Re: gEDA-user: pcb: possible to have multiple silk layers?

[Colin D Bennett <colin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:38:39 +0100
Kai-Martin Knaak <kmk@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Colin D Bennett wrote:
> 
> > For the same purpose I also wish we could group objects together
> > <https://bugs.launchpad.net/pcb/+bug/699592> so that my imported
> > text/graphics I add to the board (output from pstoedit, which are
> > composed of many separate polygons) can be easily moved, rotated, or
> > deleted as a unit.
> 
> Lack of groups is one of the larger missing features in pcb. If you 
> come from an EDA suite that supports this, pcb feels crippled because 
> you simply play the group card. On the other hand, pcb makes ad hoc 
> selection much easier than the other EDA packages I know. Most of the
> time it guesses correctly what I want.

I think anyone who's used a vector drawing program or desktop publishing
program expects a group/ungroup action as a basic feature of the sort
of design program pcb is.

> And it provides a convenient means to switch off distracting layers.

Yes you can switch off layers but since there is only one "silk" layer
I can't turn off logo/graphics/text/etc. while leaving element outline
silk turned on.

> For the imported graphics (logo?) there is a workaround: Put the lines
> in a dedicated footprint.

Not possible at this time -- the graphics are implemented using
polygons.  Now if pcb were enhanced (as recently discussed) to allow all
layout features (text, lines, arcs, polygons, ...) in footprints then
this would be great.

In case you were wondering, I am using imported graphics for much more
than just a logo. The graphics mostly consist of text such as board
name, date, revision, other info, "designed by" info, etc., as well as
adding a logo.  I find the pcb 'text' elements to be really poor from
both a readability and typographical beauty standpoint.  No offense
intended to the developers or pcb font designer since I know the current
font system simply has severe restrictions being built of lines only;
but by using Inkscape I can use the full Unicode character set and
a limitless number of beautiful and readable fonts. 

Regards,
Colin


_______________________________________________
geda-user mailing list
geda-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user