There’s discussion going on about dropping support for 32 bit Windows because the build system is dropping it: https://www.mail-archive.com/kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net/msg38718.html. No decision yet, but better be prepared because it will eventually happen some day.
KiCad source code has new build dependencies, see the announcement by Ian: https://www.mail-archive.com/kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net/msg38729.html. If you build from source and it complains about something missing, try these (lemon; GTK3 on Linux).
EDIT: Thanks, marekr – it’s not in yet, it’s being tested first.
EDIT later: the plan was changed, no need to install lemon, see https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/merge_requests/318#note_389955494.
It hasn’t been added yet
Geographic reannotation, i.e. reannotating based on the component positions on the board.
Tools -> Reannotate PCB
EDIT: separate post here: Geographic Reannotation Now Included in PCBNew
4 Likes
Hatched zones now get aprons around connected pads and vias.
1 Like
There’s a new UI for managing the appearance of layers and objects in PcbNew.
Featuring:
- Layer view presets
- Per-type opacity for tracks, vias, pads, zones
- Net and netclass color and visibility controls
If you use a color scheme where you set your copper layers to have less than 100% opacity, I highly recommend you try setting copper back to 100% and use the opacity controls per object type. I personally think it’s a lot easier to see when tracks are fully opaque and other items are translucent.
Demo of per-type opacity:
Demo of net and netclass colors:
There’s a lot of new stuff here, so please report bugs!
14 Likes
…but not here.
General discussion about the features should have their own threads, and Net classes in Eeschema (5.99) and New Net Tools in pcbnew 5.99 are fitting for the net system related discussion.
I liked the “eye” icon instead the checkbox for layer hive/visible (like AutoCad, Inkcape, …) and the new opacity control! Just two observations:
- It not good to see in a dark them (if possible, will be nice use the same text or checkbox color);
- Footprint editor software could use the same interface;
- After this update, this “lateral toolbox” doesn’t save it own width in case of Pcbnew close-reopen. It always open like this (in Nets tab and with small width):
Hello all, it was merged this new feature I developed for 3D-Viewer: light parameterization …with some improvements in the rendering:
25 Likes
Beautiful, marketing will love this
4 Likes
Excellent, I really needed this feature!
With these improvements to the viewer being made, would it be possible to support opacity for the board material, e.g. polyamide / PET?
1 Like
Would you like to open a wish request on KiCad gitlab ? and provide some examples on what you would like to achieve?
Few people know that KiCad 5.99 has some invisible advanced configuration possibilities. You probably won’t need them but it may be good to know. See https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/blob/master/common/advanced_config.cpp where it’s documented.
It’s possible to group board items together.
screencast_group-2020-08-20_12.54.25
At the moment it’s just a “geographical” group which locks items together so that they can be selected, moved, deleted etc. together.
20 Likes
Compressed 3D models are supported, see KiCad will support compressed step and vrml models in the future. Yeah, I could use those gigabytes for something else.
3 Likes
Yay! Configurable origin and axis direction has landed, courtesy by @RRPollack. See User-selected PCBnew display origin (5.1.x) for background, but that thread is closed. (Please no bug reports or wishes here.) The feature won’t be integrated into 5.1.
EDIT: I wrote a FAQ article about the origins and coordinate system, Coordinate system, grid and origins in Pcbnew (especially version 5.99). It shows these new features.
4 Likes
All feature requests need to go to the bug tracker (https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues) Search for your suggestion there first (I think it might be implemented but not sure)
Hopefully one of our hard-working admins can move this hijack over the the #community:feature-request