Some improvements for layout

Hello all !

I use new release of kicad and opengl view is really awesome and, i think need some little improvements :

  • We cannot delete a complete track (only segment) like default mode
  • An option to attribute a net to a netclass with right mouse button in context menu (list like grid) without going to the “design rules editor”
  • Automatic reduced width of track when we pass between two pads
  • An option to hide some nets (GND for exemple because we want to route at the end)

Thanks, kevin

Your number one issue was part of my bug report on launchpad. Developers don’t seem to think that it is an important feature.

I wish I could share your excitement about the OpenGL view.

Hi kfs,

Many thanks for your feedback, we’re going to include it in the proposal for the UI improvements [1]. Concerning the improvements you’re proposing:

  • In the GAL canvas, you can select an entire track by pressing U or a whole net by pressing I, so U+Del results with deletion of a whole track and so on. We are considering to add a switch that makes the delete/backspace keys work as in the default canvas, but we prefer to give a the user a choice. The ‘legacy’ behaviour of the Delete key is for instance unacceptable for many users (including myself) coming from the Altium/Cadence camp.
  • Agree, this would be a valuable feature. Putting on the list.
  • What would be the use case here? It’s a pretty serious feature to implement, it’s not a one-evening job. How many times per board do you need to neck traces manually and what is the complexity of the boards that would justify such automatic necking?
  • Do you mean tracks/vias or rat lines? We’re planing to do more sophisticated visibility filtreing (by object kind, net, layer, netclass, etc.). Also, there’s a plan to implement coloring of rat lines.

Regards,
Tom

[1] http://www.ohwr.org/projects/cern-kicad/wiki/UI_improvements

I think a good library manager is also important. Footprints- and symbolpaths in one library manager. A possibility to set a path where kicad should search all libraries.