在KiCad中，给你的板子添加一个丝印文字或简单的图案还是比较简单的，因为KiCad中有专门的工具来做这事，我们看看如何操作。

The board already has several silkscreen elements on it, courtesy of the footprints we have used on it. The silkscreen elements are marked with a light-blue colour in Figure 28.1, and with white in the board’s 3D representation (Figure 28.2).

Figure 28.2: The existing silkscreen elements are shown in white in the 3D view of the board.

In the right bottom corner of the board, you can see the outline of the barrel connector footprint. There is a white line that marks the edges of the footprint, and the name of the footprint 'J1'.

Let’s say that you want to make the text 'J1' to not be printed in the manufactured board. To do that, you must edit the text properties and make it invisible. Place your mouse cursor over the text, and type the 'E' shortcut (for 'Edit'). The Properties window in Figure 28.3 will appear.

Click on the 'Invisible' radio button to select it, and click on the Ok button. The 'J1' text should no longer be visible on the board, or in its 3D representation. To bring it back, either type 'Ctr-Z' (Windows, Linux) or 'Cmd- Z' (Mac OS) to undo the change. Or, edit the barrel connector footprint (place your mouse pointer on the footprint and type 'E'), then click on the Reference text 'Edit' button to bring up the text properties for the footprint reference text, and choose 'Visible' from the Display box. Figure 28.4: You can access the footprint reference text from the footprint properties. Let’s continue to add custom text and simple graphics to this board. First, because we want to insert silkscreen elements into the top layer of the

board, select 'F.SilkS' from the Layers Manager. If we wanted to do the same to the bottom layer, we would select 'B.SilkS' (we will do this later because there is an additional consideration for doing so).

To add text, click on the Text tool from the right toolbar (Figure 28.5).

Figure 28.5: These tools are used to create silkscreen elements.

Now click on the location on the board where you would like the text to appear. I will place mine over the barrel connector footprint. The Text Properties window will appear (Figure 28.6). Type your text in the text box. You can also control the size and other attributes of your text (I encourage you to experiment with them).

Figure 28.6: Text properties.

With the text and properties as it appears in Figure 28.6, click on Ok. The silkscreen should look like the example in Figure 28.7.

Figure 28.7: The new text appears in a single line.

The text appears in a single line, and it crosses with other elements, like the LED footprint and other text. It would be better to have this text appear in three lines, justified to the left, and moved to the right edge of the board. To do that, bring up the Properties window again (place your mouse pointer over the text and type 'E'), and break the text into three lines, as you can see in

Figure 28.1. Also, change the justification to 'Right'. You can reduce the text size by reducing the Width and Height to 1.0 mm.

Figure 28.8: Text now appears in three lines, justified to the right.

Click Ok to commit the changes, and notice how this text appears on the board (Figure 28.9).

Figure 28.9: The text appears in three lines, justified to the right..

If you need to move the text, use the 'M' shortcut ('Move').

Next, let’s add a box around the text. We’ll use the polygon tool for this. If you wanted to draw a circle you would use the circle tool, and if you wanted to draw an arc you would use the arc tool. While you are still working on the F.SilkS layer, click on the polygon tool (the first from the top in Figure 28.5), and click on the four corners around the text to create the outline. Double click to exit the drawing mode. The result should look like the example in Figure 28.10.

Figure 28.10: Added a box around the text.

In 3D, the board looks like the example in Figure 28.11.

Figure 28.11: Added a box around the text, in 3D.

Now, let’s say that you’d like to print the same text and box in the bottom silkscreen layer. Start with the text. Place your mouse pointer on the text and type 'E' to show the text properties. Change the Layer to 'B.SilkS' and the Display to 'Mirrored' (Figure 28.12).

Figure 28.12: Moving the text to the bottom silkscreen.

Because the text is now placed in the bottom silkscreen, it is necessary to display it in mirrored orientation. Click Ok, and then used the 'M' key to move the text in position. Repeat the same process for each of the four lines that make up the box (Figure 28.13).

Figure 28.13: Moving the line to the bottom silkscreen.

You can see the result and its 3D representation in Figure 28.13.

Figure 28.13: The text and box appear in the bottom silkscreen.

The bottom silkscreen elements appear in purple. In the 3D view, turn the board around to see the bottom layer, where the silkscreen elements appear in white.

To learn how to add a custom logo to the silkscreen, please continue with the next recipe.

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