8 *Must-Try* features in KiCad 8

KiCad 8 just dropped, and here are Bald Engineer's eight must-try features! The February 2024 release brings a whole host of new stuff to the Schematic editor. However, the PCB editor, CLI, and Simulation tools also received attention. (There are something like 900 closed issues for the 8.0.0 Milestone!) Which of these is your favorite?
#kicad #schematic #pcb
KiCad Links:
KiCad 8 Announcement:
www.kicad.org/blog/2024/02/Ve...
Vote for my ERC Warning Feature Request:
gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-...
Video Notes: addohms.com/ep32
Chapters
00:00 8 KiCad 8 Features in less than 8 Minutes
00:30 1) Property Manager in Schematic (and et al.)
00:45 2) Grid Overrides
01:42 3) Faster Alternate Pin Assignments
02:28 4) Pin Helpers (Wires and Labels)
03:39 5) Editable Power Symbols
04:15 6) Search and Net Navigator
05:00 7) Improved PCB Shape Tools
05:45 8) Teardrop and Length-Tuning
Patreon: / baldengineer
Discord: bald.ee/discord
Instagram: / baldengineer
X: X.com/addohms
Workbench Wednesdays: bald.ee/wbw
Video produced by James Lewis (@baldengineer):
baldengineer.com

[@AddOhms]

If I re-counted correctly, I think I ended up covering 11 new features (and several "old" ones.) How many did you count?

[@SensSword]

One of two things will happen for me. One, I'll make a bunch of bad PCBs that end up as drink coasters and key chains. Two, I succeed in my plans and go broke populating all the boards with parts.

[@AddOhms]

Why not both? :)

[@MonahTuk]

Editable power symbols, most great improvement for me! Integrated properties window too.

[@robiniddon7582]

In case anyone is wondering why teardrops improve manufacturability it is to do the annular ring on vias. When you go for thin annular rings to minimise via size you have to factor in the possibility that the drill isn't perfectly aligned to the pad. In extreme cases where you are pushing the board vendor limits you can get breakouts where the annular ring becomes a C instead of O shape. That won't necessarily matter unless it creates open circuit from trace to via pad. Teardrops add extra copper at the trace entry point to prevent this open circuit happening on drill breakout.

[@robiniddon7582]

P.s. it will also create a smoother impedance transition from trace to hole but I am guessing nobody uses them for that purpose?

[@bartoandras]

I really like the chamfer update, it saves a lot of time when the board is resized!

[@xotmatrix]

This update is amazing. The property manager and the new pin features are very welcome and I'm so glad to see that grid nonsense fixed.

[@AddOhms]

Right? Now only if there were a "...fix this fool's mistake" option!

[@hallkbrdz]

Lots of new useful features, enough for another gift towards their goal for this update.

[@TheOleHermit]

Very cool! Been struggling with most of these issues, while trying to design my 2nd PCB/1st 4 layer PCB. 72 year old U of YT student. 🙄 Thanks to the KiCad developers for their efforts to make makers' lives easier. 👍

[@satyamfifa]

I am very glad for the tear drop feature, I was spending too much time on every track-pad connection to make sure they there will be no problem during the production

[@fredrikviklund5067]

Hi there, hello! :-) Just wanted to say I appreciate the edited subtitles!

[@CamiloACamacho]

Very nice new features!

[@chepecarlo]

thanks for the announcement

[@MichaelGiacomelli]

I'm excited to try out the length tuning improvements. Matching lengths in 7 was always painful, especially for differential pairs.

[@idogendel]

Awesome stuff, except the "select objects to the left/right" - because that already existed in 7 ;-) But it's still good you mentioned it. in case someone missed this really useful feature. The new polygon features will also save lots of time, and the teardrops (finally!) are just beautiful 🙂Thanks!

[@AddOhms]

The selection has been around since at least version 6, maybe even 5? I mentioned it because I have already seen people get confused when trying to select only pins to use the pin helpers.

[@idogendel]

@@AddOhms Right! I watched again and you never said it was a *new* feature 😀 I'll probably switch to 8 at around 8.0.3, after they iron out the bigger bugs, whatever they are.

[@AddOhms]

Me too! I mean, well, now that the video is done. I did run into a couple of minor bugs and one crash. I saw the crash in the RC builds as well. However, I'm unable to reliably reproduce it (yet).

[@JanCumps]

Thank you ❤

[@paulrnash]

The property panel is great but I’m super jazzed about multi-part Drag in PCB. Will save a ton of time when optimizing placements!

[@takisbakalis]

well presented

[@leonbecker6140]

Great video! Switched to 8.0 yesterday. All the new features are great, thanks KiCAD Team! I’m having some render errors when dragging multiple footprints in the PCB editor though (also a new feature in 8.0) - it displays them multiple times until I restart, then it only shows the footprint once as it should be.

[@AddOhms]

Visual stuff like that is usually because of a video driver issue. You might try changing the Antialiasing options in Preferences -> Common to see if it helps.

[@leonbecker6140]

Thanks. I'll try that.

[@jeffyoung8398]

Actually that one was just a bug. It's fixed in the upcoming 8.0.1.

[@leonbecker6140]

@@jeffyoung8398Great

[@krysieks]

If only massively costly cadence Allegro has so many improvements over one year

[@jvp5000]

My favorite feature is, it's FREE! ✌✌

[@AddOhms]

Good point. You don’t even need to give them an email for the “free” trial!

[@902Boots]

All hail KiCad!

[@davidjohnston4240]

In window property editing might be enough to get me to try KiCad 8.

[@PsychogenicTechnologies]

wow, ok: not a huge fan of mystery meat features like that select-drag right vs left (how are you even supposed to discover this??), but I really appreciate knowing it! Thanks :)

[@vilts]

This "select from left or right" system is very common across CADs and other programs. So it's good to have in your toolbag anyway :)

[@PsychogenicTechnologies]

@@vilts had no clue. merci!! :D

[@hallkbrdz]

I agree, but it explains my occasional frustration as to why certain things were not getting selected sometimes. Now I know.😀

[@alejandroperez5368]

Fillet line command was already available in KiCad7

[@AddOhms]

Interesting. That's two features now that I missed in 7.

[@clemensmayer9171]

the polygon tools will save me sooooo much time

[@AddOhms]

Me too! I did a very simple PCB design in 8, but I didn't know fillet was added. I was in a hurry, so the board looks dumb because it has stupid square corners.

[@lebasson]

Looks so great! I've put off updating from v6 because I'm not sure if this might break existing projects. Can anyone here comment on how smooth the transition is to v8? Is it seamless? Do my libraries need to be (irreversably) converted, for instance?

[@AddOhms]

If you converted your libraries for v6, I don't think a change is needed for 7 or 8. (I switch back and forth with my personal library with no problem.) In general, loading older projects is not a problem. But you should back them up, just in case.

[@bennguyen1313]

Tools like Altium, can also be used to design harnesses. Does KiCad8 lend itself to design System Wiring diagrams?

[@AddOhms]

No, it does not.

[@DeadsupraEE3]

I feel personally attacked in that last part. 😡 I was just typing in the comments "when is v9 out" when that part played.... 😥

[@AddOhms]

So far, their major releases usually come in the first calendar quarter of the year.

[@dru6809]

Nice update. The feature I really want to see is an AI front end that can generate the Kicad files. That will be incredible.

[@MatsEngstrom]

The day pin- and gate-swap while laying out the board (and with proper back-propagation into the schematic) gets implemented I'd be the happiest guy in the world. Routing FPGAs and also 74-series stuff without it is not fun... The 8-update seems more about productivity compared the to eye-candy that the 7 brought (as I remember it anyways) is definitely nice though.

[@AddOhms]

I assumed there is an issue open for gate swap. And there is! It's been open for 16 years.... gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/1950

[@MatsEngstrom]

That is the major thing that want me long for my old trusty Eagle. But after Eagle became integrated with Fusion360 even Kicad is better. ;-) @@AddOhms

[@RN1441]

Does it have the ability to define variable annular ring sizing/spacing on different layers? I ask because some board houses offer low cost pooled services with smaller annular ring on the outer layers (which helps a lot with BGA footprints). In the past I've just eaten the extra cost to use the smaller annular rings on all layers, but it would be nice to be able to take advantage of the lower cost production without resorting to janky scripting hacks.

[@AddOhms]

I don't think so. There is a long-term open issue for "complex pad stacks" which is what I think this falls under. The current workaround is to create multiple pads and stack those together.

[@AddOhms]

Here is the GitLab Issue if you'd like to vote for it and track the progress: gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2402

[@RN1441]

@@AddOhms Thanks, that does appear to be it or at least very much related to it.

[@Blaklatha]

When i open kicad 8.0, in the polygon shape properties there is no dropdown box for "net"? anyone know how to get it?

[@AddOhms]

Are you looking in Schematic or PCB?

[@nc.92]

Wait. KiCad 8? I'm still using version 6.

[@AddOhms]

If you are apprehensive about upgrading, don't worry! If you let KiCad take up twice as much as space, you can have both versions at the same time! (part joke, part serious. versions co-exist really well on all three platforms.)

[@Rotwold]

@AddOhms managing two or more versions is something I'll never try again :) it was absolute hell on earth to organise project files, part/symbol libraries and 3rd party plugins (especially before the plug-in manager) . Had to redo a lot of symbols due to KiCAD 5.99 converting my libraries to a new file format. No Bueno!

[@terrysworkbench]

Wait, what? I haven't upgraded to 7 yet!

[@AddOhms]

FYI, the KiCad forum already has a thread for the dev team to announce KiCad 9 features. One dev got timed out because they posted too many times in a row.

[@alexsmit1829]

A little more time and KiCad will turn into Altium :)

[@jcoaudio]

Fillets - yes! Pronounced not like the steak FWIW. Thx!

[@michaelmolter8828]

Need the ability to bulk edit symbols. Most CAD packages let you select a bunch of symbols and edit the properties common between them. Say, changing the font size of a bunch of labels.

[@AddOhms]

You mean like how you can do that in KiCad now? Or how KiCad has a tools, literally, called "Edit Text & Graphics Properties" (in both Schematic and PCB)?

[@tyronewalker5764]

What OS dies it run on?😮

[@AddOhms]

Windows, Linux, macOS

[@AddOhms]

Also, I think there is some effort to support Arm-based Windows, too. (But I haven't looked into that.)

[@kenchilton]

KiCad 7 had the teardrops already. It looks like they just improved on the options and connected it more tightly to the zone fill. There needs to be a “clean to grid” capability that takes an existing schematic or pcb and adjusts it to a grid while not changing the design. This way, and symbols can be aligned to new grid rules at a push of a button, and components on the PCB can be aligned to placement resolution at a click of a button. I would love to see a lot more route optimizations. Holding not only matched lengths, but using net class for coupling rules, dynamic clearances, better creepage control based on pin heights, etc. It would also be nice to automatically generate good fab drawings and back side or side-by-side assembly drawings that are mirrored the right way for use by techs in the factory. Also, the 3d stuff needs work, as I often have mistakes in the STEP output that is not in the 3d viewer, and the viewer has detail not in the STEP output. Some better options in generating the 3d output to have more or less detail is useful. I am still waiting for the symbol library to convert to the scheme used for the footprints. The pretty directories are indeed pretty! It would be a whole lot easier to add symbols from vendors if they followed the same method. It would also be nice if it was easy within the schematic editor to move pins on a symbol around the shape. For instance, a microcontroller with a bunch of GPIOs can be grouped logically on the schematic easily, rather than have functions appear randomly around the symbol because they have to stick to what order the IOs were set to in the library.

[@AddOhms]

In version 7 (and before), there were plugins for teardrop support, but no built-in functions.

[@kenchilton]

@@AddOhms Thanks for the correction. I did not know I installed that. At any rate, it worked well in 7, so I was glad to have it and look forward to using the one in 8!

[@Mauro-qy6sr]

I need: possibility to open more instance of sch or pcb, move part of scheme with elestic wire

[@AddOhms]

It is already possible to run multiple instances of KiCad (and its programs) at the same time. However, you probably cannot open the same file in multiple instances.

[@jeffyoung8398]

... and you can already move schematic symbols with elastic wires (use Drag instead of Move).

[@SurvivalSquirrel]

I dont need new features! I need bugfixes, and a software, that doesnt feel like its from the 00´s...

[@AddOhms]

There are over 900 closed issues in this release. Many of those are bug fixes. (And of course there are the minor releases every 4 to 6 weeks with fixes as well.)

[@patnystrom6414]

Respectfully, one of the things that draws me to KiCad is how fast bugs get fixed! The "add new features, leave legacy bugs" approach exactly describes the giant bloated (and recently acquired) software I finally abandoned in 2020.

[@zyeborm]

If you want something pretty you can have that I guess. I prefer things that are fast and do things

[@andymouse]

You don't need Kicad, it's for people who design PCBs

[@donatashexx5190]

Eagle better 🙃

[@AddOhms]

EAGLE better what?

[@electronichome1153]

Are U kiddin?

[@geekthesteve6215]

Ha Ha Ha, you must be joking.