How to move all layers at the same time

[ataradov]

I'm evaluating KiCad 6.0-rc1 for move from Eagle, and it is a huge improvement compared to v5.

One thing I can't figure out is how to select and move components and traces on all layers. It looks like no matter what I do, selection tool only selects things on the active layer and when I try to move it, only selected things move.

So I have to separately move all electrical layers and mechanical layers too.

How do I select everything? It is a silly thing, but it does not come up too often in the tutorials.

[bson]

Weird.  When I draw a rectangle to select a bunch of stuff and hit the 'm' key to move the selection, it all moves regardless of layer.  (Though I admittedly only tested it on a 4 layer layout with GND,PWR on the inner layers.)

This is on a nightly: (5.99.0-13283-gf5fc9fa11f), release build

[ataradov]

I'm on a nightly builds and after some update 5.99 changed to 6.0.0-rc1, so I guess they are very close to release.  Although the package is still 5.99.0+really5.1.10+dfsg1-1

But the issue was there even on 5.99. A simple test - draw a line in Edge.Cuts layer, then draw a line in in F.Cu. F.Cu remains active layer. Draw selection rectangle, M for move. Only a line in F.Cu moves. This clearly makes no sense, and I don't see any settings for that.

It would also be a weird bug, so this appears intentional, and I'm just doing something wrong.

Even Ctrl-A for Select All only selects things in the current layer.

[I wanted a rude username]

Do you have a selection filter applied? (All boxes in the Selection Filter toolbox should be checked.) Otherwise I'm not sure what would be causing the behaviour you're seeing ... I'm running 5.99.0-12374 and it behaves the same as always, i.e. Ctrl+A selects everything on all layers and a subsequent M moves all those things.

By the way ... it kind of solves the opposite problem (too many selected), but if you haven't played with it yet, once you have selected many items, try right-click -> Select -> Filter Selected Items...

[ataradov]

Yes, all the boxes selected. I tried deselecting some/all of them and they behave as expected, so selection of corresponding items gets disabled. But with the added issue of only selecting items on the current layer.

So, something is broken on my side.

[ataradov]

I figured it out! There is a button to toggle inactive layers between normal and dimmed. This is a nice visual feature that lets you focus on the active layer, reducing the visual noise.

Well, as it turns out it is not only a visual feature, but it also disables selection on those inactive layers.

This sucks. Who even came up with this?

Now the question is - is there a way to have both - ability to edit whatever and have all layers but active be dimmed?

[Bassman59]

I figured it out! There is a button to toggle inactive layers between normal and dimmed. This is a nice visual feature that lets you focus on the active layer, reducing the visual noise.

Well, as it turns out it is not only a visual feature, but it also disables selection on those inactive layers.

This sucks. Who even came up with this?

Now the question is - is there a way to have both - ability to edit whatever and have all layers but active be dimmed?

Might be time for you to file your first bug/enhancement request.

Start here.

[bson]

I noticed a similar thing with zones; when in outline mode they never get selected by drawing a rectangle (unless it includes the edge).  In fill mode (even if semitransparent) they do, so selecting a component and a few traces also selects any power plane(s) or other zones underneath.  And consequently moves it/them with 'm'.

[ataradov]

I will need to figure more stuff out before filing bug reports.

Another thing that I can't get working is snapping to grid. When I update PCB from the schematic, footprints get placed at random coordinates. I have a 0.01" grid, which I want to use for component placement. Everyone seems to have their move command snap to grid by default. In my case the increments are on the grid, but the center itself does not snap to the grid.

The only way I found to fix this is to edit component properties and round the coordinates down to 0.01", which works, but annoying.

[bpiphany]

General things to remember

1. Box selection works differently if drawn from left to right or right to left. One selects partially covered items, the other only fully covered items.

2. When activating the move command the pointer may snap to pads if hovered over them rather than the center of the part. I have never experienced that the pointer doesn't snap to the grid though.

[ataradov]

1. Yes, this is how CADs worked for ages.
2. Cursor does snap to the grid, the component center does not. Let's say I have a 0.1" grid and a resistor that is currently at a coordinate (1.15, 3.21). If I select it, I can move it to coordinates (1.25, 3.21) or (7.15, 3.61). But I can't move it to (1.1, 3.2).

So, mouse snaps to the grid. But if you are moving a component that is already not on the grid, it never will be on the grid with this approach.

Once I manually edit component location to be on the grid, all following movements are working as expected.

[bpiphany]

Now you coerced me into installing the nightlies..

I seem to be able to "break" the snap by unchecking

Preferences -> Preferences -> Editing -> Warp mouse to origin of moved object



(I have had an annoying bug where rendering stops working while moving things (plus some other random graphic updates) when switching between programs. Requiring a restart of Kicad to fix. That seems to have gotten worse than ever in the nightlies, bordering on unusable.)

[ataradov]

This is it. Now things work as expected. I tried all the settings I could find, but I missed that one because it is in "Common", not in PCB options specifically.

So far in my experiments I don't see any rendering bugs.

The only real annoyance that remains is very limited ability to manually enter coordinated for graphical items in a symbol editor. But that seems like it is how it is designed.

[Doctorandus_P]

If you move or drag a footprint then the "current attachment point" is placed on the grid. If the attachment point is a pad, then it uses the pad center, but if you drag it by the footprint center, then the footprint center gets put on the grid.

[ataradov]

Another strange issue came up. For some reason all my ratsnests disappeared. They are still drawn when a component is moved, and a curved/straight setting also takes effect. But toggling Show Ratsnest does absolutely nothing.

I can find some very old issue where ratsnests would disappear on OpenGL drivers, but it does not look like it is the issue here, enabling  fallback graphics does not fix the issue.

It is possible that it is nightly build issue, of course, but may be there is a setting I'm missing?

[Doctorandus_P]

Look at the "Appearance manager" on the right side of the screen, in the "Objects" tab.
It also has a setting to select a color for the ratsnest, and to turn it on/off.

[ataradov]

Ratsnests are enabled there. And if I pick the color, it is applied to the local ratsnests for the moved object.

This looks like a nightly bug. I've created a new project with a new KiCad config, and it behaves the same way.