# Your first bookcase

Open a parametric bookcase, change its width, and get its cut list and cutting plan.

In this tutorial, you change the width of a bookcase and get the parts to cut for it. You learn how a parameter controls a design, and where to find the cut list, the cutting plan and the CSV export.

You need about 10 minutes. You do not need to know how to draw in KerfCraft.

The pictures show the UK region with sizes in mm. In other regions, the materials can have different names.

## Open KerfCraft

1. Go to [kerfcraft.app/workshop](/workshop/) and sign in.
2. Look at the screen. The **Model** panel is at the top left, and the **Properties** panel is below it.
3. Look at the 3D view in the middle. The manufacturing panel with the cut list is below it.
4. If **Units** in the **Properties** panel does not show **mm**, select **mm**.

KerfCraft is in beta. Sign-in is by invitation.

## Open the bookcase

The bookcase in this tutorial comes from the carcass generator. A generator makes all the parts of a cabinet from a small set of parameters.

1. Click **File**.
2. Move the pointer to **Sample projects**.
3. Click **Bookcase**.

![The File menu with Sample projects open and Bookcase highlighted.](/docs/img/tutorials/bookcase-sample-menu.jpg)

A bookcase 900 mm wide, 1800 mm high and 300 mm deep opens in the 3D view. The **Model** panel shows **Bookcase** with ⚙, the sign for a generated assembly. The tab **Cut list (9)** shows its 9 parts.

![The bookcase in the 3D view, with its cut list below and the bookcaseWidth parameter in the Properties panel.](/docs/img/tutorials/bookcase-opened.jpg)

## Change the width

The width of this bookcase is a project parameter, `bookcaseWidth`. You find it under **Parameters** at the bottom of the **Properties** panel.

1. Find **bookcaseWidth** under **Parameters**. It shows 900.
2. Double-click the value 900 to select it.
3. Type `800`.
4. Press Enter.

The bookcase becomes 100 mm narrower. In the cut list, the length of **Top, Bottom** changes from 864 to 764 mm. The shelves and the back also change.

![The bookcase at 800 mm wide. The cut list shows the top and bottom at 764 mm.](/docs/img/tutorials/bookcase-800.jpg)

Now look at how the bookcase uses the parameter:

1. Click **Bookcase** in the **Model** panel.
2. Scroll down the **Properties** panel to **Parameters**.

The **width** of the bookcase is `bookcaseWidth`, and the value next to it is 800. The other parameters, for example **height**, **depth** and **shelvesPerBay**, work in the same way.

## Read the cut list

1. Click the **Cut list (9)** tab.
2. Read the columns. Each row is one part, or a group of identical parts, with its material and its size.

Each row has a letter in the **Part** column. The **Notes** column tells you about machining, for example the shelf-pin holes in the sides.

Above the table, KerfCraft shows "Check every dimension against your own measurements before cutting." Do this every time. If a part has a reason in the **Needs extra checking** column, examine that part very carefully.

Below the table, a warning tells you to fix the bookcase to the wall so that it cannot tip.

## Make a cutting plan

1. Click the **Cutting plan** tab.
2. Click **Optimise cuts**.

KerfCraft calculates how to cut the parts from standard sheets. It shows how many sheets to buy, the waste, and a diagram for each sheet.

![The cutting plan: the sides, top and bottom on the first sheet, and the shelves on the second sheet.](/docs/img/tutorials/bookcase-cutting-plan.jpg)

The plan uses the saw kerf and the end trim in the **Workshop** settings of the **Properties** panel. Check the plan against your own saw and your own sheets.

## Export the cut list

1. Click **CSV** in the manufacturing panel.

Your browser downloads a file with a name like `Bookcase-rev3-cutlist.csv`. You can open it in a spreadsheet program. The number after `rev` is the revision of the design.

## Save the project

1. Click **File**.
2. Click **Save…**.
3. Click **Save**.

The **Draft** label next to the project name goes away. The project is now in **File ▸ All projects…**.

## What you learned

- A sample project opens as a normal project that you can change.
- A project parameter controls the size of a generated assembly.
- The cut list, the cutting plan and the exports are in the manufacturing panel.

Next, draw a design yourself in [Draw a workbench](/docs/tutorials/draw-a-workbench/).