kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dimitris Lampridis <dlampridis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 04/25/2013 02:22 AM, Simon Huwyler wrote:
> As some PCB manufacturers (i.e. seeedstudio) have different clearance-
> an width constraints for outer- and inner layer, I had the idea to teach
> Kicad to manage “layer based” constraints.
>
> Ok, for the moment, I chatted enough. What do you think about it?

Hi Simon,

We use Kicad at work and we would like to get involved in the 
development process, not only as a means to return something to this 
excellent community, but also to actively improve the tools we are using.

To this end, I've also just subscribed to this list (hi everyone!), and 
I'm keeping a list of features/fixes that I would like to start 
proposing for implementation. I'm responding to your idea because it was 
already on our list.

Now, back to your suggestion, here's my two pennies' worth:

a) in my opinion, this should not be tied to layers. Instead it should 
be part of a "net class" in the design rules. This would allow the user 
to keep separate inner/outer constraints per net class. When 
creating/modifying a net class, the user will be able to specify the 
applicable layers (eg. [2-4,7,12]). This approach is also cleaner, since 
all constraints will be in the same dialog window.

b) why don't you make a "blueprint" in launchpad for this? I'm no expert 
in how launchpad works, but it looks like the right tool for submitting 
ideas and technical details.

Cheers,
Dimitris