kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Russell Oliver <roliver8143@xxxxxxxxx>]

In terms of automatically arranging  components a force directed graph
algorithm may work quite nicely, especially if the algorithm is seeded with
the layout of components on the schematic.

A simplistic version would be to just arrange components on board sheet as
to their position on the schematic sheets.

On Tue, 6 Mar 2018 05:07 Andy Peters, <devel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>
> > On Mar 5, 2018, at 10:49 AM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >
> > I was thinking one level of abstraction higher where I just input my
> > design requirements and it spits out a schematic, full simulation to
> > match the design requirements, and a completed board layout.  That would
> > make my job a *lot* easier. ;)
>
> Maybe it can do my FPGA design for me, and also write firmware for the ARM
> processor too! Why am I doing all of this hard work when I could be
> drinking coffee and reading the New York Times?
>
> > All kidding aside, I was told by a very highly skilled board designer
> > not to waste our time with auto-routers because no one actually uses
> > them except for the simplest designs with lots of free board space and
> > few or no routing restrictions.  This is someone who uses Altium in his
> > day job and has laid out far more boards than I have.
>
> At the previous day job, we did VME and CompactPCI single-board computers,
> and the layout people took advantage of full-up Specctra autorouting. The
> designs had a lot of wide parallel buses and suchlike which could be
> autorouted, but there was still plenty of stuff on those boards which
> needed to be routed manually. And setting up constraints for the autorouter
> was still a couple of days work.
>
> At the current job everything is smaller. Each product has multiple boards
> that need to connect correctly. Boards are mixed signal, they have power
> supply parts, there are connectors that poke through the enclosure, etc etc
> etc and suffice it to say we never autoroute. Assisted routing, like the
> Kicad push-and-shove, and Altium’s “bus routing” (a feature I’d like to see
> in Kicad, for sure!) goes a long way.
>
>
> > I'm guessing auto-routers appeal to hobbyists rather than professionals.
>
> How many questions on forums do you see from hobbyists asking about how to
> autoroute, or wondering if the results from the autorouter are good?
>
> -a
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