I would like to draw a circle on the PCB silkscreen by specifying the location of the circle center, the circle radius, and the circle line width if possible. How can I do this as simply as possible?
You would need to create the circle with an svg editor such as Inkscape and then load the resulting image like this (using Inklscape)
draw a circle set the size either via the radius in xml editor or via height and width in the toolbar set the line width via stroke-width in xml editor then save as plain svg. Start Fritzing and drag the silkscreen image icon in to a sketch
then select the image icon and click load image file in Inspector (the lower right window)
and select the svg file to load the image
Peter
Thank you Peter. This requirement will drive me to learn and use some of the basic properties of Inkscape. I’ll get back to you when I have succeeded.
Jerry
Peter: I figured out what I needed to learn. I attach a PCB screen showing circles drawn using Inkscape and Visio after saving the file drawn there as an SVG file:
As shown, two of the circle figures are from Visio and have red and white colored rims. The other circle came from an Inkscape file and has a dark rim.
All three of these circle figures will work with my Fritzing sketches.
Question: Can you tell me if I use the red rimmed Visio circle figure on one of my PCB’s what color woll be printed out on the PCB by the board house. Will my board come back with a red or a default-white colored circle?
Thank you Peter
It does not really matter what the color is in the fritzing sketch. When exported to gerber, all silkscreen will lose all color information. It will just be a shape, and the board house will use whatever color their equipment and process defines for the silkscreen.
For gerber, silkscreen does not define a color, only a shape. Or more correctly, an area. Viewer programs will use a color to show that area, but it is not set by the export process. If the board company has options, you will need to tell them what to use separate from the greber.
Thank you microMerlin. I continue to learn as I move along with my projects.