This is how to create board outline with Arc in corners should look like

hi to all,

creating arcs in corners is a pain, still in GAL…
that is how IMO it should be done in pcbnew

easy, fast and the board will have a closed edge path easy to be viewed in 3d-viewer or exported to IDF

Maybe one day when we have improved geometry code. I’m not very optimistic though; even my suggestion that we should have Outline and Cutout layers rather than simply ‘Edge.Cuts’ was rejected. It’s a pity since that scheme would help make flex-rigid design a little less painful.

Have you tried a 3d/2d drawing package that is able to do this and exported the outline/cutouts as DXF which can be imported into KiCAD?
I did so for the very complicated cutout I did 2 months back - worked like a charm.
For rectangular boards its OK how it is atm, there are worse usability issues I think :wink:

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@Joan_Sparky,
thanks for the tip, I already knew the DXF import function
I used it for importing very complicated edges:


forum IDF discussion
but this is an external trick to create the EDGE of the board…
having the Fillet and Chamfer function in internal pcbnew editor would be a very useful feature… :slight_smile:
Moreover if you need to change the edge while designing, those options will help a lot!

Improving the creation of a board outline incl. fancy curves etc. is the least of our problems. Usage of proper grid sizes, space bar for zero ref. etc. and you have almost any shape in no time.
If something comes to my mind which needs attention then it is odd shaped pads. F.i. HF transistors or new, weird SMD transformers etc., yes we can help ourself with multiple (regular shaped) pads superimposed on each other.

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IMO fillet the corners would be a useful features…
replying @maxwaldo RF is lacking of a lot of features … but this is an other subject

“If you want something done, do it yourself”

done! :wink:

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I’m also trying to help drawing with KiCommand. You can ‘connect’ drawsegments together (only lines at the moment) and use ‘round’ to change connecting segments to arcs of specified radius. It’s in its early stages with more to come, but it might be useful here.

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