V9.0.6 rc1 Snap points appearing, but cursor not locking

[photon-delight]

I am trying to take a measurement from the center of a pad. I select the measurement tool, and move my cursor near to the pad. I’m on F.Cu with all magnetic snaps set to always. Grid snap is set to never. As I approach the pad with the cursor, snap points appear. Is there something I need to do to select the snap point which has just appeared? If I simply click when I see this snap point, the measurement starts from wherever my cursor is. So the snap points are appearing, but the cursor is not locking to those snap points.

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 9.0.6-rc1-202510140551~7df0a80eed~ubuntu24.04.1, release build

Libraries:wxWidgets 3.2.4FreeType 2.13.2HarfBuzz 8.3.0FontConfig 2.15.0libcurl/8.5.0 OpenSSL/3.0.13 zlib/1.3 brotli/1.1.0 zstd/1.5.5 libidn2/2.3.7 libpsl/0.21.2 (+libidn2/2.3.7) libssh/0.10.6/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.59.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.6.7

Platform: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, ubuntu, x11OpenGL: NVIDIA Corporation, Quadro P1000/PCIe/SSE2, 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.247.01

Build Info:Date: Oct 14 2025 05:51:58wxWidgets: 3.2.4 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24Boost: 1.83.0OCC: 7.6.3Curl: 8.5.0ngspice: 42Compiler: GCC 13.3.0 with C++ ABI 1018KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale:Lang: en_GBEnc: UTF-8Num: 1,234.5Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

[RaptorUK]

@photon-delight

So the snap points are appearing, but the cursor is not locking to those snap points.

I agree . . .

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x64 on x64

Version: 9.0.6-rc1-2-g790dee114b, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.8
	FreeType 2.13.3
	HarfBuzz 10.2.0
	FontConfig 2.15.0
	libcurl/8.13.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3.1

Platform: Windows 11 (build 26100), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) UHD Graphics, 4.6.0 - Build 32.0.101.6556

Build Info:
	Date: Oct 13 2025 05:44:20
	wxWidgets: 3.2.8 (wchar_t,wx containers)
	Boost: 1.88.0
	OCC: 7.9.1
	Curl: 8.13.0-DEV
	ngspice: 45.2
	Compiler: Visual C++ 1944 without C++ ABI
	KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale: 
	Lang: en_GB
	Enc: UTF-8
	Num: 1,234.5
	Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

[SVK]

I’m having this problem, too. I mentioned it in a related thread I started yesterday. I just saw yours now.

Steve

[ModuloFS]

Same problem here, it seems that if a snapping point appears, you can move along the x and y axis of the snapping point but do not snapp on it.

Application: KiCad x64 on x64

Version: 9.0.6-rc1, release build

Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.8
FreeType 2.13.3
HarfBuzz 10.2.0
FontConfig 2.15.0
libcurl/8.13.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3.1

Platform: Windows 11 (Erzeugungsversion 26100), 64-bit Edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) UHD Graphics, 4.6.0 - Build 32.0.101.7076

Build Info:
Date: Oct 12 2025 16:50:01
wxWidgets: 3.2.8 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.88.0
OCC: 7.9.1
Curl: 8.13.0-DEV
ngspice: 45.2
Compiler: Visual C++ 1944 without C++ ABI
KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale:
Lang: de_DE
Enc: UTF-8
Num: 1.234,5
Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

[ModuloFS]

I tested it further and it seems that the snap point is not a center snap point but only the in line snapping. Because of that you are only able to snap at the x and y axis of the snap point.

[RaptorUK]

Not sure what is the correct way to raise this . . . . new Bug report ? or are we meant to re-open the old one ? if we are meant to re-open the old one how do we go about finding the correct one ? if we open a new one how do we ensure it gets sufficient visibility to be fixed prior to the RC being released ?

[davidsrsb]

A new one is better, but can reference to older one

[photon-delight]

I’m starting to wonder whether this feature is perhaps by design, and not a bug. I can imagine some scenarios where snapping to one of the axes might be useful. But more often that not, I would imagine that the center is the desired snap point.

[jmk]

@RaptorUK

Not sure what is the correct way to raise this . . . . new Bug report ?

Definitely a new bug report, if there is a bug.
The old grid problem was basically: the grid being used by Kicad was not the grid we saw on the screen.

[jmk]

There’s something wrong with the measuring tool. When measuring between pads; sometimes there is a snapping point in the centre of a pad or both pads or neither pad. There seems to be no consistency.

If you “save” before using this tool it seems more likely to have both pad centre snapping points show.

That’s all I’ve come up with so far.

If anyone works out what is wrong and fills a bug report, could they place a link in this thread, otherwise I’ll look on my tomorrow while you lot are tucked up in bed.

[paulvdh]

@jmk

The old grid problem was basically: the grid being used by Kicad was not the grid we saw on the screen.

I also see something like that in the drawing sheet editor in KiCad V8.0.9. There seems to be a fixed offset when attempting to work on a grid resolution of whole millimeters. I wonder if those are all related. More in the thread below.

Drawing sheet editor: Snap to grid

I have just been experimenting a bit with this in KiCad V8.0.9 and I do not understand the behavior. For me, the grid was set to half millimeters, and the lines in the title block are also metric based, but when I draw a line, then the coordinates follow snap points on the grid, but the final coordinates are not rounded numbers. X coordinates end with “,989” and Y coordinates end with “,0022”. [image] And the same numbers appear when drawing a rectangle. So the grid works, but there is a fixe…

[RaptorUK]

So I did a little testing . . .

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x64 on x64

Version: 9.0.6-rc1-14-gfbf9a45a00, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.8
	FreeType 2.13.3
	HarfBuzz 10.2.0
	FontConfig 2.15.0
	libcurl/8.13.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3.1

Platform: Windows 11 (build 26100), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) UHD Graphics, 4.6.0 - Build 32.0.101.6556

Build Info:
	Date: Oct 16 2025 05:44:22
	wxWidgets: 3.2.8 (wchar_t,wx containers)
	Boost: 1.88.0
	OCC: 7.9.1
	Curl: 8.13.0-DEV
	ngspice: 45.2
	Compiler: Visual C++ 1944 without C++ ABI
	KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale: 
	Lang: en_GB
	Enc: UTF-8
	Num: 1,234.5
	Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

Constrain to H V . . is off

Snap to grid . . . is off

Snap to Pads, Tracks & Vias, Graphics - Always

So now I’m assuming I can snap to the centre of pads without the grid getting in my way . . . and yes I can if I want to place a track, that works just fine.

Measuring is a whole other matter . . . I cannot get the Measure Tool to snap to what it suggests it is going to snap to.

The circle suggests to me that the Tool has found a snap point here . . .

When I click I get this . . .

The tool took a position not at the snap point . . .

Also, what is this thing ?

I have what looks like 2 snap points . . . the lower one is the live one.

[jmk]

The “thing” the yellow arrow is pointing at is a target showing the X axis centreline of the pad. Depending on how you approach the pad, sometimes there is a Y centreline axis instead of the X centreline.

Unfortunately, using the measuring tool, to or from a pad centre, will only give you either one or the other centreline instead of the pad centre, which is totally useless.

I ran out of time to explore this phenomenon today, this retirement caper seems to give me less personal time than when I was working.

[scone]

I’ve seen something similar with the measure tool in the footprint chooser, but this is a much better description of the issue. If you make a Gitlab issue for it, will you post the link here so I can give it a thumbs up?

[photon-delight]

I have submitted an issue on GitLab #22045

snapping issue with measurement tool (#22045) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source...