Post-v5 new features and development news

Fast grid switching (and user grids) for Eeschema.

Intrepid geeks might also notice that the grid and zoom lists are now in the JSON preferences files (and can be changed there).

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Fast grid switching (and user grids) for Eeschema.

Warning to users: Be careful with user grids. The way wires/buses are connected to pins is if the end of the wires are on the same coordinate as the pin (same with wire-to-wire). This means that if a custom grid is used, you need to ensure your wires/buses/pins all align properly.

I thought that object snap was also coming in EESchema? That should help ameliorate grid/pin mismatches.

It has been discussed in the dev team (actually just tonight because of this), and it looks like we want to do it, but we just need to do a bit of cleanup before we can actually implement it.

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Nice! Needs to have a keyboard shortcut for it though.

I attach as an example, a competitor stackup dialog as a reference nice to have:

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Rectangle tool in Footprint Editor.

(You can also use Edit > Cleanup Graphics… to “heal” existing line-based rectangles into rectangles.)

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If you had something like a grid of lines, like a spreadsheet pattern, how would it handle that? or would it just heal the outer rectangle.

image

Good question. If the algorithm is based on begin-end points of the lines, I would guest that will convert just the externals (of each composition) but I need to test.

There are now configuration options in Eeschema and PcbNew to control cross-probing behavior:

image

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Also thinking if this could represent some significative size reduction of the footprint library total package size when v6 became the stable (and the v5 library format could be updated, prioritizing squares over 4-lines).

I would also expect it will heal only the outside rectangles. But I didn’t test that case. :mask:

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  • Copper zones can now fill more than one layer
  • Copper zone island removal is now configurable
  • Copper zones and keepouts now have an optional name property (for future use with the new DRC system)

Multilayer zone demo:

Island settings demo:

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There is now a persistent selection filter in PcbNew. It lives below the layers manager:

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It would be great to have the same persistent filter selection in the footprint editor as well and have footprint related options there (such as SMD pads, through hole, mechanical etc.)

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Not exactly the same, but there is basic search capability

image

As far I tested, it capture all rectangle in this image. Just two strange behaviors: the selected line got deleted when ran the option (keeping the the diagonal that I draw) and the +z just undo the group at the second hit.

Nice UX/UI. Could this selection filter keep different information and allow to select in the different tools?
For example:

  1. Selection tool -> select all
  2. Track tool -> select tracks ans pads

I rised a propose https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/4754

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@hildogjr, I can’t reproduce the deleted line segment issue, but I’ve fixed the undo issue.

Thanks. I will test again (tomorrow) and, if still, rise an issue on Git.

Editing here for track: https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/4766