--- In [email protected], "Frank Bennett" <bennet...@...> wrote:
> The process I use is: capture most of the schematic, use CVPCB to
> initially assign footprints, (the module viewer is great), write a
> .STF file, then back annotate the footprint information into the
> schematic, a button/function I added. Also copy and paste of existing
> symbols on the schematic will also copy the footprint assignment.
> Hook up the new sysmbol, incrementally annotate and generate the
> netlist. This keep all the information in one place, the schematic,
> from which a netlist with footprint information can be created.
>
> I have proposed to the developers to deprecate the use of the .CMP
> file because now schematic changes can become out of sync with
> a stale .CMP file. The footprint/reference designator needs to
> be in one place: the schematic to create a netlist. It's best
> not to add modules manuallly in PCBnew but to the schematic and
> create a new netlist for import into PCBnew.
>
> -Frank
At my company we use a homemade tool called EDS to maintain our database of
physical parts, bills of materials and drawings. It is always a challenge
keeping this in sync with the CAE tools.
For KiCad I was going to try
1. Define all parts in EDS including vendor info and KiCad footprint. This
makes it easy to reuse the part in multiple PCBs.
2. Define the PCB board Bill of Material in EDS including component
references
3. Use EESchema to capture the schematic as a .sch file. Assign References
that match the EDS Bill of Material
4. Make a tool to set the footprint names into the .sch files. It would
use the EDS database of Reference-Footprint info and add the footprint to the
.sch records by matching the reference.
It sounds like it should create a .cmp file also.
5. Go directly to PCBNew without using CVPCB
I don't know enough about KiCad yet to understand the back annotation process.
I'm wondering if someone has already created a tool to set footprints into the
.sch file based on a table of Reference-Footprint pairs??
Bob
>
