Materials

MakerVault lets you track the physical materials you cut, engrave, or print — wood, acrylic, fabric, foam, and anything else in your shop. Assign a material to a file to remember which material the design was used with, then filter your library to find all files associated with a particular material.

Setting up materials

Materials are managed in Preferences → Materials. The panel has four tabs: Materials, Categories, Brands, and Suppliers.

Materials tab

This is your inventory of specific materials — the individual items you track (e.g., “1/8” Baltic Birch Plywood”, “3mm Black Acrylic”). Each material is based on a type from the Categories hierarchy and can optionally be linked to a brand and supplier.

Categories tab

Categories define the taxonomy used to classify materials. The structure is a three-level tree:

Category → Subcategory → Type

For example:

• Wood → Plywood → Baltic Birch Plywood
• Acrylic → Cast Acrylic → Black Cast Acrylic
• Fabric → Felt → Wool Felt

You manage this taxonomy here — add, rename, or remove entries at any level. You cannot delete a category, subcategory, or type that has materials assigned to it.

Brands tab

The Brands tab holds a list of material brands (e.g., JDS Industries, Inventables, Woodpecker Crafts). Each entry has a name and an optional website URL. You can add, rename, reorder, and delete brands.

Suppliers tab

The Suppliers tab holds a list of places you buy materials. Each entry has a name, an optional URL, and optional notes. This is useful for tracking local stores, online shops, or direct suppliers.

Creating a material

To add a material:

1. Open MakerVault → Preferences (or press Cmd+,).
2. Go to the Materials section.
3. Click Add Material.
4. Select a type using the three cascading dropdowns: Category → Subcategory → Type.
5. Fill in any additional fields.

The available fields are:

Field	Notes
Category / Subcategory / Type	Required. Three-level selection from your Categories taxonomy.
Brand	Optional. Chosen from your Brands list.
Supplier	Optional. Chosen from your Suppliers list.
Custom name	Optional. Override the display name (e.g., “My favorite birch”).
Thickness	Optional. Material thickness in mm.
Color	Optional. A color label or description.
Quantity	Optional. How many units you have on hand.
Quantity unit	Optional. The unit for quantity (sheets, rolls, spools, etc.).
Notes	Optional. Any other details you want to remember.

Assigning a material to a file

A file can have multiple materials assigned to it — useful when a design is used across different substrates or in projects that combine materials.

To assign a material:

1. Select a file to open the detail panel.
2. Find the Materials section in the detail panel.
3. Click to open the material picker and select from your materials list.

Repeat to add additional materials to the same file.

Filtering by material

Use the filter popup to filter your library to files associated with a specific material.