Forked from https://gitlab.cba.mit.edu/pub/libraries/tree/master/python
Inspired by kokopelli
TL;DR This is a workflow for generating circuit board images by coding in vim instead of drawing with kiCAD or other software.
For convenience, I created a vim keybinding to F4 for executing some commands while still being in insert mode. In vim to execute a command you have to exit insert mode by pressing ESC key, then type the command followed by the enter key and then entering again insert mode by pressing i. F4 save the file and generate a 300 dpi image. Add this to your .vimrc:
inoremap <F4> <C-o>:w<CR><C-o>:silent ! ./trigger.sh<CR><C-o>:redraw!<CR>
The script trigger.sh contains:
python pcb.py | python frep.py 300
pcb.py creates a functional representation of the circuit board and saves it in json format. The ouput is passed to frep.py which evaluates the functions and generates an RGB matrix which is saved as an image at 300 dpi (bigger than that becomes too slow).
view:
out.png
optional frep arguments:
frep.py dpi
frep.py dpi filename
Open a feh image viewer that reloads every few seconds
feh out.png --auto-zoom -R 2 &
Open pcb.py in vim and start editing. When you want to refresh the image press F4.
- Python 3
- NumPy
- Python Imaging Library
- feh image viewer