The Inlay command is an advanced tool for designing tile floors and decorative patterns by applying textures and colors before extracting individual parts.
🔹 How to Use
Open inlay drawing: Start with a drawing containing enclosed areas for tiling
Activate the command: Select Inlay from the toolbar
Note: If the drawing already has different colors on certain areas, then the inlay command will use that color. If all objects on drawing have the same color, then it will come up un-colored.
- Apply colors/textures: Use random coloring, manual selection, or texture fills
Random coloring: By clicking on the Random button all unidentical areas will have a random color.
Clear all colors: By clicking on this button, all colored areas will be removed.
Manual coloring: There are two ways of manually attach colors or textures to the inlay.
You can select one of the areas (in this example A1 to A12) in the list box, and then double click on one of the textures or colors on the right side of the dialog.
The other way is to first select a material on the right side of the dialog, and then click on the Fill button.
The dialog temporally disappears and you can click in that area that should have selected material.
If you are holding down the CTRL key while you click, all identical but mirrored or rotated area also will be filled.
Manage textures
By clicking on the blue + button you can add textures to the chart.
By clicking on the – button you can remove textures and colors on the chart.
By clicking on the color button, you can add colors to the chart.
By clicking on the buttons above can you change the scale of the texture.
- Configure options: Set grain direction and text identification
Grain direction
When this is activated, the command will create 4 different parts (se example below).
When the parts are mounted the grain direction will be the same for all parts. For material with solid colors the grain direction may not be important.
When Grain direction id de-activated then command will create for copies of the same part
When the parts are mounted the grain direction will be in different directions. This alternative will probably give a better material utilization.
Text and identification
If the text height is larger than 0 then the command will automatically place a text with the name on each part. This can be used as identification of the parts.
Generate parts: Click OK to create individual parts lined up by material
- Process for manufacturing: Use Nesting and CAM commands to create CNC files
🧠Tips
- Material organization: Parts are automatically grouped by material type
- Grain direction: Control whether parts maintain consistent grain orientation
- Text identification: Add part names automatically for easier assembly
- Report: Use "Report" button to generate a complete report of the inlay.