Pcbnew background picture

[francois_P]

Hello,
I have only a ended ready to 3Dprint STL file for a front panel & box as a reference, I can only get a picture of it, or keep it “as is”.

How Can I use it as a background image in PCBnew to takes measurements (in order to align components) before the routing ?

regards.

[poco]

1. Open your image with image viewer, resize view;
2. Launch pcbnew, drag window over the image viewer’s window;
3. Make whole pcbnew window semi transparent with any tool available (this, for instance: GitHub - navossoc/MenuTools: Adds new features to the system menu of applications);
4. Done. Use pcbnew with an image seen behind the canvas.

[paulvdh]

I do like poco’s creative solution but it does not really help with scale factors and panning.

FreeCAD has a very simple but quite usable Image Workbench.
An image can be “stretched” to get it to the right scale and you can easily make measurements in FreeCAD. In FreeCAD the image and your drawing also keep together during zooming and panning. You can also draw a sketch in FreeCAD with the locations of knobs, screw holes and other stuff, then export it as a .DXF file and then import that file in KiCad.

You can also use the StepUp workbench in Freecad, which is specifically designed for interaction with KiCad. With that you can draw the PCB outline in FreeCAD and then push the (empty) PCB to KiCad.

[francois_P]

Ah ok of course; I was stupid, I might have thought about DXF format …

[BlackCoffee]

There are a handful of ways to accomplish the goal. I think this will be the quickest path to success…

Assuming your .STL is good:

• In FreeCAD, load the ‘Part’ workbench
• Open the .STL
• Select the .STL
• Part>Create_Shape_From_Mesh
• Select the Meshed item (best to Hide all other items)
• Export>(select DXF as the type to export)

• In Kicad, Import_Graphics [load the DXF]

• Now do your work/traces/parts…etc

Note(s):
1)You can select lines and delete them to make a cleaner work area
2)You can Modify the Meshed part in FreeCAD(adding features and cutting holes…)

Example:
All of my boxes are a bit complex so, to simplify this example, I created a box with some mount-bosses and a hole

[ADDED INFO]

Won’t go into details but, will add the following options:

In FreeCAD, load the enclosure’s STL, Mesh it, Create Solid-From-Mesh. Then, create a faux PCB and add lines as needed to guide your PCB/parts placements (in Kicad).

Or,

In FreeCAD, load the enclosure’s STL, Mesh it, Create Solid-From-Mesh.
Then, Export it as STEP (with colors. Either from PartDesign, Part or Step-Up). But, Step-Up can export it as a Footprint, so, that will save you from making a Footprint in Kicad).

Now, load the Footprint in Kicad and design the PCB/shape with needed parts…

Last Example, below (PCB designed in PCBnew using the Enclosure’s Footprint and my guide…

Using The Enclosure’s FootPrint As A Guide

[poco]

FYI: Background image is an ongoing work WIP: Pcbnew: Allow placing bitmaps initial hack (!1132) · Merge requests · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab