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Materials

Key Concepts​

Materials in Printago represent the filaments loaded in your printers and are the primary factor in how jobs get routed to the right machine. Each material has two layers: a base material (like "Bambu PLA Basic") defining the filament type, brand, and slicing profiles, and variants (like "Red" or "Matte Black") representing specific colors or finishes. When you assign materials to a part and load matching filaments on your printers, Printago's queue automatically routes jobs only to printers with compatible materials. The system supports matching at different levels of specificity—you can require an exact color variant, any color of a particular brand, or any filament of a given type. For Bambu Lab printers with RFID-tagged filament, material detection and assignment happen automatically. The material system exists so you never accidentally print a part in the wrong filament and so that adding more printers with different materials loaded is seamless.

Materials are documented across four pages:

  • This page: the Materials list, the material page, how materials are organized, adding materials, slicing profiles, and assigning materials to printers.
  • Material matching: how a job's material requirement is matched to the filament loaded on your printers.
  • Filament inventory: stock by color, spools, pricing, and the rolls your printers read, with the Filament Inventory add-on.
  • Material usage tracking: how much filament every print used and what it cost.

The Materials list​

Open Materials from the sidebar, under Printing. Each row is a material with its brand, type and colors. A Missing profiles chip under the name means at least one of your printer models has no slicing profile for that material, so jobs in it can't be matched to those printers until you assign one on the material's Configuration tab.

Above the list, the views are All, Loaded now (loaded on a printer), Starred, No profile (no slicing profile at all) and, with Filament Inventory, Running low and Unpriced, each with its count. Filters narrows by type, brand, color (by hue), stock, setup, tags and the printer a material is loaded on. Search also finds a spool's serial or label code, a type, and the name of a slicing profile. The views and filters are part of the page's address, so a link or a reload opens the same list. The Loaded and Profile columns, and the others you can switch on from the column menu, sort like the rest.

On a phone the list is cards, with Receive beside Filters. The + button has New material, Receive filament and Import from AMS, and Select shows Copy slicing profiles… and, under ⋯, Delete.

The material page​

Click a material to open it. The header names it ("Bambu Lab PLA Basic") with its type and how many colors it has. Receive records a delivery of this material, and the ⋮ menu holds:

  • Export stock CSV: one line per color with its stock, for a stocktake or a spreadsheet.
  • Print tags for all colors and Print blank labels (see Printing filament tags).
  • Duplicate material: a copy with the same colors and profile assignments, and no stock, opened on its Configuration tab so you can rename it.
  • Delete material.
The material header with Receive and the menu open: Export stock CSV, Print tags for all colors, Print blank labels, Duplicate material, Delete material

The page has five tabs: Colors, Spools, Pricing, Activity and Configuration. Colors and Configuration are always there. Pricing and Activity need Filament Inventory, and Spools needs spool tracking. The tab you are on is part of the page's address, so a link or a reload opens the same tab.

Colors​

Every color of the material. Under each color's name is its hex code, and each row has Edit and Delete. Add Color adds one color. For brands Printago knows, Add All (named for the material, like Add All PLA Basic Colors) adds every color of that line you don't have yet. A material with no colors yet offers both under No colors yet.

With Filament Inventory, the tab also shows what you have of each color, its price, and its spools. See The Colors tab with stock.

Configuration​

The material's details (brand, name, type, identifier and attributes), its slicing profiles, and its custom fields. Each card saves on its own: Edit on Details opens them in a dialog, a slicing profile is saved as soon as you pick it, and custom fields have their own Edit. Slicing profiles also offers Copy profiles from, which fills the profiles in from one of your other materials of the same filament type. When any of your printer models has no profile for this material, the Configuration tab carries a mark, Slicing profiles says how many are missing, and every other tab shows a bar naming those printer models, with Assign profiles to open Configuration. To delete the material, use Delete material in the ⋮ menu at the top of the page.

The Configuration tab with the material's fields and its profile assignments

How Materials Work​

Materials in Printago consist of two levels:

1. Base Materials​

Base materials define the fundamental filament type and properties:

  • Material Type: PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU, etc.
  • Brand: Bambu Lab, Polymaker, Elegoo, etc.
  • Filament Profile: Core slicing profiles for the material, one for each printer model

2. Material Variants (Colors)​

Material variants are specific colors or finishes of a base material:

  • Color Variant: Red, Blue, Matte Black, Silk Gold, etc.
  • Profile Override: Optional color-specific slicing adjustments, one for each printer model
  • Pressure Advance: Optional pressure advance override for the variant. Leave it empty to use the filament profile's value. When set, it applies no matter which slicer the part uses. On Bambu Lab printers it also takes priority over the value calibrated on the AMS, so the number you enter here is the number the printer uses.
Material Hierarchy

Think of it as: Bambu PLA Basic (base material) → Bambu PLA Basic Red (variant)

Variant Names Are Unique​

Every variant of a material must have a different name. Capitalization and surrounding spaces do not count, so "Black", "black", and "Black " are all the same name and a material can only have one of them. Different materials can each have their own "Black".

This rule prevents the most common cause of jobs that never route: two variants named "Black" under the same material, with one loaded on the printer and the other assigned to the part. They look identical everywhere in the app, but the queue treats them as different filaments and the job waits forever.

If you genuinely need two similar colors, give them distinct names such as "Black" and "Matte Black". If you already have duplicates, they were renamed to "Black (2)", "Black (3)", and so on. Check which one your printers and parts point at, then consolidate onto a single variant and delete the extras.

Printing Variant Tags​

With Filament Inventory, a material's Colors tab has Print tag on each color (see Printing filament tags), and its ⋮ menu has Print tags for all colors. Stick a tag on the shelf or bin for that color, then scan it with a printer or one of its slots in the Printago app to assign the filament.

Dual-Color Filaments​

Some filaments have two distinct colors (like Bambu Lab's Dual Silk series). These are identified by two hex color codes separated by a semicolon:

#FF9425FF;#C16784FF

Auto-Detection: When Printago reads RFID tags from your AMS, it uses these hex codes to match against your material library. If the hex codes don't match exactly (or there it san error in our filament database) it may create a new variant instead of matching an existing one.

Fixing Mismatched Colors:

  1. If a new unexpected variant is created (e.g., "Dark Orange"), note its hex code
  2. Find your intended variant in the materials list
  3. Modify the name from the actual Bambu filament name to enable editing the hex code
  4. Update the hex code to match what's in your AMS
  5. Delete the incorrectly created variant
  6. Remove and re-add the filament to your AMS to test auto-detection
Gradient Hex Codes

Gradient filaments support any number of colors. Separate the hex codes by a semicolon to input gradient colors, e.g. 000000FF;FFFFFFFF;FF0000FF (black to white to red).

Material Assignment​

Materials are assigned to printers and their AMS units to enable job matching and automatic printer selection.

Adding Materials​

Materials are typically added through:

  1. RFID Detection: Automatic addition when RFID filament is detected
  2. Manual Addition: Add materials during part creation or printer assignment
  3. Bulk Import: Import all missing materials currently loaded and read by your AMS units.
Import from AMS

Manual Material Creation​

To manually add a new material:

  1. Navigate to the Printing → Materials Page, and click the New Material button.
  2. Select a Brand or you can type it in if it's not in the pre-loaded list.
  3. Select a Material Type, or type one in if yours isn't found!
  4. Give the material a name and a unique identifier for the system to use for the material.
  5. Under Slicing profiles, pick the filament profile each of your printer models slices this material with. Jobs in the material only go to printers whose model has one.
  6. Click Create. When every printer model has a profile, the material opens on its Colors tab, ready for its colors. Otherwise it opens on its Configuration tab with the profile assignments first, so you can finish them, and Continue to Colors takes you on.
Manual Material Creation

Built-in Material Database​

Printago includes comprehensive material databases:

  • Bambu Lab Materials: All official Bambu materials and variants built-in
  • Third-Party Materials: Extensive brand dropdown with popular manufacturers (Polymaker, Elegoo, etc.) or enter custom brand names.

Adding All Material Variants​

For a material in the built-in database, the Colors tab offers Add All … Colors, which adds every color the brand makes that the material doesn't have yet. Add Color adds one color at a time.

The Colors tab's Add All PLA Basic Colors and Add Color buttons

Slicing Profile Configuration​

Materials require slicing profiles to work with the Cloud Slicer.

Configuring Material Profiles​

  1. Access Materials Page: Navigate to Printing → Materials

  2. Select Material: Choose the material to configure, and open its Configuration tab

  3. Configure Profiles: Under Slicing profiles, assign slicing profiles for each combination of:

    • Printer Model (A1 Mini, X1C, P1S, etc.)
    • Nozzle Diameter (0.4mm, 0.6mm, etc.)

  4. Copy profiles from another material (optional): rather than picking each one, take them from a material you have already set up. The picker at the top of the Slicing profiles card lists your other materials of the same filament type, so a PLA only ever offers your other PLAs. Copy profiles then fills in that material's profile for every printer model and nozzle it has one for.

    The card says what it did: how many profiles were set, replaced, kept and skipped, and every printer model below is tagged with its own answer. A profile that does not fit a printer model is skipped rather than written, and that model is named with the reason under its box. Profiles you have already picked are kept as they are unless you tick Replace profiles already set before copying.

Profile assignments on a material's Configuration tab, one profile per printer model and nozzle size
Copy profiles from another material, with the result saying what was set, kept and skipped

Setting a New Filament Up for Every Printer Model​

A new brand of PLA usually slices the same as the PLA you already run. Rather than picking a profile for every printer model and nozzle by hand, add the material, open its Configuration tab, and copy the profiles from the one you already have set up. One copy covers every printer model and nozzle the material you copied from has a profile for.

To do several at once, go to Printing → Materials, tick the materials you want to set up, and choose Copy slicing profiles… from the Actions menu. Pick the material to copy from, and the dialog names every material that is about to get its profiles. Materials of another filament type are listed under Left out and are not touched: profiles can only be copied between materials of the same filament type.

The line under the picker says what the material you are copying from has, so an empty one is obvious before you copy. The tick box works the same as on the card: profiles already set are kept unless you tick Replace profiles already set.

Copying tells you what it did for each material: how many profiles were set, replaced and kept, which printer models were skipped and why, and any material the copy did not reach, which you can set up from its own Configuration tab.

Copy slicing profiles onto several materials, with the result for each material and a PETG material left out
Auto-Complete Search

Profile selection boxes support auto-complete! Start typing "Matte" to quickly find "Matte PLA" profiles, or any partial text to wildcard search through available options.

Profile Resolution Priority​

When slicing, material profiles are resolved in this order:

  1. Material Variant Override (color-specific adjustments)
  2. Base Material Profile (fundamental material settings)
Material Variant Override
Profile Requirements

Materials must have configured slicing profiles for each printer model + nozzle combination they'll be used with. Missing profiles will prevent job matching.

Assigning Materials to Printers​

Materials must be assigned to printers to enable material matching. Clicking a filament slot on a printer opens the Printer Materials dialog, where you pick a slot under Loaded Filament and assign a material from the searchable Available Materials list (materials with profiles set up for that printer show a ✓ Profile Configured badge).

Printer Materials dialog assigning a material from the library to an AMS slot

See Printer Management: Material Assignment for detailed assignment instructions including RFID auto-detection and manual assignment workflows.

What Printago writes to the printer​

Assigning a material from this dialog does two things: it records the assignment in Printago (which is what job matching reads), and it writes the material into the slot on the printer itself, so the printer's own screen and its load/unload routine agree with Printago.

The slot write carries the material's identifier, its colour, its type, and the filament's nozzle temperature range. That range is read from the slicing profile configured for the material on that printer's model and nozzle diameter, using the same profile resolution priority as slicing: a variant's profile wins over the base material's. Assigning the same material to two printers of different models can therefore write two different ranges, each taken from that model's own profile.

The range matters outside of printing. Sliced G-code carries its own temperature commands, so a print is unaffected by what the slot says. The printer's manual load and unload routines have no G-code to follow and heat to the range stored in the slot instead, which is what makes the correct range important during a filament change.

No profile configured

If the material has no slicing profile for that printer's model and nozzle, the range cannot be resolved and Printago writes zeroes, leaving the printer without a usable range for that slot. The slot's ✓ Profile Configured badge in the Available Materials list is the quickest way to spot this. Configure the profile on the material's Configuration tab and assign the material again.

Clearing a slot (Reset slot) also writes zeroes, which is what tells the printer the slot holds nothing.

Need help with materials? Join our Discord community for support and tips from other users!