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Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 12:40:20 +0100
From: "Nicklas Karlsson (nicklas DOT karlsson17 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
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Subject: Re: [geda-user] The nature of gEDA layers
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Precedence: bulk

> So, if one generic container of data holds a 2D conductor on insulator pattern, and one holds
> solder mask and one holds top-to-bottom-via connectivity they don't all get talked about as layers or it
> is confusing.

A layer is a flat surface made of particular material for example: copper foil, solder mask, insulating board. To get the necessary geometries on the layers drawing primitives are added there where should be material or cut out of the same drawing primitives to remove material. There are exceptions like the plating on board edges which are on board layer but of a different material but here attribute/flag/property to tell it should be plated is good enough although an extra layer to model the second material would also be possible.

There is a need for containers or similar to group drawing primitives into via/pad/pin, element/footprint, maybe sub layout so they could be handled by the user. If you look at gerber output of via/pin/pad/element/footprint you will see result is a bunch of drawing primitives on different layers.


Nicklas Karlsson