Skip to main content

Tracking Materials

The Materials tab is an inventory tracker for the supplies your craft depends on. It answers the questions every maker eventually asks: how much of this do I have left, what did I pay for it, where did I buy it, and which projects used it up?

Adding a material

From the Creations page, open the Materials tab and tap the + to add a material (or Add Material from the command palette).

Basics:

  • Name — what it is (e.g. "Titanium White Acrylic") — required
  • Category — a type like Paint, Filament, Wood, or Yarn. Typing surfaces categories you've used before.
  • Maker / Brand — who makes it (e.g. Liquitex, Prusament). Autocompletes from brands you've entered before.
  • Notes — a short description

Inventory:

  • Quantity — how much you have on hand
  • Unit — the unit that quantity is measured in (spools, g, sheets…)
  • Low-stock threshold — when quantity drops to this number, the material is flagged as low
  • Storage location — where you keep it (e.g. "Garage bin 3, Shelf B")

Purchasing:

  • Cost (per unit) — what a unit costs, used to estimate the value of your inventory
  • Supplier — where you buy it. Autocompletes from suppliers you've used before.

Rating & Tags:

  • Rating — how much you like working with it
  • Tags — custom labels for filtering

You can also attach a photo of the material.

Stock status

Every material shows a derived stock badge based on its quantity and low-stock threshold:

  • In stock — quantity is above the threshold
  • Low — quantity has dropped to or below the threshold
  • Out — quantity is zero

The tab's stat cards summarize your whole inventory at a glance: total materials, how many are low, how many are out, and the estimated value of everything on hand (from each material's cost per unit). Use the search box and stock filter to find a specific supply or pull up everything that needs reordering.

Linking materials to creations

When you add or edit a material, the Used in section lets you link it to the creations it went into — search your creations and attach them, with an optional note on how much of the material each one used.

This connects your inventory to your output: open a creation and see what it was made from, or open a material and see everything you've made with it.

Editing and deleting

Open any material to edit any field or update its quantity as you use it up or restock. Deleting a material removes it and its creation links permanently.

Tips

  • Set a low-stock threshold on anything you reorder. It turns the tab into a shopping list — filter to Low and Out before a supply run.
  • Keep quantity current. Update it when you finish a project; the stock badges and estimated inventory value are only as accurate as your last update.
  • Record the supplier and cost. Even rough numbers make the estimated-value total useful and save you from re-researching where you bought something.
  • Materials stay private. They're working data for you, not portfolio pieces, so there's no publish step to worry about.