KiCAD to Boardview exporter

The KiCAD to Boardview exporter is a tool that converts KiCAD PCB layout files into Boardview files, which are used in the industry to communicate crucial information about a PCB during the post-production stage. The Boardview format encompasses data about component, pin, and test point placement.

Boardview files lack a standardized specification or naming convention. The exporter generates ".brd" files with ASCII Boardview data, and these files can be accessed using the MIT-licensed OpenBoardView software.

To utilize the KiCAD to Boardview exporter, certain prerequisites must be met. It relies on the pcbnew plugin interface, necessitating KiCAD version 6 and Python with KiCAD libraries installed in the Python search path.

To execute the exporter, follow this command line format:

./pcbnew2boardview.py example/example.kicad_pcb example/example.brd

This command reads the PCB layout from "example/example.kicad_pcb" and writes it to "example/example.brd".

An example of the Boardview file for Glasgow visualized with OpenBoardView is shown, with the I2C SDA net selected.


For comparison, the corresponding PCB layout is also provided.

There are some caveats to consider while using the exporter:

1. If the pin numbering on KiCAD modules does not start with pin 1 and continues consecutively until the last pin with an integer name, the pin numbering on the boardview will be incorrect.
2. Similarly, the format does not support the accurate representation of pin names such as PAD (on QFN packages) or A0 (on BGA packages). Instead, these will be assigned arbitrary but consistent numbers.
3. The ".brd" files contain an unknown field written as 0. OpenBoardView ignores this field, but it may have a specific meaning or purpose in other contexts.

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KiCAD to Boardview exporter