Material Library organization ideas

I’m looking at different ways to setup the Library to make the workflow as simple as possible.

As I see it there are 5 factors to consider:

  1. Material type
  2. Operation (Cut/Engrave)
  3. Thickness
  4. Focus positioning
  5. Lens focal length

Lens focal length maybe is a given if you are sticking with one only, but I can see some real value in specifying this, or at least having a Library per focal length maybe? No point in having a cut operation for 1/2" Acrylic and a 1" lens.

Focus positioning is useful for engraving, when you want a melted vs ablated result. Also useful for certain cuts where the material is pushing the limits of how thick you can cut. Takes the guess work out of remembering exactly the right setup for all of these needs.

Thickness is normally reserved for cutting operations, but I think it could also be used to indicate the estimated depth of engraving. This would be really nifty for giving different engraving operations a depth effect.

The operations naming could also be more nuanced, engraving can have a lot of variance. Barely etching acrylic vs deep engraving, or a specific cross hatch setup to give a mottled appearance. Wide spacing, different frequencies etc, the list goes on.

So, initial thoughts are that there are several ways to approach this:

  • Operation -> Thickness -> Material [focus height] [lens]
  • Material -> Thickness -> Operation [focus height] [lens]

However you set it up there is a certain amount of repetition for each Major category.
So the question is, how are you all doing this or wishing you should have set up earlier?

In all reality I will likely try several different Library setups and see how they feel.

One aspect of why I am thinking of having operation first is that when you start a project all you typically have is a bunch of lines. My first thought is usually, ok how do I want this to look? Then it’s the thickness and material choice after that.

Curious Gord.

Here is one of the workflow formats I have been refining.

Material → Material Thickness → Style of Cut → @ DPI / Line Interval → Speed → Power

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Cool, I like the extra detail! This is part of why I am curious to see what others are doing, get it figured out well sooner :smiley:

Not sure what the character limit for this entry is - if any. @LightBurn? For me, it is more the limits of laptop screen size I take into consideration as to the details I enter for this setup.

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