Hi,
I have a lot of tracks where I want to change the Layer. I want to change the track from F.CU to In1.Cu .
Right now I click on the Line ->Edit->And than change the layer. Is there any possibilitie to only click on the line to change the Layer of the track Segment? Similiar to the flip shortcut…but only changing the layer?
Fabian
There is no shortcut I know of to directly change the layer of a track segment. Your best approach is to make a bigger selection, and then do it in bunches.
Try this:
You can also hold [Shift] while clicking on a track segment, which adds that track segment to the selection, and then use u or i to add more of that track to the selection.
You can also hold [Shift] while dragging a box, and then the selected box gets added to the selection.
If you hold [Shift] and then click on an item in a selection, then that item is removed from the selection.
With combinations of the above you can build up a complex selection, and then change the layer of that selection in one go.
If you’ve selected items you do not want, then you can right click on the selection, and select: Filter / Filter selection from the popup menu, and then “unselect” the item types you do not want to be part of the selection:
It can also help if you change the layer visibility to facilitate your current needs. Try:
Alternative, you can use: Pcbnew / Edit / Edit Track and Via Properties. This is a quite powerful dialog, so take some time to get to know how to use it.
There is also Pcbnew / Edit / Swap Layers but that does whole layers, and is probably too coarse.
There is also the f shortcut key. It “flips” a selection between front and back, but it does both tracks an Footprints at the same time, and therefore also mirrors the tracks (in the X-axis, and dependent on mouse cursor location at the moment the f key is pressed.
That was a summary of most of the selection and filter tools in KiCad V5.1.x. What works best depends on the situation. A screenshot may have helped here.
Thanks for you very good and long answer. It makes it a bit easier but still I think an shortcut for changing layer of an selected segment of an track would be a great KICAD feature. Here the screenshot of my pcb. The blue surrounded green tracks have to be changed in layer.
And my answer is still the same:
Do more experiments with the selection tools in KiCad and learn to use them effectively.
Try this: First do a small rectangle selection in the center:
then press u to expand the selection, and follow up with an e to edit track & via propertis, and then set the other layer.
But I also agree that a request for a single keypress to change the layer of a track segment (or an selection) is a valid request. Maybe somthing similar is already implemented in KiCad-nightly V5.99. It has many new functions, and a lot of the new hotkeys have no default key assignment at all because there are just too many of them.
Maybe it can also be done with a few lines of Python script, but I do not know if a Python script can be assigned to a hotkey.
No it can’t, and it’s it’s a big drawback because having access to the current cursor location + using a hotkey would allow completely new workflow for scripts, some things are just too impractical or even impossible with the menu based triggering.
A layer changing shortcut could be very dangerous if hit by accident. There would have to be some sort of mode activation.
It’s simple enough to make a Plugin to move Tracks (any layer) and any Lines (Eco, Dwg, Edge_Cuts, Silk…etc) with a “Simple” plugin.
Can’t assign a Hot-Key but, can make a GUI panel with Buttons to click for doing it… and call the GUI Panel from a plugin.
Look into “Simple Plugin’s” and, making a Python Window with Button’s. (Note: Can also do it with Java or a Script and call them from the GUI panel you make… easy enough to do. Some of the other Plugin Icons shown at the top of the Kicad window in video below do call some Java and Python codes…)
This type of thing will be taken care of by the properties panel that is coming in V7
OK, than Im locking forward to V7.
Hej, thats nice but it still takes the same time as glicking at the segment, press e and change the layer of the selected segment. Thanks for the Video
If you find the time spent on changing the layers of importance, then put off your blinders and use the selection tools instead of doing segments one by one.
KiCad V7 may be years into the future, or, if it’s quicker, then a lot of the things may get pushed to KiCad V8.
For the near future, the selection tools are the way to go, or do some smart scripting such as BlackCoffee showed you.
I show only individual selections but, I can window-box or cmd-select multiple items…
In 5.99 / 6.0:
First select the tracks to affect. This can be done a number of ways:
Shift)U after selecting a single track segment. Note that pressing this hotkey more than once from the same initial selection will expand further.Second, change the layer of all the selected tracks in the Edit > Edit Track & Via Properties dialog, by setting the scope to Tracks and checking the “Only include selected items” filter mode:
Hi, thanks a lot. I tried your way. Only problem is that the “Only include selected items” is missing in my window:
Can you tell me my mistake?
Second way is helping a lot getting faster.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
