๐๏ธ Catalog
The catalog is the workshop's knowledge base: it defines what you can manufacture, with which materials, at what cost, and at what price you sell it.
The four-level catalog structure
Loading diagramโฆ
Each level has a distinct function:
- Design โ the model's 3D files (STL, 3MFโฆ), with their photos and notes. It has no price or cost.
- Piece โ what you manufacture: Design + material + color + finish, with its dimensions, weight and print time. It has a production cost.
- Variant โ what you sell: it has a price, a margin, and is made up of one or more Pieces.
- Product โ the visible catalog: it groups Variants with a name, images, and a description.
This hierarchy avoids duplicating data: a Piece is defined once and every Variant that needs it uses it.
Bear in mind, though, that costs aren't recalculated on their own. Each Piece stores the cost it was calculated with, and each Variant stores the cost of its Pieces at the moment it was saved. If you change prices or rates, you bring Pieces and Variants up to date from the Recalculate button in Settings โ Costs โ Summary, or a single Variant with the Sync link under its Cost. It's all explained in ยซCostsยป and in ยซProducts and Variantsยป.
How to navigate the catalog
The sidebar has two direct entries:
| Entry | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Designs | Gallery list of all designs and their associated Pieces. |
| Products | Gallery list of all Products and their Variants. |
Pieces don't have their own list page โ you access them from a Design's detail view.
Quick creation with Express
If you need to create a Piece + Product quickly without going through the full flow, use the "Quick create" button available in both Designs and Products. See the โก Express Creation section for more detail.
Do I need a complete catalog before I start?
No. You can create orders with custom lines without a catalog (adding items by hand in the order detail). The catalog is useful when you repeat the same items โ it speeds up order creation and guarantees consistent prices.