An Intro to KiCad - Part 5: Associate Footprints and Generate Netlist | DigiKey
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Part 5 of An Introduction to KiCad V4.07 has Shawn explaining how to associate your custom footprints with the accompanying schematic symbol. To do this he must generate a netlist; a file that tells KiCad which component terminals are connected to which other component terminals.
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Now annotation tool is the icon called "fill in schematic symbol reference designators", CvPcb tool is the icon called "Run footprint assignment tool" and netlist tool is deleted. You can generate it from File → Export and its only necessary by third party software now, not by KiCAD itself.
This software is absolutely disgusting.
You are monster of this stuff. I have never see anyone explaining better. Respect.
Not going to lie, I’m a complete beginner and I’ve watched part 1-5 and it’s super complicated for me. Might abandon my quest to make PCBs. I’m seeing the comments like “you’re so good at explaining things” and “this is the best tutorial ever” and I’m here like, “I have no idea what’s going on”
I deeply sympathise! I am coming to this as a newbie too and I am having similar problems, but I'm making progress. I think these tutorials were genuinely brilliant for the version of KiCad when they were made. But the KiCad tool and its interface have gone through major versions changes since then. However the interface hasn't changed *too* much, and so it's still possible to make progress. Here are the tactics I have followed. I recommend them if you haven't tried them already.
Recommendation 1: work in KiCad while the video is running, pausing the video frequently to copy exactly what Shawn is doing. This can feel slow, but I have found that it saves time overall. First, it helps me make sure I understand each part of the process before I move on to the next. Second, if Shawn starts doing something that doesn't work in the modern interface, I detect this immediately and I can stop to fix it.
Recommendation 2: when Shawn does something that doesn't work in the modern interface. I first check the RUclips comments for the video. Under most of the videos, helpful users have commented with guidance for more modern interface versions. (Thanks to @hongotopiadada7574 for particularly useful comments.) I try what they say. If that doesn't get me through, I look for similar buttons or menu options. So far I've always found a part of the interface that obviously matches what Shawn is doing, and I proceed with that.
This has worked for me so far and I hope it is useful for you too. If you're still stuck at a specific point then you are welcome to ask me (e.g. "at 12:34 Shawn says to click on XYZ, but it isn't available") and we can try to debug the problem together.
@@dwhughes1975 Thanks for the reply, it really helps. I’m still pushing through and have watched the whole series. I think my main problem is that I want to start to make the PCB I have in mind instead of what he’s actually making, but that might be a mistake. And I’ll definitely take your advice!
@@c0mputer I have worked with EAGLE before moving to KiCAD... and I understand stuff related to this... The main issue I am facing here is that the KiCAD version I am using is different than the one being used in this video. A lot of features have changed since the upload of this series, and I guess that's the issue you're facing too. I suggest you watch a newer tutorial series, or maybe try EAGLE before moving to KiCAD. There was this beautiful course available on LinkedIn Learning which helped me learn EAGLE...
By separating the schematic symbol selection from the part footprint, you can create a schematic and then layout either a TH part board, or a SMD board by just changing the footprint associations. The schematic doesn't actually change. However, when this association is locked in the part libraries, ie: you must select the right schematic symbol already associated with a footprint, it's more work to switch construction style. You can also decide in mid stream to use some SMt parts and some TH parts, depending on availability or what the board maker has loaded in the PnP machines.
Do all big EDAs have such a convoluted library system, because the EDA I use - thinking about switching - is all automatic.
Which EDA was that?
Hey Shawn,
While appending the digikey library to the cvpcb, the status is being shown invalid.
Could you just help me debug the problem??
Hello, please head over to our tech forum for the fastest response to this request. forum.digikey.com/
Great videos! I wish there was an update for KiCad version 5.1.7 (I am stuck trying to get the DigiKey footprint library installed without a Wizard).
I am also stuck because it appears the Digikey library on github is not compatible with Kicad 4.0.7
@@nigelhungerford-symes5059 The 4.x library is still on Github somewhere.
9 months later, and you may have already figured it out. But if not, I am using 5.1.7 and just learning. I went to preferences>manage footprint libraries>Click the "Project Specific Libraries" tab at the top of the new window, click the small folder icon by the + button on the bottom. In the file explorer, navigate to your "Libraries" folder that he had you make a few videos back. That is where it is. Click the digikey-kicad-library-master folder, then click the digikey-footprints.pretty folder, then click OK. That's what I did, and I got the footprint library to come up.
@@pekhotinyets Do you have any idea how he gets the footprints into individual folders like Battery_Holders? When I do this I just get one library full of all of the footprints in one giant library. I also cannot find the footprint he chose for the battery holder. Its not in mine
@@smoshfann24 When he was going through the tutorial, he talked about making the project specific folders. I never did that. I just added to the main library since I didn't make much. I did notice that it's hard to get your footprints to show up if you don't select the right filter icons at the top, but by choosing the right ones, I eventually got mine to show up.
.pretty has to be one of the funniest filename extentions I've come across
Indeed. I, for one, am glad not to have had to work with .unfortunate files so far
I am just learning Kicad, but it seems to me like one aspect of matching symbols with footprints is missing in the tutorial:
Mapping between the symbol pins and the footprint pins is done implicitly, based on the pin numbers in each. There's no guarantee the footprint pin numbers will align with the symbol ones, especially if the element comes in different packages.
It would be good to know the standard process for catching such mismatches in time and remedying them - otherwise you might get your PCBs ordered and only afterwards realise they're no good.
the libraries wizard is only available in 4.0.7 kicad version
So... How do we install this library without the wizard?
Noob Library Issues???
I'm having major issues with the libraries for KiCAD 5.1.2.1. A great many components available in Eeschema have broken footprint links when viewed in the footprint assigner. A valid-looking footprint name gets auto-assigned, but attempts to view it throws an "fp-lib-table files contain no library with nickname xxxxxxxxx" error. A brief Eeschema test turned up many examples of this error on any components selected from many libraries, a few of which are:
Diode_Bridge
Diode_THT
Driver_FET
Driver_Display
DSP_Motorola
Display_Character
Battery_Management
Amplifier_Buffer
Regulator_Linear
... and likely many more.
I didn't test each and every component in the above libraries, but all I did test threw the above error. When subsequently net-listed into the PCBNEW program, components in these libraries simply disappear from the layout.
This doesn't lead to confidence in the KiCAD system. Suggestions? Workarounds? Bug-reports?
Thanks for your excellent video series. Maybe Part 11: How to Avoid Noob Pitfalls?
he is the best in the world in case of Kicad teaching
at 6:33, what if the STATUS is not OK? up to this point I did everything as you have shown
Six years later cvPCB is no longer used in KiCAD 8
honestly amazing video series but they've changed things around so much that its very hard to follow now.
Hello, take a look at the latest update to this series. ruclips.net/p/PLEBQazB0HUyQmF4Vf0WEeGAGDH0th3wYf
Excellent. Very good explanations.
Okay, after watching this, and since I get nearly everything from Digikey, I'm going to have to abandon DipTrace and move to KiCad!
Corgitronics smart choice! 🙌
I battled through to this point but this software is a complete knight mare, I cant believe someone hasn't streamline this process???
Yep. There is a lot going on. It takes some practice and doing some small projects to get used to it. Just thank the programmers that volunteer their time and skills to offer this for free. The professional software is barely any simpler and they do mean things like hold your designs hostage on their servers, cost an arm and a leg, and if you get the student/hobby version they cripple the features and capabilities. Just keep on climbing that learning hill and you'll reach the summit.
@@katemoon7476 Hi Kate- I know many who use KiCad professionally at work. You mention professional software, implying that KiCad is not used in the professional field. I was curious about this- does KiCad lack certain features that are necessary for professional work? I'm new to pcb design and KiCad, but you clearly have a ton of industry experience. Thank you!
I'm feeling your pain here
What is that cool sizing tool you showed at 12:30 into the video??? Looks way useful. Great video series by the way.
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looking forward to the next part! keep up the good work!
Could you do some guidelines about Electric Rules Check?
I'll keep them in mind for a future video, but in all honesty, I hardly ever use ERC in most EDA programs.
I used them while following this and it helped me notice a few mistakes I made in the schematic. The Digikey symbols gave false positives though because they have improper ERC settings
polymetric which errors did they help you find? I'm curious to know how people use the ERC.
A few lines which somehow weren't connected, probably from moving components away from and then back to their original place. It just said "unconnected pin" or something. I can't tell for certain if they were actually unconnected or not, but I deleting the lines and rewiring them fixed something, because the ERC errors went away. After fixing one, I decided to fix all the others, and it ended up being just the battery holder and the switch that had errors I couldn't correct.
In my opinion this is the most common error you can fall in kicad: electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/19338/erc-error-errtype3-pin-connected-to-some-others-pins-but-no-pin-to-drive-it
Excellent tutorial.... Thank you so much!!!
What’s with the dog licking your neck at the end? Is he the digikey mascot?
@6:30 - KiCad does NOT verify that it's a good library for me. The status of digikey-footprints is INVALID, and it silently fails to import if I click next. Really frustrated that I spent the last 2 hours following along with this series just to come to a dead end.
I also had the same error when I was working with KiCAD version 4. The error maybe due to updated digikey files based on KiCAD 5 so installed the latest KiCAD version 5 and the digikey footprint library was added.
Perhaps you changed something after this video was made and didn't mention it. In part 7 you show the footprint for the transistor as being different from the one that is chosen in this video. I went to the URL you showed in this video for the transistor and it's pin arrangement is reversed from the one shown int he pcb layout editor. I don't think it matters much as long as I route using the right pin numbers, but you might want to mention that because it threw me off when I went to go route traces.
This is good. I noticed the footprint libraries (called modules folder) that come with the installation package of kicad are possibly corrupted or that the kicad program believes they don't exist when they are actually there. Or maybe they can't be read correctly. Not actually sure....
IO_ERROR: footprint library path 'C:\Program Files\KiCad\share\kicad\modules/Sensor_Pressure.pretty' does not exist from kicad_plugin.cpp : FootprintEnumerate() : line 1801
But deleting the modules folder in kicad program files and downloading footprints from GitHub as shown in the video seems to work (for now at least) .
And also deleting all entries including ${KISYSMOD}/name.pretty in the library table (after clicking preferences tab of cvpcb)
Very helpful tutorial
Good job!
Thank you for this series
Thank you
very nice ....practical
It bugs me that the intro and outro music have slightly different tempos.
Too complicated I just did the pcb by hand and solder the components together
If I hired someone to design a PCB and that's what they suggested me I'd laugh. Thats a solution for tiny projects in your basement, not for anything professional or at scale.
To import the Digikey Kicad library, you need to take the now from Github and then create a new folder and only copy over "Battery_Holder_Coin_2032_BS-7.kicad_mod" "Switch_Slide_11.6x4mm_EG1218.kicad_mod" and "TO-92-3.kicad_mod" to the new directory and then ask the Kicad wizard to import from your new folder with just these three files.