I was playing with the interactive router, that is just fixing some tracks for fun. This board is in use, and I better not change it.
My settings.
How does the the optimize entire track work, or does it work at all. When I tried to select the entire track, I couldn’t move any part of it, and otherwise it cleaned only one segment of track.
I could break a track, at least it looked that. When I moved a track very close to a pad, I got only very thin line or something between the track and pad.
When does the “fix all segments on click” work. Based on my experience, newer? I thought that it means the whole track between every pad is optimized.
Version Info
Application: KiCad PCB Editor x64 on x64
“Fix” is a tricky word. This time it probably means “fasten it to its location”. I haven’t actually changed this option (and use KiCad too rarely anyway) but I think it affect only the last segment, i.e. fix all segments or leave the last drawn segment unfixed. No guarantees, try it yourself.
If the Fix all segments on click is off, then the last segment of a track being drawn is not fixated in it’s current position, but keeps following the mouse cursor. This allows for “less accurate” mouse positioning during intermediate clicks / fixations of a long track during routing.
The: Optimize entire track is (I think) mostly active when pushing or shoving some other track around to make room for the track you are currently routing. When this option is off, then less segments of the track are moved.
But also realize that the Interactive router is continuously being tweaked, updated and improved. It works differently now then it did one or two years ago, and it will change in coming KiCad versions too. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the settings, and learn what works best in your particular situation. As long as you make regular backups of your project, it can never hurt you much even if it goes wrong. When working on a project, I generally make at least one backup each day, and when I want to experiment, or have an Idea that I’m not entirely sure of whether it will work I make extra backups, just to have a known situation to get back to if the experiment did not work.
When the router is active, new track segments will be drawn from the routing start point to the editor cursor. These tracks are unfixed temporary objects that show what tracks will be created when you use a left-click or the Enter key to fix the route. The unfixed track segments are shown in a brighter color than the fixed track segments. When you exit the router using the Esc key or by selecting another tool, only the fixed track segments will be saved. The Finish Route action (hotkey End) will fix all tracks and exit the router.
While you are routing, you can use the Undo Last Segment command (hotkey Backspace) to unfix the tracks you most recently fixed. You can use this command repeatedly to step back through the route that you have already fixed.
In previous versions of KiCad, you using the left mouse button or Enter to fix the routed segments would fix all segments up to but not including the segment ending at the mouse cursor location. In KiCad 6 and later, this behavior is optional, and by default, all segments including the one ending at the mouse cursor location will be fixed. The old behavior can be restored by disabling the “Fix all segments on click” option in the Interactive Router Settings dialog.
I’ll try those options a little later. Yes, I miss understood the word fix.
" The Finish Route action (hotkey End) will fix all tracks and exit the router." Is interesting, I have try it.
Saving the whole project with a new name is a very useful. I agree
