kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Le 24/12/2019 à 21:43, Jon Evans a écrit :
> OK, so both the JSON format itself and the Ucamco gerber format (which
> is not necessarily the same as the job file format, but hey) specify
> storing doubles.
> But, the examples in the Ucamco doc, and KiCad itself, do not store doubles.
> 
> I have to imagine that the gerber job file format is so new that it
> isn't entrenched in anyone's workflow yet, and if it is, they are not
> relying on this quirk of KiCad's implementation (but anything is possible).
> The only way to get KiCad's behavior is through manual formatting of
> JSON, so anyone who writes software that parses job files through a JSON
> parsing library is going to have those values "upcasted" anyway.
> 
> My personal opinion is that we should bite the bullet and change the
> behavior to comply with the standard (i.e. store doubles), and also
> suggest to Ucamco that they revise the job file spec to be more explicit
> about this.
> 
> Perhaps JP should weigh in on this as well.
> 
> -Jon

Sorry for the delay.

I am unsure to understand the meaning of
"KiCad itself do not store doubles"
(in gerber job files)

A line like:
"BoardThickness":  1.600,

stores a double:
AFAIK,  "1.600" is of course a floating number, and also a double, not
an integer.

In job files, most of values (board sizes, layers thickness, clearances)
are "mechanical" values.

A reasonable precision is the micron for this kind of parameters.

No need to use nanometers.
So values are written using 3 digits for the mantissa.

Using the notation:
"BoardThickness":  1600e-3,
is perfectly valid, but useless and less readable.

FYI, using 6 digits (1 nanometer) in other Gerber files is needed to
avoid coordinates truncation.

3 digits is certainly enough to fabricate a board.
Unfortunately, truncation slightly modify polygon coordinates, and this
truncation can (and frequently does) create self intersecting polygons.
(self intersecting polygons are illegal).

-- 
Jean-Pierre CHARRAS