Problems with the 'add reference image' feature

Hello,

I am pretty that has already been posted somewhere, but I have some issues with the reverse engineering of a pcb. Files are attached (and colors inverted, but still it doesnt work).
So I have seen this featue here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUdbxKgsFl8&t=186s&pp=ygUXcGNiIHJldmVyc2UgZW5naW5lZXJpbmc%3D
but could not follow up, since the image is distorted (and much to big):

here are the two images.

(

Works for me on 9.0.1, Win11, OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, 4.6.0 - Build 30.0.101.1368

Paste the full version info from Help → About KiCad.

And put the images in a zip file if possible.

So here ist the version info, I am on Kicad 9.0

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 9.0.1, release build

Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.8
FreeType 2.13.3
HarfBuzz 9.0.0
FontConfig 2.15.0
libcurl/8.13.0 OpenSSL/3.3.3 zlib/1.3.1 libidn2/2.3.7 libpsl/0.21.5 nghttp2/1.65.0

Platform: Freedesktop SDK 24.08 (Flatpak runtime), 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, KDE, wayland
OpenGL: Mesa, NV168, 4.3 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 25.0.3 (git-c3afa2a74f)

Build Info:
Date: Apr 25 2025 04:05:02
wxWidgets: 3.2.8 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
Boost: 1.88.0
OCC: 7.9.0
Curl: 8.13.0
ngspice: 44.2
Compiler: GCC 14.2.0 with C++ ABI 1019
KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale:
Lang: en_GB
Enc: UTF-8
Num: 1,234.5
Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

It may be a long shot - but could it be an issue with flatpak?

It’s most likely an issue with GPU limits, or GPU drivers, or Wayland.

Is the image resolution really 1164x371?

Also you can try switching to Fallback Graphics in Preferences.

Yes.

My first guess is that your original pictures are corrupted or in a format incompatible with KiCad. As dsa-t has shown, the jpegs you made can be imported into KiCad, but they are only a part of the design. My first attempt would be to try to convert your pictures to another format, or even just save it with another program.

There are no “absolute sizes” in nearly any pixel based picture format. However, the video you linked to starts explaining the scaling exactly at the point that you linked to (@ 3 minutes into the video).

hello paul, hi dsa,

I was a bit busy with other things so far, but I’ve tried different photo-format (png),
different color inversions, and also different install sources (flatpack, snap) and also checked settings but did not found a fallback graphic. So I am pretty sure its a driver and / or wayland problem…

It’s in: … / Preferences / Preferences / PCB Editor / Display Options / Rendering Engine / ( ) Fallback graphics.

You can also try the Mesa software OpenGL renderer (Note that it’s different to Fallback graphics):

LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 kicad

Thanks, that helped. Now it is shown correctly

You might want to report this to Mesa then.

I did so, thanks:

You might want to fill all the info requested there correctly.

Also try running KiCad like LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 kicad with accelerated graphics.

And usually it’s good to record an apitrace so others can replay it without having to bother with KiCad (see GitHub - apitrace/apitrace: Tools for tracing OpenGL, Direct3D, and other graphics APIs)