Material Matching

Materials are how Printago decides which printer a job can run on: a job names the filament it needs, and the queue sends it only to a printer with that filament loaded. This page covers how a part's material requirement is matched to what is loaded, what happens when the same material is in several slots, and how to override the material when you queue a job. For how materials are organized and assigned to printers, see Materials; for how the queue picks among matching printers, see Print Queue Management.

Job Matching System

Materials enable Printago's intelligent job-to-printer matching. For detailed information about how the print queue processes jobs and matches them to printers, see Print Queue Management.

Material Matching Levels

Parts can specify materials at different levels of specificity:

• Exact Variant: "Bambu PLA Basic Red" - matches only that specific color
• Base Material: "Bambu PLA Basic" - matches any color of that material
• Generic Type: "Any PLA" - matches any PLA material from any brand

Matching Examples

Example 1: Exact Match

• Part requires: "Bambu PLA Basic Red"
• Printer has: "Bambu PLA Basic Red" ✅ Match!
• Printer has: "Bambu PLA Basic Blue" ❌ No match

Example 2: Base Material Match

• Part requires: "Bambu PLA Basic" (any color)
• Printer has: "Bambu PLA Basic Red" ✅ Match!
• Printer has: "Bambu PLA Basic Blue" ✅ Match!
• Printer has: "Generic PLA" ❌ No match (different brand)

Example 3: Generic Type Match

• Part requires: "Any PLA"
• Printer has: "Bambu PLA Basic Red" ✅ Match!
• Printer has: "Generic PLA" ✅ Match!
• Printer has: "Any PLA" ✅ Match!

Example 4: Mismatch Scenario

• Part requires: "Bambu PLA Basic" (specific brand/material)
• Printer assigned: "Any PLA" (generic type)
• Result: ❌ No match - part requirement is more specific than printer capability

Multi-Color 3MF Matching

When working with multi-color 3MF files, understanding how material matching works across multiple slots is crucial:

Important Behavior: When you assign "Any Color [Material]" to multiple slots in a 3MF file, Printago will use the first matching material it finds for ALL those slots. This may result in multiple slots pulling from the same physical spool.

Example: Sparkle Dragon (2 colors)

• 3MF Slot 1 configured as: "Any Color PLA Sparkle"
• 3MF Slot 3 configured as: "Any Color PLA Sparkle"
• AMS has: Red Sparkle in slot 1, Gold Sparkle in slot 3
• Result: Both 3MF slots will use Red Sparkle (the first match found) ❌

Solution: Assign specific color variants for multi-color prints:

• 3MF Slot 1: "PLA Sparkle Red" (specific variant)
• 3MF Slot 3: "PLA Sparkle Gold" (specific variant)
• Result: Each slot uses its intended color ✅

Multi-Color Workflow

For parts with multiple colors, always assign specific material variants rather than using "Any Color" matching. This ensures each color in your 3MF file uses the intended filament.

Choosing Among Duplicate Slots

When the same material is loaded in more than one slot on a printer, the AMS slot selection setting decides which slot a job uses. By default Printago assigns the lowest slot first (left-to-right), so slot 1 is used before slot 2, and so on — giving predictable, repeatable assignment instead of landing on an arbitrary slot.

Change this under Settings > Materials tab:

Option	Behavior
Lowest slot first (left-to-right)	Leftmost matching slot first (AMS A slot 1, then 2, …). Default.
Highest slot first (right-to-left)	Rightmost matching slot first.
Most-empty spool first	The matching slot with the least filament remaining — use up nearly-empty spools before starting a fresh one.
Most-full spool first	The matching slot with the most filament remaining.

This only applies when a material is loaded in multiple slots; when it's in a single slot, that slot is always used.

note

Most-empty and Most-full rely on the printer reporting how much filament is left in each slot. Slots that don't report a remaining amount are tried after those that do, falling back to lowest-slot order.

Material Override When Queuing Jobs

When adding parts to the print queue, you can override the default material selection:

1. Single Part Printing: Select different material in print dialog - see Printing Parts
2. Bulk Printing: Configure materials individually for each part
3. SKU Printing: Material overrides available during SKU printing - see Printing SKUs
4. OpenSCAD Parts: Material selection affects ColorSCAD color mapping

Material Tips

• Use Specific Materials: Prefer exact material specifications for consistent results
• Generic Fallbacks: Use "Any [Type]" for prototyping or non-critical prints
• Profile Completeness: Ensure all materials have profiles for your printer fleet

Common Issues

Jobs Not Matching Printers:

• Verify material is loaded and assigned to printer
• Check that material has slicing profiles configured
• Ensure part material requirements match available materials