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I feel like the KiCad support is lacking. As the community EDA of choice, support for it is quite important. What I would really like to so is a repository of

I feel like the KiCad support is lacking. As the community EDA of choice, support for it is quite important. What I would really like to so is a repository of 3D models. Footprints are a dime a dozen and faster to churn out than 3D models. Also, most EDA suites support creating footprints/symbols but few/none support 3D modeling. Also I've had SnapEDA provide me with footprints of similar parts that in actuality were not similar enough. A fair chunk of time was wasted on that.

natashabaker 10y ago
Hi Robert, thanks for this feedback. We'd definitely like to add a KiCad plugin next. About 10% of our users use KiCad so it's definitely a community we want to focus on. Over the past few months, we've made a lot of changes to how parts are linked. In addition to no longer showing related parts (this is where a lot of confusion was), we have also added notifications when a part hasn't yet been validated. As a startup, our team is constantly improving this too! In terms of 3D models, you can toggle to the 3D model tab to see an example of the 3D models we're starting to incorporate. Example here: https://www.snapeda.com/parts/ATMEGA328P-AU/Atmel/view-part/ https://www.snapeda.com/parts/ATMEGA328P-AU/Atmel/view-part/ (toggle to the 3D view). These are currently a premium feature, but our goal is to make these also free at some point too.
- dmritard96 10y ago
  Since you guys are doing things with 3D models, I would love to throw out my 2c. My team (flair.co) sorta splits electrical and mechanical design along people lines (even though we are comfortable with both sides). I don't end up doing much board layout but in terms of vetting a relay or some Caps for fit, being able to drop them into my mechanical design would be great. My flow right now is, go to the internet (if in the states) or sometimes the market (if in shenzhen), measure the parts with calipers or look at the data sheet, build a model in Fusion360 and then import that part into my design. If you made a plugin for Fusion360 and perhaps a few of the other popular mech e packages(solidworks, onshape, etc.) that would be fantastic!
  - natashabaker 10y ago
    Great idea, thanks! Will definitely consider this as a next step.
bsder 10y ago
> What I would really like to so is a repository of 3D models. Footprints are a dime a dozen and faster to churn out than 3D models. Actually, most footprint maker plugins now happily generate 3D models for you. They're almost always good enough.
spott 10y ago
I have a question: Why do you want 3D models? What is the use case? Are you doing a lot of really space-constrained boards? KiCad has spent a lot of effort on making it possible to view 3D models of boards. Upverter has recently spent a whole bunch of time on making this available (time that could be better spent on a lot of other things). And I don't get why. Outside of a small contingent of space-constrained parts, I just don't see what the use of 3D parts is.
- StavrosK 10y ago
  I've personally spotted many mistakes in the 3d view, mainly spacing ("oh, I thought this would fit but it doesn't look like it would"). It's not my first priority, but it would be nice to have.
  - robert_foss 10y ago
    Me too, the 3D viewer is developmental tool. I also use it for marketing. It is especially nice with the ray traced 3D view of KiCad.
    - StavrosK 10y ago
      Raytraced view? How!?
- HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
  An awful lot of boards have to fit into a small gap in a machine somewhere, or parts are being stacked (maybe it's under the brick power supply), and you need to be sure everything fits.
- dmritard96 10y ago
  we make devices (flair.co) and regularly ran into making our boards and our mech-e components aligned/fit etc. we used eagle and altium and fusion and especially without 3d parts it was a lot of extra lifting on our part to model everything and check for fit/alignment etc. it is fairly contrained in terms of size

natashabaker 10y ago

Hi Robert, thanks for this feedback. We'd definitely like to add a KiCad plugin next. About 10% of our users use KiCad so it's definitely a community we want to focus on. Over the past few months, we've made a lot of changes to how parts are linked. In addition to no longer showing related parts (this is where a lot of confusion was), we have also added notifications when a part hasn't yet been validated. As a startup, our team is constantly improving this too! In terms of 3D models, you can toggle to the 3D model tab to see an example of the 3D models we're starting to incorporate. Example here: https://www.snapeda.com/parts/ATMEGA328P-AU/Atmel/view-part/ https://www.snapeda.com/parts/ATMEGA328P-AU/Atmel/view-part/ (toggle to the 3D view). These are currently a premium feature, but our goal is to make these also free at some point too.

dmritard96 10y ago
Since you guys are doing things with 3D models, I would love to throw out my 2c. My team (flair.co) sorta splits electrical and mechanical design along people lines (even though we are comfortable with both sides). I don't end up doing much board layout but in terms of vetting a relay or some Caps for fit, being able to drop them into my mechanical design would be great. My flow right now is, go to the internet (if in the states) or sometimes the market (if in shenzhen), measure the parts with calipers or look at the data sheet, build a model in Fusion360 and then import that part into my design. If you made a plugin for Fusion360 and perhaps a few of the other popular mech e packages(solidworks, onshape, etc.) that would be fantastic!
- natashabaker 10y ago
  Great idea, thanks! Will definitely consider this as a next step.

bsder 10y ago

> What I would really like to so is a repository of 3D models. Footprints are a dime a dozen and faster to churn out than 3D models. Actually, most footprint maker plugins now happily generate 3D models for you. They're almost always good enough.

spott 10y ago

I have a question: Why do you want 3D models? What is the use case? Are you doing a lot of really space-constrained boards? KiCad has spent a lot of effort on making it possible to view 3D models of boards. Upverter has recently spent a whole bunch of time on making this available (time that could be better spent on a lot of other things). And I don't get why. Outside of a small contingent of space-constrained parts, I just don't see what the use of 3D parts is.

StavrosK 10y ago
I've personally spotted many mistakes in the 3d view, mainly spacing ("oh, I thought this would fit but it doesn't look like it would"). It's not my first priority, but it would be nice to have.
- robert_foss 10y ago
  Me too, the 3D viewer is developmental tool. I also use it for marketing. It is especially nice with the ray traced 3D view of KiCad.
  - StavrosK 10y ago
    Raytraced view? How!?
HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
An awful lot of boards have to fit into a small gap in a machine somewhere, or parts are being stacked (maybe it's under the brick power supply), and you need to be sure everything fits.
dmritard96 10y ago
we make devices (flair.co) and regularly ran into making our boards and our mech-e components aligned/fit etc. we used eagle and altium and fusion and especially without 3d parts it was a lot of extra lifting on our part to model everything and check for fit/alignment etc. it is fairly contrained in terms of size