pcb-rnd knowledge pool

Abstract: Before, a line or an arc could be connected to a polygon* only by resetting its CLEARLINE flag (which was commonly toggled by 'j' key). Now it's also possible to connect a line/arc by setting its clearance to 0.

  Imported from the mailing list archives.

WARNING: this document uses old, pre-2.0.0 hotkeys

The ChangeClearSize action was changed, so that instead of rejecting any clearance size below DRC setting, the behavior is similar to changing clearance of a pin/pad (ie. by decreasing the clearance with 'shift-k', when it crosses DRC threshold, it eventually becomes 0; by increasing the clearance with 'k', when it's already 0, it eventually takes the DRC setting size).

The route styles dialog in gtk hid also now allows setting the clearance parameter to 0. This feature has one big advantage - it's now possible to define route styles, which have property of being automatically connected to polygons ('New lines/arcs clear polygons' setting is still available simultaneously).

* this only applies to polygons with CLEARPOLY flag; in the other case, the polygon is always connected to everything inside its shape.

Bonus: Implementing this feature automatically resolved a bug, which didn't allow setting arc's StartAngle to 0.