kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Jon Evans <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wonder if it might be a faster algorithm to calculate the perimeter (and
holes) of zones, offset it in by the zone thickness as a polygon, and then
draw in the grid as line segments rather than as more holes in the polygon?

On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 3:44 PM, jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Le 13/03/2018 à 20:38, Jon Evans a écrit :
> > For the last point, you could use the approach I put in GerbView of
> start measuring the time, and
> > then throw up a progress window if the time exceeds N seconds (with a
> button to cancel the operation)
> > That way you don't even see the window on small boards, but you get the
> feedback and can cancel the
> > operation on large boards.
>
> Hi Jon,
> Filling zones has already this progress window.
> Grid pattern just can modify the calculation time due to more vertices in
> zone outlines.
>
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 3:28 PM, jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>>
> > wrote:
> >
> >     Le 13/03/2018 à 18:24, Seth Hillbrand a écrit :
> >     > Hi JP-
> >     >
> >     > I gave it a spin and definitely like it!  I have been using custom
> footprints for capacitive
> >     > sensors, but this is much better.  A couple thoughts:
> >     >
> >     > 1) I'd prefer to have the angle saved as a parameter in the file
> rather than a fixed list of options.
> >
> >     Yes, good idea.
> >
> >     > 2) We'll definitely need to address the polygon issue.  I created
> a 10cmx10cm board and filled it
> >     > with 45° at the minimum width/50% fill and my computer froze for 2
> minutes while it thought about
> >     > it.  Strangely, when I checked it was only using one core, so I'm
> not sure why the wm froze during
> >     > the calculation.  Maybe some interaction with the graphics card.
> >     >
> >
> >     Strange.
> >     What is the zone setup?
> >
> >     For basic boards, the fill zone calculation time is not noticeable
> on my computer.
> >     Noticeable calculation time (a few seconds) happens only for *large*
> boards.
> >
> >
> >     > If we can't fix the polygons before this, we should probably have
> a dummy-check pop-up warning of
> >     > long compute times.  The polygons get calculated twice on closing
> the zone edit window.  Once with
> >     > the cursor showing busy and then again with no indication of
> work.  This happens again when
> >     > highlighting.
> >     >
> >     > Best-
> >     > Seth
> >
> >     Trying to guess if the calculation time is long is really not easy.
> >
> >
> >     >
> >     > 2018-03-13 8:48 GMT-07:00 jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >     <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>>>:
> >     >
> >     >     Le 13/03/2018 à 14:05, Jon Evans a écrit :
> >     >     > Nice work!  It may just be experimental, but it seems pretty
> close to a feature for 6.0 to me :-)
> >     >     > I gave it a try on various boards I have worked on recently
> and it seems to work as advertised and
> >     >     > is not noticeably slower than a solid fill on my computer.
> >     >     >
> >     >     > Assuming we work out any issues related to this, I thought
> of two features we might want to add
> >     >     > after this:
> >     >     > 1) Allow 45-degree grids instead of just 90
> >     >     > 2) Add a DRC check for stitching vias that would have
> connected to a solid fill but are off-grid and
> >     >     > thus disconnected in grid fill?
> >     >     >
> >     >     > -Jon
> >     >
> >     >     Attached the experimental grid pattern in zone fill patch,
> with 45 degree grid option.
> >     >
> >     >     >
> >     >     > On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 4:10 AM, jp charras <
> jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >     >     <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>>
> >     <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>
> <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx
> >     <mailto:jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>>>>
> >     >     > wrote:
> >     >     >
> >     >     >     I wrote a purely experimental option to fill zones
> (copper and not copper) with a grid patter.
> >     >     >     It is only an experimental feature made mainly to know
> what issues can be created by this feature.
> >     >     >
> >     >     >     The main issue is the fact polygons have much more
> corners, thus creating a longer calculation time.
> >     >     >     (However, grid pattern is expected to be used in
> specific cases)
> >     >     >
> >     >     >     It should be compatible with the current DRC.
> >     >     >
> >     >     >     Regards
> >     >     >
> >     >     >     --
> >     >     >     Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
> >
> >
> >
> >     --
> >     Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
> >
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>
> --
> Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
>