Creation of materials

The command opens the material editor.

To open the command, go to:

Woodwork Design -> Material Editor

Material Editor

On the left side of the window of material editor, you will find database browser presented in the form of a drop-down tree structure. On the right side, you will find editing window for the active item (item constructor).

The browser tree has two levels:

1.	Material type or color group level.

2.	Material or color item level.

All Woodwork for Inventor materials are categorized into the following types:

▪	Fill materials:

✓

Solid

✓

Board

✓	Laminated Board

✓	Multilayer Board

✓

Desktop

✓

Rod

▪	Cover materials:

✓

Veneer

✓

Edge Band

✓

Paint

The last level row contains a group of the available cover appearances in which all colors that can be linked to materials are entered.

The following materials have different colors:

1.	Laminated board

2.	Multilayer board

Desktop

Veneer

Edge band

Paint

Click here for more information.

The second level of the tree structure contains items belonging to the expanded group. If you place the cursor on this item on the right side of the window, you will see a constructor of this item. Its form depends on the type of item being created or edited.

Each item has a contextual menu with the help of which items are controlled. It can be opened by right-clicking on it.

Material editor Item context menu

1.	Full expansion of the tree structure.

2.	Full collapse of the tree structure.

3.	New item creation.

4.	Item copying.

5.	Item deletion.

Default material settings dialog

Each material type has a setting editor, which allows editing parameters that are automatically applied when creating new items for the given materials. Once the material has been created, the user can edit the assigned settings for each individual material.

The following settings can be edited:

1.	Setting the size of a raw material sheet.

2.	Selecting CNC machine(s). The order in which CAM Solver will create CNC jobs depends on the order of selecting the specific machine (which one is first and which one is subsequent).

3.	Setting ranges for material oversizes depending on the size of the part.

Fill Material constructor

Code	Code of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Name	Name of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Autodesk Asset Library	Autodesk Inventor material database selector.
Asset Name	Autodesk Inventor material database item selector.
Has grain	Texture attribute which is important in defining a material for optimum cutting task.
Asset preview	Material image.
Raw MaterialSizes	The size of a raw material sheet. Here, you will also find the measurements of margins remaining after cutting out parts from a single sheet. In the last column (Routers), you can specify a default CNC machine for which CNC jobs will be automatically created. You can specify several CNC machines given the fact that one CNC machine may be unable to complete the required machining job. For example, after machining with Nesting Router type machine, it may be necessary to additionally perform side drilling with a CNC processing center. Machining will be carried out in the order in which CNC machines are registered.
Material Oversizes	Table used to set oversize ranges depending on the size of the part. Here, you can enter several ranges of the workpiece size. Depending on the size range within which the workpiece with the assigned material falls, the appropriate oversizes will be applied when assigning a material to the workpiece.

The entire Woodwork for Inventor material representation mechanism is based on the Autodesk Inventor material and color libraries. The Woodwork for Inventor add-on is provided along with its database (W4INV Material Library) which is an Autodesk Inventor Asset type database. In addition to this, Woodwork for Inventor has its own database which contains items about Woodwork for Inventor material properties. In addition, each fill material is linked to Autodesk Inventor Asset Material, whereas a cover material is linked to Autodesk Inventor Asset Appearance. The user can create his own libraries of Autodesk Inventor materials/colors and use them in creating items in his Woodwork for Inventor database.

To use your own Autodesk Inventor material data base, you have to register this base in the project file (click here for more information). Then a readily available data base created by the user will appear in the Woodwork for Inventor material data base selector (see dialog description) the items of which can be used when defining a material or color.

Multilayer board mat editor

Code	Code of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Name	Name of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Autodesk Asset Library	Autodesk Inventor material database selector.
Asset Name	Autodesk Inventor material database item selector.
Has grain	Texture attribute which is important in defining a material for optimum cutting task.
Multilayer Board Content	Board layer constructor.
Asset preview	Material image.
Raw Material Sizes	The size of a raw material sheet. Here, you will also find the measurements of margins remaining after cutting out parts from a single sheet. In the last column (Routers), you can specify a default CNC machine for which CNC jobs will be automatically created. You can specify several CNC machines given the fact that one CNC machine may be unable to complete the required machining job. For example, after machining with Nesting Router type machine, it may be necessary to additionally perform side drilling with a CNC processing center. Machining will be carried out in the order in which CNC machines are registered.
Material Oversizes	Table used to set oversize ranges depending on the size of the part. Here, you can enter several ranges of the workpiece size. Depending on the size range within which the workpiece with the assigned material falls, the appropriate oversizes will be applied when assigning a material to the workpiece.

The multilayer board constructor differs from a regular fill material constructor because this material consists of other materials. In the Multilayer Board Content table, you can construct the composition of a multilayer board.

Material Code and Name

Each material item has a drop-down list in the table containing the materials which are entered in the database and which can be included in the structure of the multilayer board. At the top, you will find a filter window: enter the filtering phrase here to narrow the selection list.

Pull down menu of multilayer board

Appearance Code and Name

If the layer material can have different colors, the color can be selected from the drop-down list in the second column. Here, you will find all the available colors registered in the Woodwork for Inventor database. To see how colors are entered, click here.

Thickness

Each layer has thickness, except for one that is made from a fill material and has a thickness equal to 0. It is called a layer of “floating” thickness. It means that the thickness of this layer will be calculated by summing up the thicknesses of all layers and by subtracting this sum from the thickness of the part model.

The user is free to choose a desired thickness of the fill material. Meanwhile, the thickness of the cover type layer is selected from available options.

When creating a multilayer board, the following rules are to be observed:

▪	A multilayer board can only consist of the following types of materials:

✓

Board

✓	Laminated board (has a color)

✓	Veneer (has a color)

✓	Paint (has a color)

▪	A multilayer board cannot consist only of cover type materials.

▪	A material that possesses a color can only be inserted in the top or bottom layers.

▪	If a material having a color is inserted in the bottom, then a color-linked material must also be inserted in the bottom.

▪

All layers have thickness, except for one that is made from a fill material and has a thickness equal to 0. It is called a layer of “floating” thickness. It means that the thickness of this layer will be calculated by summing up the thicknesses of all layers and by subtracting this sum from the thickness of the part model.

If the above rules are not observed, Woodwork for Inventor will not allow the entry of such materials or such material changes.

Each item has a contextual menu:

multilayer context menu

1.	Adding a layer. Inserts a board type material which can later be replaced by a different one, observing the above rules.

2.	Inserting a layer above the current row. Operates in the same principle as the layer addition.

3.	Moving the layer up by one row.

4.	Moving the layer down by one row.

5.	Layer removal.

Veneer material constructor

Code	Code of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Name	Name of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Density	Relative material density (volume per cubic unit). It is used in specifications for calculating the total material thickness.
Sizes	Cover thickness value options.
Material Oversizes	Table used to set oversize ranges depending on the size of the part. Here, you can enter several ranges of the workpiece size. Depending on the size range within which the workpiece with the assigned material falls, the appropriate oversizes will be applied when assigning a material to the workpiece.

If you have entered several thickness values, you can select a desired value in the material assignment dialog.

Cover thickness

Edge Band Constructor

Code

Code of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.

Name

Name of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.

Density

Relative material density (volume per cubit unit of area). It is used in specifications for calculating the total material thickness.

Sizes

▪	Width – edge band width option which is transferred to a specification. For example, the model settings define that the edge band is applied to the part edge of 18 mm in thickness. It means that information to be transferred to the specification would state that the edge band width is 22 mm.

▪	Thickness – each option of edge band width has relevant edge band thickness which is indicated in the right window.

▪	Oversize – symmetric oversize of the edge band.

Paint Constructor dialog

Code	Code of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Name	Name of the material contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Density	Relative material density (volume per cubit unit of area). It is used in specifications for calculating the total material thickness.
Sizes	Thickness – paint layer thickness options.
Oversizes	Oversize range options for paint. Oversize is expressed as an additionally painted area. Here, you can enter several ranges of the area size. Depending on the size range within which the painted area with the assigned material falls, the appropriate oversizes will be applied when assigning a paint material to the faces.

Paint material constructor

Code	Code of the color contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Name	Name of the color contained in the Woodwork for Inventor database.
Autodesk Asset Library	Autodesk Inventor material database selector.
Asset Name	Autodesk Inventor material database item selector.
Asset preview	Color image.
Has grain	Texture attribute, which is important in various stages of processing the part information.