Providing a link to the datasheet and adding some description to the symbol can help both reading the schematic and finding the correct symbol inside the library. Symbols can have additional textual information provided inside so called fields. More details about footprint assignment in the FAQ. For generic symbols one can at least use footprint filters to reduce the number of suggested footprints in the footprint assignment tool (In the past known as CvPcb) It only makes sense to assign the footprint at the library level if your symbol represents one exact part. A symbol that includes this information is called fully specified (or sometimes also atomic). Pre assigning a footprintĭefining the footprint link for specialized symbols reduces the chance of selecting the wrong footprint during the design process. For inspiration have a look at the symbol naming guidelines for the official library. For generic symbols choose something that makes sense to your audience. So for specialized symbols it makes sense to use the manufacturer part number as the name. It is after all the one thing that identifies which component(s) this symbol is intended to represent. However the symbol name still needs some thought to be as useful as possible. This restriction is lifted with version 5. In KiCad version 4 there was the restriction that symbol names needed to be unique over all libraries. Find a style that fits you and try to be consistent. The details of how a symbol looks like depend on your own preferences. Grouping pins such that similar functions are near each other can also increase the readability of the schematic. It is also desirable to either include textual pin names or some symbolic way to show the function of a particular pin. This is already fulfilled by placing the correct number of pins with the correct pin numbers randomly on the page.Īn arguable more important task is to communicate to readers of a schematic what the function of some part is.įor this one would at least need to include some outline to the symbol to show which pins belong to which component. The function of a symbol is to communicate to KiCad what the interface of a particular component looks like. Electrical type of schematic symbol pins (KiCad 4 and KiCad 5).Creating a new symbol library and a new symbol in KiCad 5.How does KiCad know which symbol pin is connected to which pad of the footprint?.What is the difference between footprints and symbols?.Official documentation for the symbol editor Quick start tutorial for the symbol library editor. KiCad version 4 had a very different symbol editor meaning this tutorial is not really suitable to teach symbol creation in KiCad version 4 Some features shown here are missing in the current stable 5.0.x. The current nightlies are expected to become 5.1. Disclaimer: Screenshots taken in a nightly from after the 5.0.x releases.
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