I've been using KiCad for about 6 years now. I also have a fully licensed version of OrCad that I have stopped using because I find it painful to use. I have prior experience with Altium, but their prohibitive license fee made it impossible for me to continue using once I left that particular employer.
Currently running 5.1.9 and have so far in the past 4 years completed about 70 pcb designs.
It is getting pretty easy to create new footprints directly in KiCad and I have stopped using library expert, although I do occasionally import footprints and symbols from ultralibrarian.
Open source has been around a long time and has been a driving force in the improvement we see in commercial software as well. Linux runs a large % of the internet and is largely open source. I ran Ubuntu for 10 years and switched to Windows 7 and more recently to Windows 10 mostly for the better office productivity and engineering tools available.
Open source is no different than the crowd sourced projects that happen here.
Currently running 5.1.9 and have so far in the past 4 years completed about 70 pcb designs.
It is getting pretty easy to create new footprints directly in KiCad and I have stopped using library expert, although I do occasionally import footprints and symbols from ultralibrarian.
Open source has been around a long time and has been a driving force in the improvement we see in commercial software as well. Linux runs a large % of the internet and is largely open source. I ran Ubuntu for 10 years and switched to Windows 7 and more recently to Windows 10 mostly for the better office productivity and engineering tools available.
Open source is no different than the crowd sourced projects that happen here.
I deliberately dont use hierarchical sheets. They mess up pcb layout.
My schematic drawing area is 50 inches by 50 inches which I have never even closely filled.
You add a drawing sheet(s) A1 to A6 (but not hierarchical) in that area and draw within that sheet.
Then when it comes out at the pcb associated components are close to each other.
I dont think I have ever bothered with a sheet, but they are there for those who prefer them.
Obviously forward annotation is a different thing and my software does put all extra components to top LHS of screen in that mode.
In the right hands it's pretty much there for most users and most design needs. I use it for all sorts of projects and have yet to run into something I couldn't do, and I'm not the most skilled person out there at PCB design. I don't think I would want to design a modern computer motherboard using KiCad, but how many of us do that sort of design work?
This is why KiCads focus has been on accurate 3D STEP for mechanical fitting, not so much for photo realistic rendering lately. Yes, we have had people wanting to model the colour bands on resistors, it leads to monster VRML files
Well now, the way I draw a schematic messes up the layout process = interesting behavior.
Not having hierarchy in a complex design/schematic is kinda troublesome imo.
I remember Cadnetix used annotation sets, so if you had a circuit that was repeated multiple times all you had to do was draw it once and copy the hierarchy block to copy the ckt and create as many instances or copies as you liked.
It really comes down to, who is driving the bus, is the bus capable of doing its task.
I really like the 3D visualization helps me to optimize aspects of the board design beyond basic routing.
Until recently I was definitely in the “useless rubbish” camp regarding 3D visualisations, but the sheer quality and speed of the KiCad stuff has made me reassess that. It’s awesome to be able to see exactly how everything fits together. I’ve never been shy of overlapping components where that’s useful, and this completely takes the guesswork out of that.
Even seeing how you might assemble it. Where you’re going to put the iron to reflow SMD parts, is terribly useful.
Also being able to see the bare board like you’re holding it in your hands is valuable. The number of times I haven’t spotted a dodgy pour or wrong hole size until I got the boards is embarrassingly high. This sorts that.
Even seeing how you might assemble it. Where you’re going to put the iron to reflow SMD parts, is terribly useful.
Also being able to see the bare board like you’re holding it in your hands is valuable. The number of times I haven’t spotted a dodgy pour or wrong hole size until I got the boards is embarrassingly high. This sorts that.
Amazed how closely this thread mirrors so many others on DIYAudio.
OP: Hey, look at this cool technique/circuit/thing. Neat, huh!
Vendor: That’s rubbish. You need to buy my thing! Over and over.
The 3D viewer is unbelievably useful when it comes to catching silkscreen mistakes. That's 90% of what I use it for, but it's also useful just as another perspective on your layout. Sometimes I'll do a layout that in my mind is really good, but when I actually see the components next to each other it makes me rethink things.
I was merely trying to get over that KiCAD has a huge hole in it in the way it works.
If KiCAD want advice on how to do it right then thats what I have been doing and I am happy to help. Nothing to do with spam.
I have written PCBCAD software for 30 years and used it for a similar amount of time. That must count for something ?
But if you dont want my advice then fine no skin off my nose.
KiCad is developed with government money so they cannot market it commercially. That's why it is free. In a real sense, you and everybody else already have paid for it whether you use it or not. It's called 'taxes' ;-)
Jan
KiCad is just great for hobby use. It uses a strange way how it uses component libraries, but if you understand this, it works ok. I don’t know what the company I work for pays for licences for a professional pcb design package for +10 pcb designers and licenses for maintaining the libraries. Must be many many ten thousands of dollars every year. Of course this package has a lot of possibilities and support. And it needs a lot of studying for the designers.
You refer to the support by CERN ? KiCAD is much older than that... And for many years no gov paid for it.
So better the govs paid to autodesk or another company ? Really ?
Of course it is. I would never use something that is as crippled as not supporting hierarchical designs!
Jan
I'd say about 80% of Kicad work is volunteer, 15% is supported by donations (both corporate and individual), and 5% is supported by CERN.
And yes, FWIW Kicad was open-source-licensed long before CERN became involved.