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mitxela committed Feb 14, 2022
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Expand Up @@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ The goal is to algorithmically melt a PCB design, smoothing all tracks in a pred

For best results, use in conjunction with this [teardrop plugin](https://github.com/NilujePerchut/kicad_scripts).

__Note:__ Currently, the teardrop plugin has not been ported fully ported to KiCad 6. I've fixed the behaviour with native arcs on [my fork of it](https://github.com/mitxela/kicad-teardrops/tree/mitxela/V6.0) which should hopefully be merged in soon.

I have written extensively about my kicad melting experiments [here](https://mitxela.com/projects/melting_kicad) and [here](https://mitxela.com/projects/melting_kicad_2).

## Use
Expand All @@ -25,33 +27,20 @@ Otherwise, the curves are generated from many small straight sections. 2 or 3 pa

"Radius" is the maximum radius curve that would result from a 90° bend. A smaller curve will be used if the tracks are shorter, or if the angle between them is sharper. The resulting curves will always pass through at least one point of the original tracks, so individual curves can be controlled by splitting tracks into smaller sections. If a curve has too large a radius, placing a small 45° bend will make it smaller. Similarly, if a bigger radius is needed for certain tracks, you can draw an approximate curve with free-angle tracks to achieve this.

__Note:__ Currently, the teardrop plugin has not been fully ported to KiCad 6. It does not yet understand native arcs, but work is ongoing.

## Todo
- Limit minimum angle between tracks, to avoid unnecessary subdivisions
- In KiCad 6, the undo history state is broken when the plugin runs. A single tap of Ctrl+Z should undo the rounding.

## Installation
Clone or unzip this repository in a KiCad plugin folder.

- On linux :
- `/usr/share/kicad/scripting/plugins/`
- `~/.kicad/scripting/plugins`
- `~/.kicad_plugins/`
- On macOS :
- `/Applications/kicad/Kicad/Contents/SharedSupport/scripting/plugins`
- `~/Library/Application Support/kicad/scripting/plugins`
- On Windows:
- `C:\Program Files\KiCad\share\kicad\scripting\plugins\`
- `%UserName%\Documents\KiCad\6.0\scripting\plugins\`

You can list the exact paths where KiCad will search for plugins by opening the scripting console in pcbnew and running:
## Installation
Now available from the Plugin and Content manager.

For manual install, clone or unzip this repository in a KiCad plugin folder. You can list the exact paths where KiCad will search for plugins by opening the scripting console in pcbnew and running:
```
import pcbnew
print(pcbnew.GetWizardsSearchPaths())
```

Under Preferences / Preferences / PCB Editor / Action Plugins, you can choose to add a button to the toolbar for quick access to the plugin.
Under Preferences / Preferences / PCB Editor / Action Plugins, you can choose whether to have a button on the toolbar for quick access to the plugin.

## History
This plugin is based on [flexRoundingSuite](https://github.com/jcloiacon/flexRoundingSuite) by Julian Loiacono and [kicad-round-tracks](https://github.com/stimulu/kicad-round-tracks) by Antoine Pintout. My contribution updated the algorithm so that subdivisions are applied equally, resulting in smoother tracks with fewer clearance errors.
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