DIY Layout Creator - software for easy drawing PCB, vero and perfboard layouts

[GGBB]

but when it gets n inkscape ( using pdf snapshot) the image degrades badly or is oversized...hmmm...any tips on how to do this properly?...cheers man. rob.

Sounds like you are importing a PDF that contains an image of the PCB rather than vector data.  Are you talking about a PDF you exported from DIYLC?

i've only ever used import or open from the file menu (open will go to import if you click a pdf). this can take sometime on this machine but when the 'pdf import settings' window eventually opens the only thing i change is 'precision of approximating gradient meshes' from the default 2.0 (rough) to the max 246.0 (very fine). no issues with rough import but seems to import faster when finer here, bizarrely. all other options default.

I *think* you only need to change that if the PDF you are importing has gradients in it.  I leave that at 2 and don't see any differences than when at 246.

also, you may need to select all (ctrl a) and group (ctrl g) before attempting any moves or copies.

Any time I import, everything is already grouped.  In fact, I have to ungroup usually 7 times (sometimes 6) to get to where I see two groups - one the traces and pads, and the other the background.  Normally I will resize the background part to my PCB size, and center the traces an pads group inside it.  Note that you can select something as a group to move or copy it without ungrouping first by using the control key.

*also, also* before export from diylc move pcb to upper left corner of document. move inkscape import to upper left if necessary then either copy and paste or import again and move new import/copy to the right of original import and repeat until top row complete then start another row below until page full. hope that makes sense. there are prolly better ways of doing this but that's what i've settled on thru bumbling around ignorantly.

If you ungroup like I described above so that you just have your traces and pads left as a group within a background that is your PCB size, you can just copy and paste that and align using the tool.

Note also for the completely anal like me - DIYLC does not align the pads with the traces properly.  After importing into Inkscape, pads are 0.225 pixels left and 0.225 pixels above where they should be compared to the traces.  (This is on my PC with a 90 DPI screen setting - which equates to 0.0025 inches.)  I export traces and pads separately and after importing them into Inkscape and before ungrouping, I move the pads to where they should be relative to the traces and then ungroup the pads and delete the pads background, then group together the pads group with the traces group, then center the traces and pads group within the PCB background.

Also note that if you are doing anything that requires precise sizing, either forget about DIYLC altogether or do it in Inkscape.  DIYLC rounds trace, pad, and hole sizes from what they were set to.  Traces go in increments of 0.005 inch, pads and holes in increments of 0.01 at the fives (0.015, 0.025, ...).  So if your traces were set to 0.032 inch, they will actually be 0.035.  You can change trace sizes in Inkscape using stroke size.  Pads and holes you have to use Object-Transform.  This is another reason for exporting/importing pads and traces separately and keeping them as separate groups.  The pads are a pain though, since I haven't found any easy way to separate or adjust the pads apart from the holes - they have to be selected manually.

[deadastronaut]

@gord: yep, exporting pcb traces from diylc  to pdf...never had a problem printing straight from the diylc pdf , hole/spacing wise tjough.

[artifus]

i usually create another diylc file with the suffix pcb before exporting - move to upper left of doc, delete everything but traces and pads and set background to white (normally work in blue print whilst designing/making it it look pretty). then export to pdf. not export traces. this works for me and just came about thru bumbling around like an idiot for the least headaches when inkscaping.

[GGBB]

@gord: yep, exporting pcb traces from diylc  to pdf...never had a problem printing straight from the diylc pdf , hole/spacing wise tjough.

Can you describe degrades badly and oversized?  Do you mean rough and zoomed?  Trying to get a handle on what is going on - seems very odd.  I know that PDFs can sometimes look a little rough around curves and things depending on how your computer is set up as far as display smoothing etc.  Even within Adobe Reader there are options for things like enhance thin lines and smoothing that can make things look worse given the right conditions.  Not sure what that might be within Inkscape though.  Do the traces end up as stroke objects in Inkscape?

[GGBB]

i usually create another diylc file with the suffix pcb before exporting - move to upper left of doc, delete everything but traces and pads and set background to white (normally work in blue print whilst designing/making it it look pretty). then export to pdf. not export traces. this works for me and just came about thru bumbling around like an idiot for the least headaches when inkscaping.

Hmm... I never thought of trying the regular export instead of the trace export.  I'll have to see if that works any differently.

[artifus]

tried export traces once, didn't work out so moved on. that was a quite a few diylc updates ago and haven't tried since as it works here and if it ain't broke, etc... was more than likely due to my own ignorance and incompetence but whatever works, right?

[Perrow]

Just a note on reversing text, a few releases ago we got a reverse text object that takes care of that.

[seedlings]

I don't have (know how to use) a vector-based graphics program to work with .PDF (to edit) - does anyone print from traces exported to .PNG?  If so, what scale do you use to print?  I ask this because if the traces are exported to .PNG, then printed, the scale is off.

Thanks,
CHAD

[GGBB]

You're best bet is to export to PDF and print from that using Adobe Reader.  As long as you turn off any fitting or resizing options in the Adobe Reader print dialog, they will be sized properly.  The PNGs that DIYLC produces are the right size at 300dpi scale/resolution, but any time I have tried to use them they seem to have an internal scale of 72dpi, so if you try to print with software that relies on the scale to determine the print size, it will come out way too big - just as you have noticed.  You can adjust the scale/resolution/print size using graphical/photo editing software like GIMP - probably Photoshop too.

[Perrow]

I don't have (know how to use) a vector-based graphics program to work with .PDF (to edit) - does anyone print from traces exported to .PNG?  If so, what scale do you use to print?  I ask this because if the traces are exported to .PNG, then printed, the scale is off.

Thanks,
CHAD

The pngs are 300 dpi, but not set as such. I open them in paint.net and use the "change canvas size" dialog to set it to 300 dpi, then I use Word to print them.

[seedlings]

I don't have (know how to use) a vector-based graphics program to work with .PDF (to edit) - does anyone print from traces exported to .PNG?  If so, what scale do you use to print?  I ask this because if the traces are exported to .PNG, then printed, the scale is off.

Thanks,
CHAD

The pngs are 300 dpi, but not set as such. I open them in paint.net and use the "change canvas size" dialog to set it to 300 dpi, then I use Word to print them.

Aaah, thank you.  Printing from MS Paint at 30% scale is very, very close.  The IC pins seem to match up to the paper.

CHAD

[psychedelicfish]

Really irritating bug, too pissed off to see if it has been brought up. When opening DIYLC after improperly quitting, a window pops up asking if I want to load the last saved project, less than a second later the @#$%ing templates window pops up over everything and doesn't load properly, can't close anything, can't seem to get around it!   

[Perrow]

Really irritating bug, too pissed off to see if it has been brought up. When opening DIYLC after improperly quitting, a window pops up asking if I want to load the last saved project, less than a second later the @#$%ing templates window pops up over everything and doesn't load properly, can't close anything, can't seem to get around it!   

Try renaming the autosave file, that should stop the first dialog.

[bancika]

and you can turn off templates

[psychedelicfish]

Reinstalling has fixed the autosave dialog, however the templates window doesn't load at all (completely grey).

[bancika]

fixed some annoying selection bugs in 3.28, check it out 

[psychedelicfish]

Still doesn't work, I think its my version of java

[bancika]

I didn't do anything about that particular bug, if you have OSX it's probably java. They messed up java recently, it used to work ok.

[samhay]

Seems like apple have the java update for 10.6 back up - http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1573
After installing this and the latest version of DIYLC (3.28.0; which may not be necessary), everything is working again.

[deadastronaut]

will this newest version load 3.7.0  version project files?..