SVG export issue: Oval pad svg Paste layer-> simple line, needs rounded rect pad

[kenneth558]

I think this is the right place for this:

I made a 3-lead SMD footprint, pin 1 a rectangle pad, pins 2 and 3 “Oval” pads. Placed on PCB BACK SIDE. Exported SVG B.Paste PCB layer only.

The Oval pads don’t export right. Exporting renders each Oval pad in Paste layer as nothing more than a straight axial line the axial length of the pads.

I noticed this behavior first in a browser-rendered stencil-making house pre-order check. FreeCAD running locally confirms it. PCBnew, however, renders the oval pads in Paste layer correctly as oval pads, so you’ll never catch the problem unless you screen render the .svg Paste layer files before making your stencils.

The workaround: I changed the footprint’s Oval pad styles to Rounded Rectangle styles with 50% rounded corners, and now the PCB with that updated footprint exports the Paste layer pads properly in svg.

Therefore, I am happy with my footprint workaround of making Rounded Rectangle pads with 50% rounded corners instead of Ovals. Others might need this info, so I’m posting it here. Thank you for reading. I doubt I’ll follow this thread much since I don’t need to.

Ken

Export SVG file settings:

Default pen size: 0.0254 mm
Print mode = Color
SVG Page Size = Board area only
Printed board edges = checked
Print mirrored = not checked
Pagination = One file per layer

Application: ModEdit
Version: 5.1.4-e60b266~84~ubuntu16.04.1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.2
libcurl/7.47.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2g zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Linux 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.2 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8) GTK+ 2.24
Boost: 1.58.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.8.0
Curl: 7.47.0
Compiler: GCC 5.4.0 with C++ ABI 1009

Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

[Seth_h]

I seem to recall a similar issue a while ago. You might want to try updating to the 5.1 nightly PPA and see if the issue remains. If it does, please report the bug at https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues

[kenneth558]

Thank you kindly, Seth! I’ll get started on it ASAP.

[kenneth558]

I’m running Mint (GUI) and my nightly is

Application: KiCad
Version: 6.0.0-unknown-b1803bc~100~ubuntu16.04.1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.2
libcurl/7.47.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2g zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Linux 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.2 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8) GTK+ 2.24
Boost: 1.58.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.8.0
Curl: 7.47.0
Compiler: GCC 5.4.0 with C++ ABI 1009

Build settings:
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

In that nightly the issue still exists. I’ll go ahead and file the bug report.

[Seth_h]

That is not the correct PPA. Please note that Mint is not supported and it appears you’ve found a very old master-branch nightly build (pre-5.1.5). The issue will not have been fixed in that PPA version. The link I provided goes to the correct 5.1 builds that you do want.

[kenneth558]

I’ll investigate how to approach this. I’m rusty with compiling. I take it that you don’t foresee any serious show-stoppers for me in Mint, though.

Or, shoot, it only takes a couple mins to edit yourself any SMD stock footprint from within PCBnew, trading any pad for an oval pad and export the paste layer as .SVG, then load it into FreeCAD or a stencil-maker’s web site. Could I interest you in that while I’m going at it from my position?

[Seth_h]

Mint is broken in many aspects with respect to KiCad. We try to warn folks off of using it for this reason. We don’t have any developers who use it and so we don’t have the ability (person hours) to figure out what is wrong and fix it.

Please note that our issue tracker (https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues) has almost 1000 open issues. If you’d like folks to verify your issue, you need to provide everything they need to recreate it.

[Rene_Poschl]

@Seth_h

Mint is broken in many aspects with respect to KiCad. We try to warn folks off of using it for this reason.

For reference the officially supported linux distros are Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and arch.

[kenneth558]

Then I am not a good test bed, either. Let’s wait on this until I can go to the makerspace after they open back up since there is no urgency. Thank you two wonderful people!