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1. KiCad EM Stackup Exporter (KESE) Wiki

KESE reads a KiCad board file (.kicad_pcb) and writes a real 3D model of the board: every dielectric, every net's copper and every via at its true height, with every copper solid named after its net (for example Copper_GND). The same board can also be written as a light surface model for web viewers and renders. Output formats are GLB, STEP, STL and OBJ.

The goal is a one-step path from a KiCad board to a simulation-ready 3D model, with no hand cleanup in CAD.

1.1 Why This Project

KiCad's own 3D export is made for mechanical fit. Its STEP export can include copper (KiCad 9 groups it by net), but the laminate stays one body, and nothing in the file carries εr, tanδ or conductivity. An EM solver needs each dielectric as its own body with its own εr and tanδ, copper at its real thickness, and one closed solid per net so that ports and excitations can be assigned, with the material values alongside. KESE reads the .kicad_pcb file directly (KiCad itself does not need to be installed), rebuilds the stack-up layer by layer and writes it out as closed solids for solvers, or as the visible surface for viewers. Almost every number that shapes the model lives in parameters/ (the 1.6 mm board used when the file gives no thickness is built into the code; Board.BOARD_THICKNESS_MM overrides it), and each output comes with a parameters.txt that lists the parameter values behind it.

Important

Validation against measurements is pending. The models have not yet been compared with measured boards or with reference solver results. Thicknesses default to KiCad's own values (35 µm copper, 10 µm solder mask), not to any fabricator's process. Set your fabricator's numbers in parameters/ before trusting a simulation built on the output.

This wiki documents KESE version 2.2.0 (kese/__init__.py). Defaults quoted on every page are those of the parameter files on main. Everything KESE is made of lives in the repository's Generator/ folder, and the paths in this wiki, such as parameters/ and kese/, are inside it.

1.2 Links

• Repository README
• Getting Started: install and export a first board.
• Contents: every page of this wiki.

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