Dealing with changing artwork

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dieterv
Posts: 22
Joined: 16 Sep 2020, 13:37

Dealing with changing artwork

#1 Post by dieterv » 10 Dec 2024, 20:07

Hi,

[TLDR]: Basically I want to have a "update from dxf" in addition to "update from schematic"

For the first time I'm trying to make a PCB based on "artwork" made in an SVG.
The SVG has separate layers for:

* top/bottom silk,
* board cutout,
* marks for component placement (LED's that are to be aligned to the artwork).

Converting the SVG to a DXF and importing it works fine, at least for the initial import.

Difficulties start when making some changes to the artwork and doing the import again.

When I reimport the updated artwork, it is imported in a position that partly overlaps my existing layout. Thus, when I try to select the artwork/board outline/... to drag it to align with my layout and routing, there's no way to only import the newly imported groups.

I thought about just moving all my routing/components to where the dxf is imported, but even that wouldn't work since (for instance) the imported silkscreen isn't replacing the original silkscreen, but added to it.

Not sure if this makes sense.

What is the recommend way to do this?.

I expect this functionality not being available but would rather not move to KiCad just for this. Is there a workaround?

Image

dieterv
Posts: 22
Joined: 16 Sep 2020, 13:37

Re: Dealing with changing artwork

#2 Post by dieterv » 10 Dec 2024, 20:11

Oh, another option I thought about was to import the artwork to a new layout and then copy/paste the components and routing, but I'm not sure how that could be done exactly without lots of manual work...

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