HELP: Open Cutlist - Materials List differs from Cutting Diagram Materials Overview

[Zvonko]

@slbaumgartner

The heart of a Component is a Component Definition . This is like a template that spells out what is in the component. Component Definitions are like abstract objects waiting to be made real. They are what you deal with if you open the Components window.

What you see in the model is an Instance of the Component. That is, a concrete collection of stuff assembled based on the instructions in the Component Definition and placed at a specific location, orientation, and scale in the model. You can pull a new instance of a Component out of the Components Window and drop it the desired place in the model. Or you can create a new Instance by copying an existing one in the model.
Each Component can have any number of Instances placed in the model - including none.

You know how sometimes you can hear/see something a ton of times and all of a sudden it clicks? Well, this explanation did it for me.

I’ve been getting a better understanding of components, but it still hadn’t clicked. Maybe it’s my background in Object Oriented Programming, but the Definition vs Instance clarification really helped.

Thanks.