How to add a restricted/keepout area to a module in module editor?

On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 04:31:00PM -0000, Kalle Hyvönen wrote:
>
> How can I add a restricted/keepout area to a module in module editor? The area should prevent ground fills and tracks. If there is no such feature then it would be very handy to have,

Sadly there is no such feature at the moment. I encountered the same
issue for a bluetooth module (it needs a copper keepout area for the
antenna).

In fact there is no keepout area support in general... depending on your
needs you could simulate it with a dummy pad having 'adequate'
clearance, but its a suboptimal solution.

In the meantime I suggest to mark the areas in a comment layer and look
for it during routing and board review.

Also copper pours need to be trimmed manually (with an exclusion zone).

--
Lorenzo Marcantonio
Logos Srl

Is there any further update on this, two years on?

I would verymuch like to have keepout zones in modules, as well as cutouts and board outline.

The reason I want this is that the Dangerous Prototypes "Sick of Beige" library in Eagle provides a set of standard PCB sizes. Simply dropping one of those on your board sets the outline, the drills for the mounting holes in the corners, and sets a copper keepout margin around the edge of the board. It's very convenient to just drop one of those in your board in Eagle, and have everything set up initially.

What's the progress on this? Is it missing ideas, or are the ideas known and just missing someone adding implementation? I'm sure I could tackle either if someone pointed me in the right approximate direction.

Keep outs are definitely one of those features that we would like to provide at some point. It has been discussed many times. It's really a matter of manpower. We are also in the process of getting ready to roll out a stable release some time next year so it would be something that would have to be developed in a separate branch until the release. Most of our manpower will be dedicated to the next stable release. I will add it to the KiCad road map so it doesn't get lost.

I don't see it on the road map. Are you sure you added it, Wayne?

I'd like to see that feature in the future, too. Better even, a keepout layer that supports text, so you could have text in copper layers consisting of missing copper like this: http://www.dgkelectronics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/dgk_electronics_logo_on_kicad.jpg.

I could not find it under feature requests so I'm also giving this a bump.

I was actually looking for this myself right now for making a coplanar waveguide to microstrip transition on a SMA connector footprint. Would be really handy to have (also with respect to mechanical layers and keepouts for things such as metal can footprints)

Hearty me-too, another year later. I'm working with SMT coin-cell holders, and having a keepout around the center contact as part of the module would be tremendously useful.

I'm already developing on my own fork of KiCAD as it happens... I may look into this myself.

Bump, I miss it as well.

Keepout areas for tracks could in some instances be useful to have included in a footprint, but the use case I run into most frequently is needing footprints to have areas void of copper pours.

I am currently needing this for an U.FL connector, but it would be very useful for antennas and such as well.

The current keepout area implementation allows for keeping out tracks, vias, or copper pours, so I am just illustrating my most common use case for having the ability to make these areas part of a footprint.

One could argue that for an antenna or similar it is functional to simply place the footprint on the board and then draw a keepout area for that component in the board instead of in the footprint. This may be workable for an antenna if only one or two will be added to a board, but not for times where many instances of a component are required. I am making a board for some scientific experiments I am performing for my PhD research that has many U.FL connectors, and as the number of component instances scales it becomes less and less viable to manually place a keepout area on the board for each one.