If one told someone that “I have a 44 pin SO package that has a 0.6 mm pin pitch and is 8 mm wide.” Then most people can probably draw that footprint with ease. Then there is the other standard packages, like dip, sip, sot, etc… It has most packages, but not really all of them, not to mention that there are duplicates… (An 0805 resistor has the same footprint as an 0805 capacitor or inductor, yet each has their own footprint… Why couldn’t all two leaded devices of that type, 0805, 0806, 0502 etc just be on a list of two pin SMD components?) I have for a long time wondered, why doesn’t kicad have a long thick list of all common packages? Posted in Software Hacks Tagged KiCAD, library, part creation, pdf Post navigation

If you’re looking to build a software tool that takes a datasheet and spits out a complete part, footprint and all, this is the place to start. Of course, this is just the schematic symbol, not the full part including a footprint, but when it comes to footprints we’re probably dealing with standard packages anyway. The video demo below shows uConfig importing a PDF datasheet - in this case a PIC32 - automatically extracting the packages from the datasheet, and turning that into a schematic symbol. It’s available as a pre-built project (for Windows, even!), and works kind of like magic. It works by extracting blocks of text from a PDF, sorts out pin numbers and pin labels, and associates those by the relevant name to make pins. UConfig is an old project from that’s been resurrected and turned into an Open Source tool.

It automatically extracts pinout information from a PDF datasheet and turns it into a schematic symbol. That said, making schematic parts and footprints is a pain, and if there’s a tool to automate the process, we’d be happy to use it.

This is really the only way PCB design tools are tools, and so the story goes you’ll never be a master unless you can make your own parts. You’re supposed to make your own parts if you can’t find them in the libraries you already have. For anyone out there who has ever struggled finding a part for Eagle or KiCad, there are some who would say you’re doing it wrong.

Diptrace import pdf schematic