KiCad Like A Pro – Advanced Projects and Recipes

This book builts on "KiCad Like a Pro – Fundamentals and Projects" (ISBN 978-3-89576-626-8) and aims to help you practice your new KiCad skills by challenging you in a series of real-world projects. The projects are supported by a comprehensive set of recipes with detailed instructions on how to achieve a variety of simple and complex tasks. Design the PCBs for a solar power supply, an LED matrix array, an Arduino-powered datalogger, and a custom ESP32 board. Understand the finer details of the interactive router, how to manage KiCad project teams with Git, how to use an autorouter on 2 and 4-layer PCBs, and much more.KiCad 8 is a modern, cross-platform application suite built around schematic and design editors. This stable and mature PCB tool is a perfect fit for electronic engineers and makers. With KiCad 8, you can create PCBs of any complexity and size without the constraints associated with the commercial packages.Here are the most significant improvements and features in KiCad 8, both over and under the hood:Modern user interface, completely redesigned from earlier versionsImproved and customizable electrical and design rule checkersTheme editor allowing you to fully customize the look of KiCad on your screenAbility to import projects from Eagle, CADSTART, and moreAn improved and tightly integrated SPICE circuit simulatorAutorouting with the Freerouting pluginFilters define which elements of a layout are selectableEnhanced interactive router helps you draw single tracks and differential pairs with precisionNew or enhanced tools to draw tracks, measure distances, tune track lengths, etc.Enhanced tool for creating filled zonesA customizable coordinate system facilitates data exchange with other CAD applicationsRealistic ray-tracing capable 3D viewerDifferential pair routingRich repositories of symbol, footprint, and 3D shape librariesPython scripting API for programmatic customization and extensionsImproved footprint wizard for fast custom footprints