Introduction to CvPcb

CvPcb is a tool that allows you to associate components in your schematic to component footprints used when laying out the printed circuit board. This association is added to the net list file created by the schematic capture program Eeschema.

The net list file generated by Eeschema specifies which printed circuit board footprint is associated with each component in the schematic only when the footprint field of the component is initialized.

This is the case when component footprints are associated during schematic capture by setting the component’s footprint field, or it is set in the schematic library when loading the symbol.

CvPcb provides a convenient method of associating footprints to components during schematic capture. It provides footprint list filtering, footprint viewing, and 3D component model viewing to help ensure the correct footprint is associated with each component.

Components can be assigned to their corresponding footprints manually or automatically by creating equivalence files (.equ files). Equivalence files are lookup tables associating each component with it’s footprint.

This interactive approach is simpler and less error prone than directly associating the footprints in the schematic editor.

CvPcb allows you to see the list of available footprints and to display them on the screen to ensure you are associating the correct footprint.

It can be run only from Eeschema, from the top toolbar, either when Eeschema is started from the KiCad project manager or when Eeschema is started as a stand alone application.

Running CvPcb from Eeschema launched from the KiCad Manager is generally better because:

• Cvpcb needs the project config file to know the footprint libraries to load.

• Cvpcb initializes the components footprint fields of the current schematic project. This is possible only if the project file is in the same path as the open schematic.

Launching CvPcb from an Eeschema launched from the KiCad manager assures automatically all this.