In this article I'll show how to use 3D models in KiCAD from either FreeCAD or OpenSCAD. It is possible even if you use a model from another source. As you remember, in the first article we used OpenSCAD to create 3D model, in the second article we used FreeCAD. Using FreeCAD seems to be much easier (almost like point'n'click), but don't forget about the flexibility of OpenSCAD: in some cases its parametrization functionality can be very useful. Maybe you are the laziest and you prefer using 3D model from the internet. It does not matter, anyway in most cases you have to convert this model to the KiCAD-understandable format. In this article I'll try to describe all important steps of these convertions and add more light to the darkest parts of this process.

This article is a second article describing 3D models creation for KiCAD. In the previous article we've created complete 3D model with OpenSCAD. This way, despite of its simplicity, requires you to keep complete model in your head, thus you can make a lot of mistakes, which will be hard to find later. Moreover, in many cases it's much easier to create such things in your favourite 3D editor. There are not too much 3D CADs in open-source world, and from my point of view the best is FreeCAD. Of course, there are some proprietary alternatives, but I prefer KiCAD because of its simplicity and speed. Small bonus - both OpenSCAD and FreeCAD work like a charm in Linux.

If you are hardware engineer and you spent some time for searching an open-source software then I'm pretty sure you know KiCAD project. This project is for creating schematics and printed circuit boards. It is cross-platform, easy to learn and stable project. One of its outstanding features is a support of a 3D models for components, so you have a possibility to view the complete board in 3D without assembling it. Unfortunately, many people think, that it's hard to create 3D model. Moreover, KiCAD supports only models created in Wings3D, which is quite hard to learn, especially for beginners. Fortunately, there are more clear and easy ways. One of them I will describe today. I talk about OpenSCAD.