kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Since we have enough alternative methods for rotating a block of
footprints, I don't think removing this is going to be much of a burden
on anyone.

On 4/13/2016 5:35 AM, Chris Pavlina wrote:
> Just rotate them first, then place. We don't need specific tools for
> every conceivable permutation of movements. Unless even more people come
> in saying they need this, or Wayne overrides me... I still don't think
> this needs to stay.
> 
> On Apr 13, 2016 02:16, "David Godfrey" <info@xxxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi Chris,
> 
>     A rotation of the selection is not the same as a rotation of the
>     individual components.
>     Consider you already have the components roughly in a grid, and you need
>     to rotate them by 20 degrees.
>     Rotating the selection means you have to do major repositioning of every
>     component to get them back in the correct area.
> 
>     However rotating the components within the selection means they are
>     still in about the right position, so only minor placement adjustments
>     are required.
>     These minor adjustments can likely be made using the align and
>     distribute tools
> 
>     I Agree half-implemented features are bad, better to update them and
>     properly implement.
> 
>     Regards
>     David G
> 
>     On 13/04/16 08:53, Chris Pavlina wrote:
>     > GAL already has this. Block or multi select, Ctrl-M for "move
>     exactly" (or use
>     > the context menu), and type an angle. Just rotates the whole
>     selection, then
>     > you can place your rotated resistors.
>     >
>     > Considering legacy is on its way out, I'd rather not keep crusty old
>     > half-implemented legacy features around to require maintenance.
>     >
>     >
>     > On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 08:50:38AM +0800, David Godfrey wrote:
>     >> Hmm,
>     >>
>     >> I'v not used it on Kicad but the ability to change the
>     orientation of an
>     >> arbitrary selection of footprints is something I've used many
>     times in
>     >> Altium.
>     >>
>     >> Ideally you want to be able to set an absolute orientation, and
>     also a
>     >> relative (to current) angle adjustment.
>     >>
>     >> This is especially useful when designing boards like LED matrices and
>     >> wanting to put all resisters on a specific angle (eg: 21.3deg).
>     >> You can then do an array alignment with the same outer limit you used
>     >> for your LED alignment.
>     >> Then move the group of resistors into position relative to the LED's.
>     >>
>     >> Now running your tracks becomes trivial.
>     >>
>     >> Without the ability to auto adjust the orientation on a selection of
>     >> parts the job becomes long and tedious.
>     >> Some of the PCB's I've done this on have over 1000 LED's and
>     resistors,
>     >> and generally you need to orient both the resistors and the LED's
>     >>
>     >> So in summary, I'd like to keep the ability to do this, but on a
>     >> selection instead of globally.
>     >> And being able to alter it as an absolute angle, or as a relative to
>     >> current (prefix the new angle with + or - to get relative movement)
>     >> would be beneficial.
>     >>
>     >> Regards
>     >> David G
>     >>
>     >> On 13/04/16 06:40, Chris Pavlina wrote:
>     >>> I wonder how many of you are even aware of
>     DIALOG_ORIENT_FOOTPRINTS. It's
>     >>> hidden in the Secret Menu in pcbnew (the spread-and-place) one,
>     menu item
>     >>> Orient All Footprints. The code hasn't been touched since 2010
>     except a few
>     >>> cleanups, and it seems really simplistic and useless to me. I
>     was going to
>     >>> upgrade it to floating-point angle entry like everything else,
>     but....
>     >>>
>     >>> Does _anybody_ even use this? It seems utterly useless. I have
>     no idea when
>     >>> you'd want to globally apply an orientation to footprints. Can I
>     just tear it
>     >>> out?  :P
>     >>>
>     >>
>     >>
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> 
> 
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