I'm relatively new to KiCad, but I've had some success in the past generating boards and having them manufactured - though admittedly it's been a while.
I'm using 5.1.9 on MacOS 10.14, and I've generated my schematic (just a simple 3x3 switch matrix, plus an extra switch) using just two different components:
- 11x switches using an imported symbol/footprint (from SnapEDA) of an Omron B3F-4055 pushbutton switch
- 1x 1x8 2.54mm pitch connector (for which there wasn't a footprint, but I assigned one)
When I initially generated the netlist from Eeschema, Pcbnew opened to an empty window. I don't mean a blank board, I mean a window with all the editor chrome and options, but no board to edit.
If I randomly click around in the empty window, I can seemingly select parts that are invisible to me, so I think it's there, but I can't see it for some reason. (Note the different details on the bottom of the window)
Searching around, I found a similar post here that said to use the Update PCB From Schematic tool. I used the tool, learned that the connector (J1 on the schematic) didn't have a footprint, and assigned a similar footprint that will work for my situation using the Assign Footprints tool in Eeschema.
Now Update PCB From Schematic passes just fine - no warnings or anything - but I still get an empty PCB file. So I'm kind of at a loss here.
Hopefully that's enough info and it's something stupid I'm doing. I attached a few images to show what I made and what I see.
Thanks in advance!