This is already available in the Plot dialog: "Do not tent vias". Other devs, what do you think about adding it to Print as well?
On Sun, Jun 12, 2016 at 05:25:21PM +0200, Cheng Sheng wrote: > Hi KiCad Developers, > > I made a feature for my own hobbyist use (to etch my own PCB boards). I > don't know how much the community welcomes such hobbyist-oriented features. > So I'd like to ask the mail-list before I send out a pull request. Guess > the answer leans positive because I already saw some hobbyist-friendly > features inside the "File->Print" dialog of pcbnew (eg., small drill). > > The use-case: vias of hobby-etched PCBs are usually hand-soldered with a > wire (I suppose most hobbyists don't eletroplate their through-holes), thus > needs to be exposed on the solder mask layers. Currently, the printed > images don't have vias on the solder mask layers. > > (It is still doable on the current version to produce a desired F.Mask or > B.Mask image by hacking the Gerber files, by overlaying a hacked drill file > on a mask Gerber file, and exporting in the Gerber viewer. But this is too > many steps to do.) > > Happily finding how easy it is to compile KiCad source code, I decide to > add the required functionality myself. Here it is: > http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~jeru-sheng/kicad/kicad-feature/revision/6924 > > What it does is: If a via appears on F.Cu layer, print it also on F.Mask > layer; same for B.Cu layer via on B.Mask layer. > > The new functionality is controllable in "File->Print" menu as a check box: > [image: Inline image 1] > > Given the following pcb traces: > [image: Inline image 4] > > When the check box is off: > [image: Inline image 2] > > When it is on: > [image: Inline image 3] > (so it seems the vias are on all copper layers, even if the traces it is > connected to are not on all layers). > > And this does not affect Gerber plot even when the check box is on: > [image: Inline image 5] > > Look forward to hearing back. > > Regards, > Cheng Sheng _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers Post to : kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp