Hi Simon, JP, I understand the issue with the colors chosen for OR-mixing. I thought a good first step would be to set the framework for the future when that is no longer relevant (i.e. when there is no legacy canvas anymore). It can be a "under the hood" change only in pcbnew, until the legacy canvas is removed.
BTW Chris, I also have some ideas for improving the visualization of very busy (dense and high layer count) boards, I will play with them soon... -Jon On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 6:32 AM, Chris Pavlina <pavlina.ch...@gmail.com> wrote: > Let people choose. Have the default colors be wxDC-friendly. Trust me, > nobody is choosing to work with eight-layer boards in legacy. > > On Tue, Feb 07, 2017 at 09:01:10AM +0100, jp charras wrote: > > Le 07/02/2017 à 06:31, Simon Wells a écrit : > > > i thought this wasn't possible due to wxDC limitations > > > > Exactly, wxDC does not have a transparency feature to draw items. > > > > In this case, when you want to draw board layers with a transparency > effect, the only one other way > > to do that is to use logic combination between colors (for transparency: > the OR operation.) > > > > In other to achieve a good result, you cannot use any color for layers. > > You have to choose a set of colors which allows this good result. > > (by adjusting the 32 bits binary values of each color to ensure a good > result when 2 or more color > > values are ORed) > > > > There are not a lot of suitable binary values. > > In all cases the background must be black (when using OR or > transparency). > > > > Note also Eeschema does not use currently transparency, and the choice > of colors is not critical. > > > > > > > > On 7 February 2017 at 17:00, Chris Pavlina <pavlina.ch...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > >> I'm working on an eight-layer board and really can't wait for this to > > >> hit pcbnew too. It's bloody impossible to tell layers apart with > KiCad's > > >> state-of-the-80s-art color system. > > > > I have made a few boards with 8 and one with 16 layers. > > There is no perfect way to see all layers. > > > > I used Pcbnew and Altium (in a company which has a Altium license) to > design a 8 layers board (2 > > very similar boards, one with Pcbnew, the other with Altium, because > this company used Altium). > > > > Altium allows arbitrary colors and transparency, but a 8 layers board is > not easy to manage. > > > > So do not expect allowing arbitrary colors and transparency will fix > your problem. > > (In the best case, it slightly helps). > > > > > > Having said that, using a selected set of colors does not imply using > EDA_COLOR_T in Kicad code. > > wxColor can be used instead of. > > > > This is only the *color choice* in Pcbnew which is constrained in legacy > canvas. > > > > EDA_COLOR_T comes from the fact the legacy graphic primitives where > written for an other library, > > not for wxWidgets. > > (Kicad was started before wxWidgets exists) > > > > >> > > >> On Mon, Feb 06, 2017 at 10:03:11PM -0500, Jon Evans wrote: > > >>> Hi all, > > >>> > > >>> I started working on the idea of a color theme system for KiCad, > starting > > >>> with the schematic editor. > > >>> > > >>> This change relies on a complete removal of EDA_COLOR_T from the > code, and > > >>> replacement with a color structure that can handle arbitrary > colors. I > > >>> think this is important and the right path for the future, but since > it's a > > >>> significant change, I wanted to get buy-in before going any farther > down > > >>> this road. I can understand the reasons for using an enum for > > >>> color--especially since it lets the developers restrict the colors > to those > > >>> that will work well with the drawing technique of the legacy > canvases. > > >>> But, since the new canvases will have no problem supporting arbitrary > > >>> colors, I think it makes sense to start setting up the groundwork > for that. > > >>> > > >>> In my test code, I have replaced EDA_COLOR_T with wxColour, since > that is > > >>> used internally in a few places already, and it was pretty simple > (although > > >>> somewhat time-consuming) to replace all usages. wxColour has the > nice > > >>> property of serializing/deserializing from hex color codes like > "#80FC62" > > >>> so that's what I use for storing in the settings for now (eventually > I > > >>> think color settings should be in their own files so that they can be > > >>> traded by users). Plus, there is a canned wxColourPicker widget > that I can > > >>> use in place of the custom color picker buttons that are used in the > > >>> settings today. > > >>> > > >>> You can see some screenshots of the (work-in-progress) settings > dialog > > >>> changes, and an example of a custom color theme in the schematic > editor, > > >>> here: > > >>> http://imgur.com/a/MxMmb > > >>> > > >>> So, any feedback from the core team? Any reason why I shouldn't move > > >>> forward with preparing a patch to move from EDA_COLOR_T to wxColour > across > > >>> the board? > > >>> > > >>> Best, > > >>> Jon > > >> > > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> 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 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > 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 > > > > > > > > > -- > > Jean-Pierre CHARRAS > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > 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 >
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