kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Maciej Sumiński <maciej.suminski@xxxxxxx>]

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On 02/12/2015 09:32 AM, Lorenzo Marcantonio wrote:
[snip]
> OK, question: what if I want to use a fscking thin pixel line? :D 
> Think about inkscape in outline mode, that's what I want to have. 
> Also, how is sketch mode implemented? Just draw them in that way. 
> OpenGL for example has lines and line strips (too bad for the bad 
> implementation of thickness)

It should be possible with GAL. At the moment if you select 0 as the
line width, the line indeed disappears, but I think it requires a
simple correction in the code.

>> The main drawback is the loss of the line mode for footprint 
>> texts and outlines. But the new (more powerful) GAL mode could 
>> give a better solution than the line mode (no need to add a line 
>> draw mode option in GAL).

It should not be that hard to implement too, we just thought there are
features that demand higher priority. Patch that provides such
functionality would be very welcome.

> More than a line mode something that just force pen width to 1px, 
> shouldn't be difficult to handle. Also, text in GAL still really 
> sucks, having it in line mode (with line strips) would be a big 
> improvement (too bad that many opengl implementation don't handle 
> wide lines... intel stops at 5px, IIRC).

Shaders assure that no matter how far you zoom out, lines are always
at least 1px wide (aside from the case when they are actually set to
0px, but it should fixed to comply with the legacy renderer).

Do a test: set font thickness for a PCB text to 0.00001 and zoom out
as much as you can. I dare to say the rendering quality is comparable
with the legacy renderer.

Maybe bitmap fonts, one day? I bet it would also boost the rendering
performance even more.

>> For drawing engine, we have to think GAL, not old wxDC.
> 
> Too bad that it's way more usable (on the eye) the old wxDC, not 
> the GAL one. A good solution would be to persuade GAL to work like 
> wxDC.
> 
> I'd say the requirement should be something like:
> 
> - Tracks/pad in filled or sketch mode

It is already available with GAL (assuming sketch == outline mode).
Try toggling the buttons on the left toolbar.

> - Text in filled or thin mode (I don't call it line to distinguish 
> with the old one) - Outlines surely in filled mode but the 
> depending on the layer they would be useful in all the three
> modes: fabrication in sketch has no meaning but silk in sketch is
> useful to check silk alignment.
> 
> I think that it would be better to pull back the LINE mode and 
> maybe implement drawing it in GAL with thin lines (like these for 
> sketch modes).
> 
> I could do work for that, I really find the line mode useful for 
> silk, assembly and text during routing.

As I said, I agree it would be great to have it. If you decide to work
on the subject, I will assist you if you face any obstacles.

Regards,
Orson
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