KiCad 8 is now available! I've been using the Nightly Builds on a small project for several weeks. And just like versions 6 and 7 before it,
the development team has added a bunch of new stuff! The list is very long whether you look at the Gitlab closed issues or even the condensed KiCad 8 release blog! That being the case, I picked 8 things,
for obvious, reasons that I thought were interesting! Hi, there, hello!
Let me know if you find these manually edited, with typos, subtitles helpful! The biggest change I am happy to see
is the property manager is now in the schematic editor. You can click on an element and change
most of its properties, without opening a separate dialog! And! As an added bonus, the symbol and
footPRINT [wth was that noise?] editors also have it now, too!! Finally! The next grid hotkey issue with the schematic editor has been fixed. One time, I opened this schematic (Apple II) someone else made for the Bit Preserve project... ... and ERC had a ton of off-grid warnings.
[Symbol pin or wire end off connection grid] This problem happens when the grid becomes
something other than 50 mil or 1.27 mm. For example, in previous versions, hitting the 'N' hotkey toggled the grid. And 1 or 2 mils were a big no no!! This was super easy to hit by accident because...
...it is right next to the 'M' or move hotkey. One Improvement is there is now a popup when you hit the hotkey. On the KiCad Gitlab Issue discussing this issue,
there was a long discussion. The solution is to have grid overrides for certain operations. For example, when I move a part around, it is fixed to a 50 mil grid...
regardless of the current grid setting. But, when I move its text designator, IT is on a much finer grid. Schematic symbols have supported alternate pin functions for a long time. But until version 8, they were very cumbersome to use. For example, on this flash chip the pins can
be either a SPI or Quad-SPI interface. Instead of naming the pin with both functions, you can
give each each pin an alternate assignment in the symbol editor. Once that happens, now you can just right-click in the schematic editor,
and change its function quickly. If you cannot select just the pin, then you need to go to: Preferences->Preferences->Schematic Editor->Editing Options,
and unselect "Clicking a pin selects the symbol." Now it will work! And, by the way, just like older versions, you can edit the properties, and go to the pin functions table to make mass updates. Related to pins, I saw this one this one in the version 8 announcement and even though it means I have to cheat on the list later, I had to add this one! If you select only the pins of a symbol then you can select some pin helpers. These let you quickly add wires or labels.
This is an alternate to using the "repeat last function" or INSert key shortcut! Also the labels automatically populate with the names of the pins! Just like before, if you're unable to select only the pins:
make sure you unselect the preference from the last tip. Also, there are TWO ways to select objects in KiCad. If you click, then drag to the LEFT,
any object inside of the selection box gets selected. Notice how the pins and the symbol are selected here. However, if you click and then drag to the RIGHT,
only the objects COMPLETELY inside of the selection box get selected. So, this time, the symbol didn't get selected,
since the ENTIRE symbol did not fit within the selection box! And then this time everything fit! Since we changed the copy of the symbol earlier... if you click on it, and then go to [menu] Inspect,
you can "Compare the Symbol to the Library" version. This visual tool lets you see how it changed! Until KiCad 8, in order to create power symbols
you had to create a part in the library... ...which is what I had to do on this schematic, originally! Now it is as simple as just editing an existing power symbol...
and suddenly you can have a custom power net! This is a somewhat small change,
but it helps streamline when working with multiple power rails. One caution, however, is that currently ERC
will not catch it if you name them with different capitalizations. This is unlike "net labels," which will generate a warning. I've already submitted a feature request for this,
so I'll put a link below, if you want to follow its progress. I'm counting these next two features as one because I feel like they're heavily related! They help with navigating large schematics. The search box contains:
a list of Symbols, Text Objects, and Labels across multiple sheets. The symbols tab is similar to the "Edit Symbols Table,"
but you cannot edit any of the fields here. The "Labels" tab is a good way to see what labels exist across pages...
especially in schematics that do not use many wires. Adding the net Navigator can give you
a TREE view of a net's flow throughout the design. For example, bit 7 of the data bus is an important bit in 6502 (8-bit CPU) designs. And in this case, there are multiple instances on page 2. Using these tools we can see where else in the design this net connects to
without even having to leave the sheet! Over in PCB there are a couple of shape related changes that I'm very happy to see. First, let's draw a funky polygon. If you place it on a copper layer you can now assign it to a net. By the way, did you know that these net name dropdowns are actually filters?! Next, there are modification tools for polygons, like rectangles, that let you add fillets and chamfers. Champers? Filets? I don't know they're mechanical terms! Anyway, they allow you to have nice looking corners.
So now, it should be much easier to make rounded corners for your PCB! You can even fillet it the funky polygon, too... ...but when you do, it gets convert it into individual segments. So, you'll need to create a polygon from selection
to turn it back into a filled shape... if that's what you want to do. Okay these last two are where I'm cheating a little bit,
because they're really two separate features. But, I'm combining them as one because I haven't used them much yet! In board setup, there is now built-in support for teardrops. Google tells me that these can help in improve manufacturability of your PCB!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ To add them to a design, use the [menu] "Edit Teardrops" tool. This tool works like the other mass editing tools with a Scope, Filter, and Action [section]. The teardrops follow the "Zone Fill" setting.
If you just see lines around your connection, turn on Zone fill. Another significant feature is the length-tuning patterns. The KiCad team continues to work on improving this functionality. And frankly, I don't have a demo for this (yet).
But I am looking forward to testing these changes out in the very near future! [ha ha ha] Okay so I covered more than 8, because I couldn't help it! There's a lot of really good stuff in this update--especially for the schematic editor. Let me know what your favorite version 8 features are in the comments below! In the description, I'll put a link to the announcement blog,
because I didn't cover everything that they covered over there! All right so now that version 8 is out...
can we start asking when Version 9 is coming? [ha]