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This topic will be used to announce new features and other significant development updates during the KiCad 9 development cycle.
This topic is only for announcements. Please start new topics to discuss new features.
Ethan Chien has contributed a new Zone Manager feature, which allows easy preview and adjustment of zone priorities and other settings:
Added text-justify actions (so that you can assign hotkeys to them, if desired).
Ability to override locked footprints when updating PCB from schematic.
Expand All / Collapse All for Footprint Editor and Symbol Editor.
@jp-charras added the ability to hide hidden fields from the symbol editor (View > Show Hidden Fields, and the spreadsheet icon on the left toolbar – this icon is a placeholder until we design a new one)
Ability to add comments to ERC and DRC exclusions.
Selection filter for schematic/symbol editors
Ethan Chen has contributed a new sheet pin/hierarchical label synchronization tool. This tool provides management of sheet pins and their associated hierarchical labels instead of having to switch back and forth between the sheet and schematic.
dsa-t 11
Added support for importing Altium Schematic in ASCII format.
Backported to 8.0.2.
Previously only binary Schematic/PCB/Library Altium formats were supported.
12
Added PCB 3D image raytracing rendering from CLI, with transparent background support.
Usage string
Usage: render [--help] [--output OUTPUT_FILE] [--define-var KEY=VALUE] [--width WIDTH] [--height HEIGHT] [--side SIDE] [--background BG] [--quality QUALITY] [--preset PRESET] [--floor] [--perspective] [--zoom ZOOM] [--pan VECTOR] [--pivot PIVOT] [--rotate ANGLES] INPUT_FILE
Renders the PCB in 3D view to PNG or JPEG image
Positional arguments:
INPUT_FILE Input file
Optional arguments:
-h, --help Shows help message and exits
-o, --output Output file [nargs=0..1] [default: ""]
-D, --define-var Overrides or adds project variables, can be used multiple times to declare multiple variables.
Use in the format of '--define-var key=value' or '-D key=value' [nargs=0..1] [default: {}]
-w, --width Image width [nargs=0..1] [default: 1600]
-h, --height Image height [nargs=0..1] [default: 900]
--side Render from side. Options: top, bottom, left, right, front, back [nargs=0..1] [default: "top"]
--background Image background. Options: transparent, opaque. Default: transparent for PNG, opaque for JPEG [nargs=0..1] [default: ""]
--quality Render quality. Options: basic, high, user [nargs=0..1] [default: "basic"]
--preset Color preset. Options: follow_pcb_editor, follow_plot_settings, legacy_preset_flag, ... [nargs=0..1] [default: "follow_plot_settings"]
--floor Enables floor, shadows and post-processing, even if disabled in quality preset
--perspective Use perspective projection instead of orthogonal
--zoom Camera zoom [nargs=0..1] [default: 1]
--pan Pan camera, format 'X,Y,Z' e.g.: '3,0,0' [nargs=0..1] [default: ""]
--pivot Set pivot point relative to the board center in centimeters, format 'X,Y,Z' e.g.: '-10,2,0' [nargs=0..1] [default: ""]
--rotate Rotate board, format 'X,Y,Z' e.g.: '-45,0,45' for isometric view [nargs=0..1] [default: ""]
Isometric video render example:
kicad-cli pcb render --floor --zoom 1.4 --rotate '-45,0,45' -o render.png video.kicad_pcb
Previously it was not possible to use kicad-cli for rendering 3D images.
JamesJ has moved the Net Inspector to a docked panel (View > Show Net Inspector to show/hide)
This includes improved filtering and grouping UX, the ability to show/hide and reorder the columns, and save/restore of all the settings.
Jan Wichmann added tolerance calculations to the calculator regulator panel.
16
Solid 3D model export improvements:
- Option to fuse copper geometry together
- Option to export copper on inner layers
- Options to exclude board body or components
- Net filter (can be used to export a single net)
- Zone geometry approximation with arcs for faster processing and smaller file sizes
- Export in BREP or XAO formats
XAO defines pad surfaces as face groups and can be imported into SALOME or newer versions of Gmsh for FEM simulations:
Extended the physical_clearance rule to apply between copper fills & footprint courtyards.
(rule "No copper pours under Capacitors"
(constraint physical_clearance (min 0.1mm))
(condition "A.Type == 'Zone' && B.Reference == 'C*'")
)
will knock out the courtyard of any footprint whose reference starts with “C” from all copper fills.
@JamesJ added support for schematic rule areas that allow users to draw a shape to which net class directives can be attached.
small tool added (by S.Hillbrand) to the context menu: Shape modification–> simplify polygon
Control over via tenting on top and bottom sides, at a board level and per-via overrides.
Note: this replaces the “tent vias” checkbox in the Plot dialog, which is now gone.