![]() This import option lets you put all sorts of artwork on your board straight from our favourite image editor, without having to add a footprint library or deal with other sorts of limitations.įurthermore, it also makes mechanical design easier if you want to export your artwork’s contour as board outline. While both of these are powerful tools, a built-in SVG import tool that will put your logo on any layer you pick has way more potential, purely because of how easy and quick it is to use. You don’t have to go the bitmap2component route anymore, or use SVG2Shenzhen. Apparently, this option has been added in KiCad 6 – the version just released this year, and I’m excited about what this means for our board designs.įor a start, such straightforward import of SVGs makes it way easier to import logos, art and other graphics. ![]() I picked for it to appear on the front silkscreen layer, and when I clicked OK, the Jolly Wrencher polygon just appeared on the silkscreen in the PCB viewer. The SVG file of the Jolly Wrencher was visible in the file picker list, and in the lower right corner, “SVG” and “DXF” both appeared in the supported file type dropdown. Would it be possible to actually import SVG files natively? I clicked the “Select file” button. When I opened it, I was greeted with a simple menu titled “Import Vector Graphics File”, not a DXF-specific option in sight – a reassuring view. Instead, I noticed that it’s been changed to “Import=>Graphics”. However, when I opened the PCB editor, I didn’t see the “Import=>DXF File” entry that I used last time. While I expected some improvements, I was ready for rough edges to show up. My first experience with importing outlines into KiCad, back in KiCad 4 days, required tinkering with DXF import formats – even putting things through LibreCAD to make it import smoothly. I started with an SVG of a Jolly Wrencher that I found online. Otherwise, it’s possible that you will find a Wrencher board lying around at Supercon! Now, I’d like to tell you how KiCad 6 made it super easy to design this PCB – after all, there’s never enough SAOs, and it’s quite likely you’ll want to design your own special SAO, too. This design is open with gerber files available for download, so if you thought of making a quick PCB order, I’m giving you one more. For bonus points, the eyes are transparent, with LED footprints behind them – it’s my first time designing a PCB where the LED shines through the FR4, and I hope that the aesthetics work out! Given the Supercon badge specifics, the SAO-standard SDA and SCL pins have RX and TX labels as well. Those pads are diagonally interspersed with ground-fill-connected pads – if you want to bodge something on the spot, you don’t need to pull separate GND wires. This board gives you an SMD prototyping space, with 1.27mm (0.05″ pitch) pads, suitable for many passive components, ICs and even modules like the ESP32 WROOM. There’s myriads of SAOs to choose from, and if you ever felt like your choice paralysis wasn’t intense enough, now you have the option of getting a Jolly Wrencher SAO board! ![]() ![]() If you plan to attend Supercon or some other hacker conference, know that you’re going to get a badge with a SAO (Simple Add-On) connector, a 4-pin or 6-pin connector that you can plug an addon board onto. ![]()
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