioned way up in this thread.
This target gives you a zero point for the X & Y reading at the bottom centre of the screen. The X & Y directions can be changed in Preferences / Preferences / Origins and Axes and are accurate to 3 or 4 decimal places as well as interchangeable between Metric and Imperial.

If I need a certain sized PCB I will:
Set a coarse suitable Grid,
Find a suitable layer to draw a maximum size outline.
Place a Grid Origin Target.
Draw a graphical border for the maximum allowable size by following the X & Y display.

This gives me a good size reference of the board without the hassle of having to refer to rulers.

[hmk]

I could also imagine to use a functionality that when you right-click the ruler (or similar), you get a list of options corresponding to or similar to the “Origins and Axes” preferences.