https://github.com/whitequark/kicad-boardview

KiCAD to Boardview exporter reads KiCAD PCB layout files and writes ASCII Boardview files
https://github.com/whitequark/kicad-boardview

Last synced: 7 days ago
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KiCAD to Boardview exporter reads KiCAD PCB layout files and writes ASCII Boardview files

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/whitequark/kicad-boardview
• Owner: whitequark
• License: 0bsd
• Created: 2018-11-04T03:47:56.000Z (about 6 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2024-07-27T05:56:12.000Z (6 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-01-01T22:32:13.244Z (10 days ago)
• Language: Python
• Size: 2.33 MB
• Stars: 154
• Watchers: 14
• Forks: 23
• Open Issues: 1
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE-0BSD.txt

Awesome Lists containing this project

• awesome-opensource-hardware - boardview

README

        
# KiCad to Boardview exporter

The _KiCad to Boardview exporter_ reads KiCad PCB layout files and writes _Boardview_ files. _Boardview_ is a set of file formats used in the industry for communicating important data about PCB in post-production stage, such as component, pin, and test point placement.

The _Boardview_ file formats do not typically have a specification or even a name. The _KiCad to Boardview_ exporter writes ".brd" files with ASCII _Boardview_ data. These files can be opened with MIT-licensed [OpenBoardView][].

[openboardview]: https://openboardview.org/

## Prerequisites

_KiCad to Boardview exporter_ uses the [pcbnew plugin interface][pcbplugin]. It requires KiCad 6 or later. It requires Python with KiCad libraries installed in the Python search path.

[pcbplugin]: https://dev-docs.kicad.org/en/apis-and-binding/pcbnew/

## Usage

Run the exporter as follows:

    ./pcbnew2boardview.py example/example.kicad_pcb example/example.brd

This will read the PCB layout from `example/example.kicad_pcb` and write it to `example/example.brd`.

## Examples

The _Boardview_ file for [Glasgow][] visualized with OpenBoardView looks like this, with the I2C SDA net selected:

![](example/boardview.png)

For comparison, the PCB layout looks like this:

![](example/layout.png)

[glasgow]: https://github.com/whitequark/Glasgow

## Caveats

  * If the pin numbering on KiCad modules does not start with pin 1 and continue consecutively until last pin with an integer name, the pin numbering on the boardview will be wrong.

  * Similarly to the previous caveat, the format does not allow to represent pin names such as `PAD` (on QFN packages) or `A0` (on BGA packages) correctly. These will be assigned arbitrary (but consistent) numbers instead.

  * There is an unknown field in the ".brd" files, written as `0`. It is ignored by OpenBoardView, but might actually mean something.

## License

_KiCad to Boardview exporter_ is distributed under the terms of 0-clause BSD license.

See [LICENSE-0BSD](LICENSE-0BSD.txt) for details.