When an image is added to a kicad sheet (.kicad_wks) it's lost during gerber plot

[HSPalm]

Hi,
Anyone know a way to keep any graphics imported to a Drawing Sheet during gerber plot? I added a company logo to use on all layouts and schematics to my company sheet template, but it is not plotted with the gerber file. I can understand the complexity surrounding the functionality, but I’m asking if there an established way of achieving it either way.

Thanks

[der.ule]

I can confirm this in v6.0.1, lines draw with the line tool are plotted but bitmaps are not. I am not sure if it has been reported, but it would be nice if you could do it Help->About->Report Bug

A work around could be to use a footprint with the image (silkscreen or similar)

Application: KiCad Drawing Sheet Editor (64-bit)

Version: (6.0.1), release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.1.5
	libcurl/7.78.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.2.11

Platform: Windows 10 (build 18362), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW

Build Info:
	Date: Jan 15 2022 13:36:27
	wxWidgets: 3.1.5 (wchar_t,wx containers)
	Boost: 1.76.0
	OCC: 7.5.0
	Curl: 7.78.0-DEV
	ngspice: 35
	Compiler: Visual C++ 1929 without C++ ABI

Build settings:
	KICAD_USE_OCC=ON
	KICAD_SPICE=ON

[John_Pateman]

Think this has been discussed before and reported here

Graphic on schematic does not print on printer when schematic is printed...

Bitmap doesn't show up on PDF

I’m inserting a PNG image on the Drawing Sheet Editor, importing the file on the Schematic and it appears, as expected. But when I export the schematic to a PDF file, the bitmap image doesn’t appear. I’m using KiCAD version 6.0.1 Thank you!

I thought it was fixed in 6.0.2 but gitlab isn’t loading for me at the moment to check.

[craftyjon]

Plotting and printing are two different things – not all plotting formats support the idea of bitmap graphics. Gerber files cannot contain bitmaps.

[HSPalm]

Hmm. PCB Editor supports converting SVG graphics, but Drawing Sheet Editor does not support adding them. If Drawing Sheet Editor supported adding SVG graphics, PCB Editor would have to do an automatic conversion of vector graphics in sheet when plotting.

As I see it, there is no way of having sheet graphics follow all the way from Drawing Sheet Editor to Gerber plots?

Should there be a warning when either…

1. adding bitmap to sheet
   or
2. adding sheet with bitmap to PCB Editor,
   …that graphics will not be included in gerber plots?

[HSPalm]

Thanks for the workaround. I thought about it but would have to add it to every layer if I want the sheet block to appear correctly in all files.

[der.ule]

It is not as bad as you think, but it is tedious:

1. Create your footprint
2. Open your footprint file in a text editor (notepad++)
3. Open an empty text file and copy the complete text content
4. From your footprint file, select just the graphic part and replace all the “F.Silkscreen” for the desired layer (for example “B.Silkscreen”)
5. Append it to your second file with the footprint content
6. Repeat for all the desired layers
7. Save
8. Use it as you wish.

It took me around 5 min. to duplicate my logo in all the important layer, Notepad++ was great help because it lets you replace on a selection only, copy the selection while keeping it, change to another file (tab) while keeping the selection and all this while keeping the “Replace dialog” open, it really helps to make things faster.

Just an idea!

[HSPalm]

Thanks for the walkthough. I was thinking to make a footprint from bmp using the bitmap to footprint converter, then edit the footprint by just repeating the shapes for all layers. But this would only get me so far; for all new designs, adding the sheet is a “three” step process. First add sheet with logo to schematic, then add sheet without logo to layout and then add footprint.

But I found a good solution, which I find a bit funny:

1. Go to Image Converter within KiCad
2. Open your logo and export as Drawing Sheet (.kicad_wks file)
3. Open your sheet in Drawing Sheet Editor, choose to Place → Append Existing Drawing Sheet, choose the newly converted logo.
4. Ta-da, the logo is no longer a bitmap and follows your sheet.

Question: Why does not Drawing Sheet Editor give you the option to import bitmaps and convert to “sheet-format”, instead of just embedding the bitmap? I can understand it for schematics, you might want a color logo, which is not possible in layout, but you should probably have the option to choose.

[craftyjon]

@HSPalm

Why does not Drawing Sheet Editor give you the option to import bitmaps and convert to “sheet-format”, instead of just embedding the bitmap?

Because nobody has requested this feature before.

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