Working with Material Properties

Work with material properties in the Material Library dialog box. This dialog box lists the materials available to you to manufacture your part. The materials are defined in your source composites file, but you can edit their properties and packing information here.

Open the Process Material Library Dialog Box

Add Materials

  1. Select Materials and Packagings in the tree on the left side of the Process Material Library dialog box.
  2. Add a material in one of the following ways:

    • Click Add.

      The most recently used material is added to the list.

    • Click Add From Provider and select materials from the dialog box that opens.

      This shows a list of materials available from applications you have installed on your computer; for example, Inventor.

  3. In the table, edit details about the material such as ID, name, and category, as well as qualities like thickness and density.

    Edited values that differ from the provider's values are highlighted in orange. If invalid values are used, the row is highlighted in yellow and the OK button is disabled. The color setting applies to the way shapes will display inside Autodesk Nesting Utility, not to the material itself or any display in TruPlan.

Set Nesting Parameters

Set default nesting values for materials. These will be used, and can be changed, later when creating a nest with Autodesk Nesting Utility.

  1. In the Process Material Library, select a material in the tree and click the Nesting tab.

  2. Select Enabled so that this material will be included in the nest.

  3. Make changes as needed to orientation adjustments.

    Each material can have a defined set of allowable nesting orientations. From this set of orientations, an optimal orientation is selected for each part as it is nested on the material. (You can also specify allowable orientations when setting up your nest later.)

    • Rotation angles: Presets in 90 degree intervals.
    • Deviation: Allowable deviation from the presets; for example, if you enter 10, a 90-degree orientation is allowed to deviate between 80 and 100.
    • Increment: Allowable deviation increments. For example, if you enter 2, a 10-degree deviation can occur in increments of 2; that is, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10.
  4. Adjust Positioning values.

    These are the default positioning settings for nesting. They can be changed when creating a nest.

    • Material grain: A base angle from the X-axis that gives the material a grain appearance. To guarantee the same grain on nested shapes, set their orientation and deviation angles to 0, and deselect their Flip, Mirror, and Rotation boxes.
    • Frame width: How close shapes are allowed to be placed near the outer perimeter of the nesting area when using this material. This restriction can be refined on each side by adjusting Trim values in packaging.
    • Item separation: The allowable distance between items in a nest.
    • Double-sided: Select this if the material surface is the same on both its top and bottom. This can be important when considering flip and mirror.

Set Composite Properties

  1. In the Process Material Library, select a material in the tree and click the Composite tab.

  2. Select a Material Type and enter a Cured Thickness.

Synchronize Materials

  1. Select Materials and Packagings in the tree on the left side of the Process Material Library dialog box.
  2. Click Sync From Provider.

    This refreshes the material list with the values from the original materials as stored in their host software.

Add Packaging

Any material you intend to use in a nest must have packaging associated with it. If not, any shapes using that material cannot be nested. Add packaging using the Packaging tab.