Importing kicad symbols/footprints

Hello all

I have just started using LibrePCB (about 60m ago). I have a set of KiCAD symbols/footprints that I would like to import. The set is from here: https://files.seeedstudio.com/wiki/XIAO_WiFi/Resources/Seeeduino-XIAO-ESP32C3-KiCAD-Library.zip

I cannot figure out:

  • How to import KiCAD from the library manager

OR, if KiCAD import is not supported

  • How to convert the library to LibrePCB format. This thread mentions a tool, but I cannot find this tool anywhere.

OR, if that tool is not available

  • I cannot figure out how to create my own symbols/footprints. Is there an editor that I have to download separately?

OR, if it has to be done via editing files

  • I cannot find a link describing the file format for symbols+footprints.

Warm Regards,
Lee

That tool was a perl script that only worked with an older version of the kicad library. It doesn’t work with the current version

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate that.

For now I have (reluctantly) moved back to KiCAD for the current project (Client is on a timeline).

Now, maybe I have missed it in the forums, but is there anywhere that the LibrePCB file formats are defined? When I have the time, I wouldn’t mind taking a quick whack at producing usable (even if not perfect) symbols and footprints from a KiCAD file.

I had a quick look at some library files in KiCAD and library files in LibrePCB; they both use s-expressions as the textual representation of the data structures (which is great, for me anyway!) but an exhaustive list of types, keywords, etc is necessary to produce the correct datastructures.

For KiCAD I will have to ask on their forums (or search the net, or something) but if LibrePCB has a document prescribing the s-expressions that sort of halves the work.

Warm Regards
Lee

Please take a look here:
https://librepcb.org/docs/quickstart/create-library-elements/

no need to do manual editing of any files.

Creating the LibrePCB files was easy once you parsed the kicad files. My problem was that the old kicad files were easy to parse but the new s-format would need a complete rewrite.
Other problems were that kicad parameters were not always consistent. A solution would get 95% of the symbols but then needed extra coding to figure out the rest. The big problem is that LibrePCB can do a closed polygon and turn any side into an arc. Kicad can’t do that. Look in kicads library for a 74ls02 nor gate to see how they do their fill. It is ugly.

LibrePCBs library does need a lot of work. Can we get some volunteers to help ?

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Hello,

I would like to import an electrical library from Kicad.Not electronic
I have not been able to do this yet.

This is the link to the file.

Greatings,
Erik

Hi Erik,

Here’s a short demonstration how to import KiCad libraries:

Just select your “public” folder. I quickly tried it with your library and it worked fine. But note that there are some limitations for your quite special library, especially that LibrePCB does not support custom colors (the importer warns about many usages of custom colors in your symbols).

Hi Urban (ubruhin),

Thanks you for your quick message.
I had now seen what I had done wrong.
Now the import works.

Color is not so important to me.
I worked in industry and the schematics were in black and white.

Erik

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