About materials

What is material

A material is the substance out of which packaging is created. A material is defined by its technological properties such as thickness, grammage, surface appearance, among others; comes from a particular producer and has its own price. When you start a project, you select a material out of which you will create the packaging. In EngView materials are created on the basis of underlying types that carry the technological properties that a material needs.

Material is the main component in the definition of a project; you cannot start a project without specifying a material for the design.

Characteristics of the material

A material is characterized by three groups of characteristics.

Producer-related characteristics

• Name
• Type. The type determines the basic technological properties of a material. Types are, for example, Uncoated White Back, Flute Brown Front, BC Flute. In EngView, types are stored in a tree-structure catalog that you can edit by adding or removing base types and subtypes. Learn how to manage types.
• Thickness. A property set in the type of the material, in which it exists only with a default value. When a material is being defined for a project, specific values should be set for the thickness. For details about how to set thickness to a material, see Creating a material, Step 2.
• Grammage. A characteristic set in the type of the material, in which it exists only with a default value. When a separate material is being defined for a project, specific values should be set for the grammage. For details about how to set grammage to a material, see Creating a material, Step 2.
• Producer
• Cost. This indicates how much 1,000 kg of the material cost.

Production-specific characteristics

These are general characteristics of the type. Generally, these characteristics are rarely altered.

• Corrections parameter template. Specifies the parameter template according to which the parameters in all the projects that use the material will be calculated.
• Diecutting side. Indication of the side on which the die falls.
• Grain-awareness. Indicates whether the grain direction should be taken into account when the material is used.

Visual characteristics

These are three properties — the front side, the rear side and the edge — that determine the appearance of a material. Generally, these characteristics are altered rarely, but there may be cases which necessitate a specific setting. For example, a company logo may be set to a surface, which makes the material unique. It is then entered as an individual material in the materials catalog and can be selected for the design of packaging. For details about how to set the visual properties of a material, see Creating a material, Step 2. Learn about surface appearances.

Materials in Package Designer (the Materials Catalog)

Your installation comes with a catalog with sample materials that can be used for creating packaging designs. To view the catalog, on the Format menu, point to Materials Catalog, and then click Main Catalog.

In the catalog you can define, edit, clone, or delete edit new materials.