hierplace 1.1.0

Groups and arranges KiCAD PCBNEW board parts so they reflect the design hierarchy.

Hierarchical Placement Plugin

This PCBNEW plugin arranges the parts into groups that reflect the hierarchy in the design.

• Free software: MIT license

Features

• Creates an arrangement of the parts that reflects their level in the design hierarchy.

• Will arrange only the parts that have been selected or, if no parts are selected, the entire design.

• Will not move locked parts.

Installation

On linux, just copy HierPlace.py to your local ~/.kicad_plugins directory.

Usage

There are two ways to use this plugin:

1. Press the Tools => External Plugins... => HierPlace button and all the unlocked parts will be arranged.

2. Select a subset of the parts and press the HierPlace button and only the unlocked parts in the selection will be arranged.

Example

Here is an example of an initial arrangement of parts in PCBNEW. The SDRAM BGA and its seven decoupling capacitors are highlighted to show how widely separated they are. Other sections of the circuitry are similarly scattered.

The arrangement after running HierPlace is shown below. Now the SDRAM and its decoupling capacitors are closely grouped, as are the other sections of the circuitry.

Credits

Development Lead

• Dave Vandenbout <[e-mail]>

Other Contributors

None yet. Why not be the first?

History

1.1.0 (2023-08-10)

• Updated to be compatible with KiCad 7.

1.0.0 (2021-09-16)

• Decided this tool was mature to the point it could be called 1.0.0.

0.3.2 (2021-05-24)

• Still trying to get setup to work correctly.

0.3.1 (2021-05-21)

• Trying to get setup to work correctly.

0.3.0 (2021-05-19)

• hierplace() function is now usable in other packages like kinet2pcb.

0.2.0 (2021-04-27)

• Now supports both KiCad 5 and 5.99.

0.1.0 (2018-05-27)

• First release.