Hello guys. I download for evaluation new KiKad 6.0.9. Tell me why soldering pads have same color as route tracks? In old version KiKad it was different.
If I switch to layer F. Paste all as I need. But I can not work and I can not route track.
As i should configuring KiKad set it up the old view?
You sure? THT pads are orange, and tracks are either green or blue. Make sure you have selected the default colour assignments as v6 will migrate your old settings, which is why I still continued to have red tracks on F.Cu unitl I checked.
You can set the color of the tracks in the Appearance Manager on the right side of the screen by double clicking on the colored rectangle. But SMT pads and copper have the same color, and I think they have always had the same color.
I have not seen Green in a while. I’m not sure about the details, but I think that when you update to KiCad V6 it may keep the old colors, while if you do a clean install of V6 you get dark red for top and weird blue for the bottom.
If you select F.Paste as the active layer, it does indeed draw the paste layer “on top”, and this results in different colors for the SMT pads. You can still start drawing tracks, but KiCad switches to a copper layer automatically as soon as a track is started.
I think I’ve just discovered a bug. In the Appearance Manager I can set the tracks for the top layer to bright yellow, and then at first the SMT pads on top stay red:
However, as soon as I change the opacity of the pads on the Objects Tab in the Appearance Manger the SMT pads on the top layer also turn yellow.
There is apparently no way to keep the different colors for copper and THT pads on the same layer. Things like restarting the PCB editor, or just starting a track or moving a footprint changes the color of the pads to the newly selected color.
What you can do is change the opacity of the pads on the Objects Tab in the Appearance Manger. You can also set the opacity for the tracks. and although they still have the same color, you can easily see the difference (and also look through them).
When you double click on the colored rectangle in front of a layer name, you can both set the color and Opacity of that whole layer.
You’re right, it was green that got replaced with blue, not red. That’s what happens when I’m too lazy to check.
It’s terribly inconvenient. It is strange to change what used to be convenient and beautiful.
How to contact the developers to add pads color settings? As it was before…
Confirmed with most recent 6.99. The correct color is also shown after switching the active layer back and forth. No need to tinker with the opacity.
Worth a bug report? You? Me?
[EDIT] Only routable layers are affected. Other layers change color immediately.
I reported it:
It’s a small issue, but it may be confusing and it’s probably easy to fix.
Both bug reports and feature requests can be made on gitlab, but you do need a separate account for that.
I can’t recall such details about KiCad V5 though. As far as I know the color of SMT pads has always been the same as for the rest of the copper on that layer.
I think I’ve just discovered a bug.
I also saw this when I tried in vain to do it as it was in previous versions of KiKad. And I could not understand why such innovations. Glitches and jumping colors in different directions.
As far as I know the color of SMT pads has always been the same as for
the rest of the copper on that layer.
I used version 5.0. and 5.1. Always pads were different colors. And did not depend on copper tracks.
Otherwise, how to justify my video where all this is visible, on the YouTube channel -
KiCad project. Distortion - DEATH TORTION
Here a screenshot from KiCad V5. SMT pads clearly have the same color as copper tracks on the same layer.
The screenshot is from KiCad STM32 + RF + USB Hardware Design - Phil's Lab #5 - YouTube @36:28
Why was it always different for me? And my video confirms my words.
Those are THT pads, not SMT pads.
THT pads have been yellow for quite a long time, and still are.
In v5 the colour of smd pads could be chosen independently of the colour of the tracks.
In v6 all copper of the same layer has the same colour.
…and already fixed by Jeff.
That’s quite common. I’m almost beginning to expect this. 
Those small things that are obviously unusual and easy to find tend to get fixed very quickly. I’ve seen several bugs that had less then 30 minutes between creating a bug report and “Fix Comitted”.
I know. On the other hand I have a high prio bug lingering around since 3 weeks or so. No complaint, just saying…
Maybe you found a hard one for them to fix.
Maybe they are still shaking their heads and rolling their eyes and muttering “not another one from him again” 
Yes, I’m sure they schedule regular Zoom sessions for such amusements. 
I would… whilst sitting in front of the idiot box (TV), pizza on lap, beer in hand, cool cloth on forehead, recovering from the last session of coding. 
I don’t understand what does THT pads have to do with it? In my video, you can see that the route track is green, and the SMD pads are red. Which means that when choosing the color of the tracks, the color of the contact pads does not change. And why they did one color in the new version of KiCad is a mystery to me.
