These are many of the same complaints I've had. I filed a wishlist request for this.
The big problem is that, just like gEDA, kicad's components aren't integrated enough. cvpcb shouldn't exist at all, and eeschema parts should be associated with pcbnew footprints. Importing an eeschema design into pcbnew should yield all the default footprints, which can be changed on-the-fly to alternate footprints (SMT, different orientation, etc.). There should be no reason to manually choose footprints every time a design is imported into pcbnew. Kicad really needs this if it is to ever compete with the professional packages. It would definitely be nice if they had a way of adding more parts to the official libraries included with the main distribution. --- In [email protected], "degrootc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi All, > > I have been using kicad for a couple weeks now in my spare time. I > have a couple questions I would like to get some feedback on from > people who have been using it for a while. > > 1. Mapping from schema components to part footprints. I have seen the > tutorial where this is done in cvpcb, but that is ok for a once off, > but no good for a design you want to iterate on. So I have been > putting the footprint reference in the [Component > Properties]->Fields->Footprint Value. This is great because it > pre-populates cvpcb. But is it a best practice or should I look into > the equivalence files? > > 2. It seems to me that I would like to select my footprint libraries > and equivalence files depending on my expected physical output. For > example I may design a circuit and test it out using an at home toner > transfer method where I want to have nice large oval pads and wider > spacing, maybe through hole rather then smt components ect. But then > once it is working and I am comfortable I would want to change my > target output to a PCB manufacturing shop and I could use smaller > pads, finer clearance and smt devices. Is there a way of doing this > kind of thing in Kicad? I seem to spend a lot of time altering > footprint libraries to be more suitable to home made PCB's but I will > want to switch back to the standard footprints at some stage. > > 3. How does the kicad project manage part libraries. There are parts > missing from the core download though they are sometimes available > elsewhere. Is there a way for contributors to submit parts for peer > review and inclusion in the product build? Also it seems that there > are a couple libraries that are delivered but are not used by default. > What are they for? > > Many thanks in advance for your help. > > Kind Regards C. >
