I think that is probably about as close to documenting the magic as anyone can hope for. You just have to experience it for yourself.
I think some of the problems were fixed in versions after 20090216, but I don't recall exactly now. Greg ________________________________ From: NeonJohn <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, April 28, 2010 6:35:42 PM Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Basic getting started question Thanks for the info. To make sure that I understand. I put down vias between a trace and, for example, my Vcc layer, I then go in as the last step and create a filled zone that covers the entire layer that I've designated Vcc. That connects the vias to the "plane". Correct? John Greg Dyess wrote: > "Planes" are the thing I struggled with when starting to use KiCAD> > It simply doesn't have the concept of a "plane" What it does is > create "zones" which are connected to a net. It may seem subtle, but > it will bite you hard if you just expect it to understand everything > on this layer is a plane, just connect to it. Zones have an outline > that is drawn/defined and then the zone is assigned to a net and is > filled. It has to be refilled everything something changes that pass > through the zone. I also found many times that it just simply > refused to get connected to vias even though the via was supposed to > be on the same net. I think that issue has been fixed though. > > Greg > > > > > ________________________________ From: NeonJohn <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, April 28, 2010 12:38:45 AM > Subject: [kicad-users] Basic getting started question > > > Still working on getting started with PCBNEW. Coming from an > ExpressPCB background. > > I have my design finished and all the footprints associated with > symbols in the net list using Cvpcb. I have imported the netlist > into PCBNEW and placed a few of the power components where they need > to be. I let the program auto-place everything else which at least > scattered things out, though I'll have to re-do almost everything. > > Here's my problem. this is a 4 layer board with the inner planes > being defined as Vcc and Gnd (just like ExpressPCB does). Thing is, > I don't know how to get there. Do I have to draw the individual > planes on the layers? Can I give the plane a net name like "Vcc"? > Will that cause automatic connectivity to everything on the Vcc net? > > One other question. I need an interior cut-out on the board for the > winding of a transformer to protrude through. How do I draw that? > THe same way that I drew the board outline? I've drawn it on the > "board outline" layer but I'm not sure how to tell if it "took". > > Thanks John -- John DeArmond Tellico Plains, Occupied TN http://www.neon-john.com <-- email from here http://www.johndearmond.com <-- Best damned Blog on the net PGP key: wwwkeys.pgp.net: BCB68D77 ------------------------------------ Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting your question. Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked up by the creator of Kicad. Please visit http://www.kicadlib.org for details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad library. For building Kicad from source and other development questions visit the kicad-devel group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-develYahoo! Groups Links
