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- <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
- <html>
- <head>
- <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
- http-equiv="Content-Type">
- <title>Parts Editor Help</title>
- </head>
- <body>
- <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western">
- <div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
- We have decided to release the new Parts Editor in two phases.
- The first phase, included in release 0.7.9, is already easier to
- use and more powerful than the old Parts Editor, but you
- still have to do a lot of preliminary work using an SVG editor
- like Inkscape, Illustrator, or CorelDRAW. In the next phase we
- hope to eliminate much of the need to use these programs.<br>
- <br>
- <big><big><b>How to start</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- The new approach is very different from that of the old Parts
- Editor, and explaining that difference is the purpose of this
- document. The first big change is that you cannot create a new
- part from scratch--you must begin with a part that already
- exists. So the best thing to do is to find a part that is pretty
- close to what you eventually want. If your part is really
- different from anything else, then just to try to match the
- number of connectors. For example, if your part needs 39 pins,
- then start with a generic IC part, change it to a SIP (single
- inline package) and give it 39 pins. Though finding a part to
- begin with may seem like a burden, it will save you effort as
- you go through the process.<br>
- <br>
- You can open the new parts editor by right-clicking a part in a
- sketch and choosing the 'Edit' option; choosing 'Edit' from the
- Part menu; right clicking a part in the Parts Bin and choosing
- the 'Edit' option; or using the Parts Bin drop down menu.<br>
- <br>
- <big><big><b>Six views</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- The new Parts Editor no longer tries to display everything in a
- single view. Instead, it works like the sketch window
- which has multiple tabs with only one tab visible at a
- time. In the new Parts Editor there are six tabs:
- Breadboard view, Schematic view, PCB view, Icon view, Metadata
- view, and Connectors view. As you might expect, the first four
- views are for the part images; the Metadata view is where you
- enter the part's title, author, and other properties; and the
- Connectors view is for editing connector metadata, and for
- adding or removing connectors. For the latter, you just type in
- the number of connectors you want.<br>
- <big><big><br>
- <b>Loading new images</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- To load the SVGs for your part, switch to the appropriate view,
- and use <b>File > Load image for view</b>. As before, you
- can load SVGs in all views and gEDA .fp files and KICAD .mod
- files in PCB view only. To create an SVG for any view, you must
- use an external SVG editor (Inkscape, Illustrator, CorelDRAW, or
- a text editor) to layout the elements that will be used as
- connectors. The SVG example below uses <circle> elements
- for connectors.<br>
- <br>
- Loading PNG or JPG images directly is possible, but since these
- become SVG images with only a single element, there is no way to
- place individual connectors. We also discourage the use of
- PNG and JPG because these are raster-based rather than
- vector-based, so they don't look good when scaled. If you still
- prefer to use PNG or JPG, we recommend that for now you open
- them in an external SVG editor and add connector elements there
- (see below for more about 'connector elements'). Save the result
- as an SVG, and use that in the Parts Editor. In phase 2
- you will be able to add connector elements directly in the Parts
- Editor.<br>
- <br>
- Since you have already begun with a part, it may be that you
- will only have to load a single image for a particular view--you
- do not have to replace all the images in the original part.<br>
- <br>
- It is still necessary to prepare SVGs for PCB view by grouping
- elements in layers: copper0, silkscreen, copper1, etc. (Layering
- will be handled in the phase 2 parts editor.) The best way to
- understand the layers is to open up one of the core pcb svg
- files, For example have a look at the file crystal_hc49U.svg.
- Silkscreen layer has four while lines, the two copper layers
- share a pair of circles as connector elements.<br>
- <br>
- <tt><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><br>
- <svg baseProfile="tiny" height="0.20306in" version="1.2"
- viewBox="0 0 46684 20306" width="0.46684in"
- xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></tt><tt><br>
- </tt>
- <blockquote><tt><desc>Fritzing footprint SVG</desc></tt><br>
- <tt><g id="silkscreen"></tt><br>
- <blockquote><tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000"
- x1="1000" x2="45684" y1="1000" y2="1000"/></tt><br>
- <tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000" x1="45684"
- x2="45684" y1="1000" y2="19306"/></tt><br>
- <tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000" x1="45684"
- x2="1000" y1="19306" y2="19306"/></tt><br>
- <tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000" x1="1000"
- x2="1000" y1="19306" y2="1000"/></tt><br>
- </blockquote>
- <tt></g></tt><br>
- <tt><g id="copper1"><g id="copper0"></tt><br>
- <blockquote><tt><circle cx="13736" cy="10153" fill="none"
- id="connector0pin" r="2750" stroke="rgb(255, 191, 0)"
- stroke-width="2000"/></tt><br>
- <tt><circle cx="32948" cy="10153" fill="none"
- id="connector1pin" r="2750" stroke="rgb(255, 191, 0)"
- stroke-width="2000"/></tt><br>
- </blockquote>
- <tt></g></tt><tt></g></tt><br>
- </blockquote>
- <tt></svg></tt><br>
- <br>
- Sometimes you will want to reuse the breadboard image as your
- icon image. There is a shortcut for this under <b>File >
- Reuse breadboard image</b>. You can also find the options: <b>File
- > Reuse schematic image</b>, and <b>File > Reuse PCB
- image</b>. <br>
- <br>
- For certain parts--like a breadboard--there is only one view
- image. For technical reasons, you have to tell the Parts Editor
- this is what you want. Use <b>View > Make only this
- view visible</b> from the current view (one of Breadboard,
- Schematic, or PCB) to make the part invisible in the other two
- views.<br>
- <br>
- <big><big><b>Undo, save, show in folder</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- The next big difference from the old Parts Editor is that undo
- is always available, even after loading view images.
- Furthermore, you can save your changes at any point and keep
- working--the new Parts Editor is less like a dialog and more
- like a full document window.<br>
- <br>
- If you start with a core part (i.e. a part from the Fritzing
- distro), saving from the Parts Editor is disabled. You must use
- <b>Save as new part</b>, because you cannot change a core part.
- <b>Save as new part</b> creates a new part in your local storage
- area (explained below) and this part is added to the "My Parts"
- Bin--it is a copy of the original part (plus whatever changes
- you have already made so far using the Parts Editor). If you are
- editing a custom part that was in a sketch, the part will be
- updated whenever you save. If you want the new part to display
- in the My Parts Bin the next time you run Fritzing, remember to
- save the bin (use the drop down menu at the upper left of the
- bin). If you start editing from a part in the My Parts Bin you
- have a choice between <b>Save </b>(which will overwrite the
- part), and <b>Save As New Part</b> (which will create a new
- part and add it to the My Parts Bin). If you copy a part into My
- Parts Bin from some other bin, then probably <b>Save </b>will
- be disabled.<br>
- <br>
- On Windows the local storage folder is something like
- C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Fritzing\parts\user\, and
- SVGs are stored in
- C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Fritzing\parts\svg\user\. On
- Linux and Mac this would be ~/.config/Fritzing/parts/user/ and
- ~/.config/Fritzing/parts/svg/user/. <br>
- <br>
- To find the SVG image for the current view on the desktop,
- choose <b>File > Show in Folder</b>. On Mac and Windows this
- will open a folder on your desktop with the SVG file selected.
- Under Linux you get the folder but no file selection (if anyone
- has advice about how to get selection to work, we would be
- grateful).<br>
- <big><big><br>
- <b>Associating a connector with its SVG counterpart</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- The next task will be to associate each connector with its
- counterpart in the SVG for each view. This is handled very
- differently from before. For an example, I am going to use
- images from a part created by Shunichi Yamamoto (who graciously
- gave us permission to include them in this tutorial, and who
- also helped beta test the new Parts Editor). <br>
- <br>
- The new part will have 39 pins, so we begin with a Generic IC
- part and drag it into an empty sketch. There we use the
- Inspector to change it a to SIP and give it 39 pins. Then we
- open that in the new Parts Editor with a right-click. <br>
- <br>
- <img alt="starting up" src="images/start.png" height="363"
- width="599"><br>
- <br>
- Next we load the new breadboard image using <b>File > Load
- image for view</b>. In the Tools widget at the upper
- right, you see a list of connectors. Choose one to make it the <b>current
- </b>or <b>active</b> <b>connector</b>. If it has already been
- associated with an SVG element, that element will display a
- marquee highlight. Since we are just starting out, we will
- choose pin1 which is not currently associated with any SVG
- element.<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="pin1" src="images/pin1.png" height="319" width="419"><br>
- <br>
- To create the actual association click the "Select graphic"
- button over in the Connectors widget. This basically puts you in
- a "mode" that lasts until the next time you mouse down. If you
- want to escape the mode, click anywhere outside the part or use
- the escape key. You can only make the association when you are
- in this mode (this keeps you from accidentally associating a
- connector to a graphic when you didn't intend to). <br>
- <br>
- In the mode, move your mouse over the SVG. As you do so,
- different SVG elements will highlight. It is often the case that
- any given mouse location can refer to multiple SVG elements (or
- groups of elements). Use the shift-key plus the mouse wheel to
- highlight other elements above or beneath the currently
- highlighted one (in the z-order)--the mouse wheel without the
- shift key will pan or zoom as usual (depending on your
- preferences setting for wheel events). If you are already on the
- bottom layer then the next wheel "downward" will make the
- element flash white; a similar white flash will occur if you are
- already at the top layer and wheel "upward". In other words, the
- flash signifies you can't move any further in the z-order in
- that direction.<br>
- <br>
- Here are three highlights from the same mouse position, using
- the mouse wheel + shift:<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="highlight1" src="images/highlight1.png" height="161"
- width="348"><br>
- <img alt="highlight2" src="images/highlight2.png" height="160"
- width="350"><br>
- <img alt="highlight3" src="images/highlight3.png" height="159"
- width="349"><br>
- <br>
- The first highlight is the one we want so we mouse down when the
- wheel gets us back to that small rectangle. Now the element has
- a marquee to show that it is the current pin, and you also see
- the <b>terminal point</b> as a crosshair which defaults to the
- center. The terminal point is the place where a wire attaches to
- the connector.<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="assoc1" src="images/assoc1.png" height="161"
- width="349"><br>
- <br>
- After associating pin2 and pin3 we have:<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="pin3" src="images/pin3.png" height="160" width="347"><br>
- <br>
- <big><big><b>Adjusting terminal points</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- In PCB and Breadboard view the terminal point is usually the
- center of the connector so you don't have to do any thing
- else. But in schematic view the terminal point is usually
- near the end of the connector. So let's go to schematic
- view. We start with the original SVG image. Note how the
- connectors are already showing their anchor points. Pin3 is the
- current connector.<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="schematic" src="images/schematic1.png" height="573"
- width="718"><br>
- <br>
- Now we load the new schematic image and start associating pins.<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="schematic2" src="images/schematic2.png" height="640"
- width="519"><br>
- <br>
- Here is what the Connectors widget looks like with pin3 as the
- current connector:<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="tools1" src="images/tools1.png" height="463"
- width="348"><br>
- <br>
- Notice that since we have selected graphics for three of the
- connectors, those connectors are checked in the connector list.<br>
- <br>
- You can use the buttons or spinners to adjust the terminal
- point. Here is a close up after hitting the W button, and
- clicking the X spinner twice (look at the pin marked 'AN2'): <br>
- <br>
- <img alt="schematic3" src="images/schematic3.png" height="492"
- width="536"><br>
- <br>
- You can also drag the terminal point directly by mousing down on
- it when its SVG element is highlighted.<br>
- <big><big><br>
- <b>Setting internal connections</b></big></big><br>
- <br>
- An internal connection is when a two or more connectors in a
- part are already connected, for example the GND connectors on
- the Arduino UNO. You can specify and edit internal connections
- by clicking on the "Set internal connections" checkbox in the
- Connectors widget--it's beneath the connectors list (you can see
- it in the image of the Connectors widget, above). Since we are
- talking about the Arduino UNO, here is what it looks like when
- Set internal connections is checked:<br>
- <br>
- <img alt="bus1" src="images/bus1.png" height="319" width="419"><br>
- <br>
- The green lines represent the internal connections. To remove an
- internal connection, right-click the line and choose "Remove
- internal connection". To add a new connection, just drag a line
- out from one connector to another.<br>
- <b><br>
- </b><b><big><big>Known limitations</big></big></b><br>
- <br>
- The following feature are due in phase two: <br>
- <ul>
- <li>adding holes</li>
- <li>mixing THT and SMD connectors--for now you must start with
- an SMD part to create a new SMD part, and start with a
- through-hole part to create a new through-hole part. <br>
- </li>
- <li>control over SVG element layering</li>
- <li>direct manipulation of SVG elements</li>
- <li>setting up parts with bendable legs.</li>
- </ul>
- <b><br>
- </b> <b><big><big>Bye for now</big></big></b><br>
- <br>
- That's pretty much the phase one story. We hope you like what
- you've seen. Stay tuned for phase two.<br>
- <br>
- <br>
- </div>
- </div>
- </body>
- </html>
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