Altium to KiCad layer conversion

[Zenn Geeraerts]

Hi all

We are trying to load Altium footprints into KiCad but noticed that some mechanical layers from Altium get merged into 1 layer in KiCad.

This is caused by these lines:

m_layermap.emplace( ALTIUM_LAYER::MECHANICAL_14, Eco2_User );
m_layermap.emplace( ALTIUM_LAYER::MECHANICAL_15, Eco2_User );
m_layermap.emplace( ALTIUM_LAYER::MECHANICAL_16, Eco2_User );

When removing these lines and changing some of the mappings in the enum, we could get our desired result.

In the source code, first the m_layermap is searched and then the enum mappings are used as a fall back.

Would it be a good idea to define these mappings in a file so users can choose which Altium layers to convert to which KiCad layers?

If no file is used or the Altium layer is not present in the file, search the layermap, then use the enum as a last resort.

I could make a merge request for this change if you're interested.

Kind regards,

- Zenn

[Seth Hillbrand]

This could be a user preference.  You are welcome to make a merge request adding this preference panel. 

An additional external file is probably a non starter 

Seth

Seth Hillbrand

Lead Developer

+1-530-302-5483‬

Long Beach, CA

www.kipro-pcb.com    in...@kipro-pcb.com

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[Wayne Stambaugh]

Seth,

Isn't someone working on an import wizard for V10 that would address this issue (Roberto maybe)?  The Eagle importer allows users to remap layers that do not directly map to a KiCad layer which the import wizard would add to all third party board importers.

Wayne

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[Seth Hillbrand]

This is for footprints, not projects.  So the mapping wizard wouldn't apply

Seth

Seth Hillbrand

Lead Developer

+1-530-302-5483‬

Long Beach, CA

www.kipro-pcb.com    in...@kipro-pcb.com

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/1acdc11a-7120-4ae8-9d39-430f615260b2%40gmail.com.

[Wayne Stambaugh]

Yeah, it would be a pain to have to remap each footprint one at a time using the layer remapping dialog.  Now that we have unlimited layers in V10, maybe we should map each Altium layer that does not directly map to a KiCad layer to a new User_# layer.

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[Zenn Geeraerts]

Mapping those Altium layers to new user layers in KiCad would be a good solution for our issue.

Op maandag 25 augustus 2025 om 12:54:46 UTC schreef stamb...@gmail.com: