A Video Tutorial on Making A Footprint of/from a Kicad PCB
Summary: Create a Footprint of an existing PCB for various purposes (DaughterBoard, Families of PCB’s, Layout’s and Documentation…etc)
This process does NOT require usage/knowlege of making Footprints with the Footprint-Editor - it uses only Kicad’s Image-Converter Tool, the desired PCB for a Footprint and includes placing it into a Project.
(The Footprint-Editor will be used only to Set placement, Scale and linking to WRL file)
A Project’s PCB can be whatever PCB/project you choose (example uses empty PCB having an Edge-Cut layer Shape) and the Footprint will be placed on it
First, I don’t really have the patience to sit through a 5 minute video, and repeatedly watch a mouse cursor slowly scrolling through menu’s. Some people may prefer video tutorials, but not me.
Second, I don’t really call it a footprint if it does not have any real pads (Either THT or SMT). How do you make those?
Third, KiCad is vector based. Then making a screenshot to turn it into pixels and the image converter to turn it into vectors again is a very convoluted way of doing things. You loose resolution at least, and you have to find a way to get any sense of scale back.
I do not have much experience with the image converter. I don’t really use it myself. From the little I know, it is usable to convert logo’s and such into symbols or footprints, and it can be used when there is really no other option.
I guess this video was motivated my remark of:
My starting point for making that remark was having something in mind like: Project Manager / File / New Project from Template / Arduino Mega Shield, and then creating a footprint from that. It has got 7 connectors (which all have numbers 1 though 8). Renumbering the pads in the footprint editor would be an easy task. The problematic part is that I don’t know of any direct way to make a footprint from this while preserving all pad locations, and therefore I still stand with that remark I made.
If the goal is to make some kind of daughter-board (Either with THT pads, SMT pads with castellations or other) then the best way to make it is probably:
Make a footprint for the daughter-board.
Use that footprint both for creating the daughter-board itself, and for using the daughter-board in a bigger project.
Then, Don’t post a response that has no benefit to users.
Kacad calls it a Footprint and so do I.
Then, Don’t post a response that has no benefit to users.
If I listened to folks that don’t have experience with (choose from a list) then I would not have earned this (I designed the Electromechanical Thrust Vector Control System for Stages 2 and 3 when others said, it can’t be done). This work was the forerunner for all the stuff you see in the news re SpaceX…etc
I suspect you know about things you know about but, when it comes to things you don’t know about or use or want to spend the time discovering, why not let others decide for themselves and keep the useless opinions away from forum posts.
I don’t like posting comments like this but, you’ve posted similar opinions before and, invariably, someone follows up with a ‘Like’ or comment about liking what I posted.
The video is good. However, I’m not sure if the workflow actually is very helpful. First, it’s not helpful for creating an actual footprint with which you could connect two boards. Second, even though it doesn’t look difficult (it’s an “easy way” that way), it uses a rare workflow and a feature which isn’t used much. Third, you can (as I said elsewhere) copy from a board and paste into the fp editor, which in my opinion defeats the purpose of converting through an image. Conversion can only add possibilities of mistakes or conversion (software) errors. Third, why wrl and not STEP? with wrl you get only visual help, but in general case the end user may need mechanical help and ECAD/MCAD workflow. There have even been talk about removing wrl models from the official KiCad 3D libraries because STEP can nowdays to everything. Fourth, you need to scale the model which isn’t recommended.
I’m with @paulvdh here - without any commentary (sound) the video is just too difficult to follow. Watching menus being clicked is of no meaning without a commentary explaining what you are doing and why. I don’t think anyone will watch it through. I lasted about 20, maybe 30, seconds plus a few jumps forward to see if there was any sound later.
I think a commentary would be a great addition and would be of real help to people. Interesting points raised by @eelik, though; do you have a response? This could be a good learning opportunity for noobies like me.
I accept ‘Constructive’ criticism but, posting comments telling us (as paulvdh did) is not a criticism, it’s simply saying something akin to saying “I don’t know anything about it but, I’ll tell you about it and criticize it…”
eelik has valid comments but, this tutorial is not intended for folks (that know enough about Kicad to use it in the manner it was designed to be used) - it was geared towards folks who find the Footprint-Editor and creating Footprints difficult. There have been handfuls of folks posting here who find making Footprints (and using STEP files) difficult.
All arguments aside, a sound track would be a major help. Not least because you can introduce it with what you’ve just written here. Puts it into context. If you are too shy to use your own voice, I believe you can use a text-to-speech app to generate the soundtrack.
