Materials and finishes

Each part in KerfCraft has a material and can have a finish. The two have different jobs.

The material is what you buy and cut#

The material is the sheet or the timber that you buy, for example 18 mm birch plywood or a 47 × 100 mm stud. The material sets the thickness of a panel and the section of a timber member. It also tells the cutting plan if the grain matters.

If you change the material, the cut list, the cutting plan and the bill of materials change too. You set the material with Material in Properties.

The finish is only how a part looks#

A finish is the surface that you see: paint, a clear varnish or oil, a veneer, a laminate, wallpaper or a floor covering. The cut list, the cutting plan, the bill of materials and the workshop pack never read the finish. If you paint a wardrobe, every row of its cut list stays the same.

You set the finish with Finish in Properties. A finish on an assembly applies to each part in it, unless a part has its own finish. For a room, you can set the finish of the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

Why KerfCraft keeps them apart#

A paint colour does not change the thickness of a panel. A veneer look on the screen does not make the panel a veneered sheet. If a finish could change the cut list, a change to the look could change what you cut without a warning. Thus KerfCraft lets you change the look as many times as you want, and the cut list stays the same.

If you want a veneered sheet in the cut list, select a veneered sheet as the material.

Material looks#

A part with no finish shows the look of its material. Timber and grained sheets show a wood grain in the colour of the material. The wood grain on the screen follows the grain direction of the part. Thus the grain that you see agrees with the grain in the cut list.

Accessories#

An accessory is a part in metal, glass, plastic or stone that KerfCraft draws for the look, for example a handle or a glass shelf. Accessories have a finish but no material. They are never in the cut list.

Try another material with AI#

Try another material… in Properties uses AI to show the selected parts in a different material on your last render. Only the image changes. The design and the cut list do not change. This uses AI credit. Read Check what AI help costs and top up credit.