Specification of shorting pad groups for net-ties:
Includes better support for Router and DRC for tracks entering and leaving net-tie pads, and for copper graphic items shorting pads not listed in a group.
Specification of shorting pad groups for net-ties:
Includes better support for Router and DRC for tracks entering and leaving net-tie pads, and for copper graphic items shorting pads not listed in a group.
Hyperlinks in text elements, both to pages in the document and external http(s)://
and file://
protocols
Example usage:
Thanks to @JeffYoung for finalising this in time for v7!
Interactive pdf outputs from the Schematic Editor, covering:
Example below navigating a pdf generated with the Schematic Editor, opened in Acrobat DC:
Again thanks to @JeffYoung for getting the intersheet refs popup working (as well as other fixes).
A few tweaks to symbol fields:
New Simulation Model Editor:
.model
and .subckt
lines in Spice libraries,Custom fields in library symbols are now shown in the Symbol Chooser and can be searched.
KiCad now supports database libraries, which use an external SQL database to store information about components. There is some preliminary documentation for those who are interested in testing it.
If you aren’t sure you need a database library, you probably don’t! (at least, not right now). This is an advanced feature intended for specific use cases at the moment. The primary audience for this feature is companies and organizations who already use a database for part management and wish to integrate their existing database with KiCad. We are also interested to see what other types of users do with this feature, and may explore having more features built in to KiCad regarding data management in the future. In the near term though, part data management will be done through external tools.
Unroute Selected. Works on the stuff you want to unroute (tracks, footprints, pads, etc.)
Attempt Finish Routing. Tries to automatically complete routing to the nearest ratsnest end. If it doesn’t succeed, will stop at the failure point to continue routing manually.
Attempt to Finish Selection (fake Autoroute): Will iteratively attempt to automatically route all selected routable items to their nearest ratsnest end. Will stop at any failure point for manual finish, then continue auto routing as much as possible.
Edit: Here’s a slightly more complicated example showing a filter + amplifier layout automatically routing:
Select and reorder columns in the Symbol Chooser
Since 3a76d426, if you select multiple footprints and/or pads in PCB editor, the corresponding symbols and/or pins will be selected in schematic editor. The last selected item is highlighted.
Now you can quickly separate footprints by functional blocks by selecting them on schematic, then using the new “Pack and Move Footprints” action in the PCB editor.
The footprints are grouped by size and sorted by reference, then packed in a square.
The initial footprint spread algorithm after updating PCB from schematic was also improved. The placement is more compact, and symbols that are close to each other on the schematic are more likely to have their footprints close on the PCB.
kicad2step
has been eliminated in favor of a new kicad-cli
due to refactoring work in progress
kicad-cli pcb export step
takes the same arguments as kicad2step
Psst, there’s a kicad-cli pcb export svg
Disjoint outline courtyards are now supported, as well as disjoint outline boards.
kicad-cli pcb export gerber
kicad-cli pcb export drill
kicad-cli pcb export pdf
Some tweaking to still happen
You can now use cli to export schematics to pdf and svg.
kicad-cli sch export pdf
kicad-cli sch export svg
Very much beta for now.