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Freeform-Planner

Freeform-Planner is an interactive 3D layout tool for planning freeform/point-to-point electronic circuits. Draw a schematic in KiCad with the included library, generate a netlist, and place your components in 3D space. All connections are visualized as airwires.

Transistor Blinker Example Transistor Blinker Example Real Example: a two-transistor LED blinker loaded from a KiCad .net netlist, with components placed in 3D space and airwires showing all net connections.
This project is included as an example.

Quick Start

1 — Draw a schematic in KiCad

Open KiCad and use the included library to draw your circuit.

2 — Export a netlist from KiCad

In the schematic → File ▸ Export ▸ Netlist… → choose the KiCad format and save the .net file.

2 — Open the layout

Start Freeform-Planner (Planner.py or build EXE)

Use File ▸ Open to load either:

  • a .net KiCad netlist — creates a fresh layout with all components stacked at the origin, or
  • a .ffps project file — restores a previously saved layout with positions intact.

3 — Place components

Click a component to select it (it highlights), then use the keyboard shortcuts below to move and rotate it. Airwires update in real time as you reposition parts.

Action Keys
Translate X / Y / Z 6 / 4 — 9 / 1 — 8 / 2
Rotate X W / S
Rotate Y D / A
Rotate Z E / Q
Reset rotation R (helpful when confusion sets in)
Cycle trough available footprints F
Insert/Remove wire Ctrl + W
Orbit camera Hold right mouse + drag
Pan camera Hold middle mouse + drag
Zoom Scroll wheel

4 — Save your work

File ▸ Save writes a .ffps project file that preserves component positions, rotations, and footprint choices.

Supported components

Class Description
RES Through-hole / 0603 resistor
CAP Through-hole / 0603 capacitor
LED5MM 5 mm LED (full / short lead)
BC847 / BC547 / BC557 NPN / PNP transistors (TO-92 or SOT-23)
DIODE Through-hole diode
NE555 / TL072 ICs (DIP-8 or SOIC-8)
PORT Connector pin
WIRE Freeform wire segment

Components are mapped by KiCad symbol value — add new ones in componentLibrary.py.

Setup (UV project manager)

  1. Install UV: pip install uv
  2. In project root: uv install (reads pyproject.toml)
  3. To add/update dependencies:
    • uv add ursina@latest
    • uv add pytest@latest --dev
    • uv lock
  4. Run app: python Planner.py
  5. Run tests: pytest -q or uv test (if configured)

Disclaimer

I've used AI (Copilot) extensively to get this project to a useable state. That point in time is clearly visible in the commit logs.