Material

Materials bring your parametric models to life: assign realistic surfaces, define stock materials for fabrication, and turn abstract geometry into parts with cost, weight, and texture data. This plugin provides material nodes for the BeeGraphy Editor, from simple visual Apply Material assignments to factory nodes that generate ready-to-cut solids and deconstruction nodes that let you read back every parameter for downstream logic.

Texture

The Texture group covers visual material assignment. Apply Material applies a material or texture to a model or curve for visual customization. Material Assign also returns geometry with a configured material, giving you an alternative path when you need to attach a material to geometry in a different workflow.

These are the nodes you reach for when looks matter more than physical properties: color-coding parts, applying a wood or metal look for client previews, or distinguishing components in a complex assembly.

Material definitions: Linear, Count, Sheet, Volumetric, Weight, Area

Most fabrication material types get their own definition node. Linear Round and Linear Flat define linear stock such as wire, rod, or tape, with configurable diameter or width/thickness, texture, price, and weight. Count represents parts sold individually or in kits, such as components or assemblies. Sheet defines flat sheet stock with configurable material type, dimensions, textures, price, and weight. Volumetric covers materials priced per unit of volume with type, density, and price. Weight is for materials priced per weight, and Area covers coverage materials such as paint or coating with coverage, layering, density, and price per unit area.

These definition nodes hold the metadata that makes a graph manufacturable: choose the right node for how the material is bought and consumed, and later nodes can read cost, weight, and geometry from it automatically.

Profiles

Structural profiles have dedicated definition nodes such as C-Beam, I-Beam, L-Beam Equal, L-Beam Different, T-Beam, Hex Tube, Hex Bar, Rectangle Tube, Rectangle Bar, Round Tube, Round Bar, Square Tube, and Square Bar. Each supports configurable material, dimensions, texture, price, and weight. Use these when modeling frames, rails, brackets, or any part made from standard off-the-shelf sections.

Factory

Factories turn material definitions into actual 3D geometry. Linear Flat Factory and Linear Round Factory generate solids for strip or round linear stock. Sheet Factory produces a flat solid sheet. Rectangle Bar Factory, Rectangle Tube Factory, Square Bar Factory, Square Tube Factory, Round Bar Factory, Round Tube Factory, and the beam factories (C-Beam Factory, I-Beam Factory, L-Beam Equal Factory, L-Beam Different Factory, T-Beam Factory, Hex Tube Factory, Hex Bar Factory) each build their corresponding profile solid from the chosen material parameters and an origin point. Weight Factory accepts a weight-class material and an input geometry, Volumetric Factory applies a volumetric material to an input solid and registers volume and kerf processing options, Count Factory counts instances from points and returns a material-applied carrier geometry with placement metadata, and Area Factory registers an area material against a covered area for pricing and tracking.

Factories are the bridge from “what should this be made of” to “here is the part.” They produce dimensionally accurate solids ready for nesting, export, or further boolean operations.

Deconstruct Material

The Deconstruct group reads material data back out for logic and documentation. Nodes such as Deconstruct Sheet, Deconstruct Linear Flat, Deconstruct Linear Round, Deconstruct Volumetric, Deconstruct Weight, Deconstruct Count, Deconstruct Area, and the profile-specific deconstructors (Deconstruct C-Beam, Deconstruct I-Beam, Deconstruct Rectangle Bar, Deconstruct Round Tube, and more) extract fundamental attributes from a material definition. Use them to compute costs, check dimensions against design rules, or drive labels and BOM generation.

Example graphs

Costed sheet-metal bracket. Start with a Sheet node to define 2 mm stainless steel, pass it into Sheet Factory to generate the flat blank, then feed the solid into Apply Material for a brushed steel look. A Deconstruct Sheet node on the same Sheet definition reads out price and dimensions for a cost label.

Aluminium extrusion frame. Use Rectangle Tube to define a 40×20 aluminium profile, drive a Rectangle Tube Factory with the profile, length, and an origin point, then mirror the resulting solid for the opposite rail. A Deconstruct Rectangle Tube node extracts wall thickness to check against a minimum.

Coating area estimate. Model a part with any factory, then connect an Area node to an Area Factory with the covered faces as input. A Deconstruct Area node reads the registered area, coverage, and price to calculate paint cost per unit before manufacturing.

With Material nodes, your graph carries both the visual finish and the physical, cost-bearing definition of every part — from a textured preview model to a production-ready cut list.