The xTool Studio Material Library and How to Save Custom Materials

Choosing the right material settings is one of the most important parts of using xTool Studio. The material library is where you find them, and it's also where you save your own once you've done the hard work of testing. It looks quite different to the old one in xTool Creative Space, and saving your own settings confuses a lot of people (it confused me too).

This guide covers both. First, how to find and use materials in the library, including what to do when your material isn't listed. Then how saving your own settings actually works, and how to create a proper custom material of your own. The video above is the custom materials one. For the library basics, there's a separate material library video.

Jump to: What's new since · Finding a material · One-click set · When it isn't listed · Saving a setting · Where did my setting go? · Creating your own material · Materials on the Home screen

Before you start: what's new in the library

I filmed these videos in September and December 2025. Everything below still works, and xTool Studio has added a couple of useful things since:

• The library now has a Community tab, where you can browse settings other people have shared and load them with Apply.
• The Home screen now has a Material setting page with your own settings and the Atomm Community side by side. You can create materials there before you've even started a project, and export them as a backup.

Back yours up every now and then. It's a lot of work to lose. There's more on both in my xTool Studio update guide.

1. Finding a material in the library

The material section is now on the right-hand side of the workspace, under the mode. When you start a project it says Unknown material, because Studio doesn't know what you're engraving yet. This works the same on any xTool laser. I filmed the library video on my F1 Ultra.

1. Focus your laser first (autofocus, or focus manually if that's what your machine uses).
2. Click Unknown material to open the library.
3. Pick a category on the left (Common, Wood, Metal, Plastic, Vinyl, Paper, Silicone, Rubber, Leather, Stone, Screen printing and Other) or type in the search box at the top. I typed "pine" for a pine wood slice.
4. Click the material to see its details, then click Apply.

There's a lot more information here than there used to be. Each material shows which processing modes it's set up for, whether it's flammable, and a Precautions section with tips like turning on air assist and cleaning the material after processing. That's really helpful if you're new. There's also a Shop material button that takes you to xTool's website if they sell it.

One small difference from xTool Creative Space: clicking Apply now sets the material straight away.

2. One-click set: pick the look you want

Draw a shape (I used a circle) and set it to Engrave. On the right you'll see Blue light reference, which is the power and speed Studio thinks suits that material for this type of job.

But you might want it darker or lighter. That's where One-click set comes in. Click it and you get an interactive grid. It's basically a material test that xTool has already done and uploaded. Hover over a square to see its speed and power, click it, and your settings on the right update to match.

To show you it works, I engraved two identical circles on the pine: one from the darkest square and one from a fairly light square. As you can see, true to the grid, one came out darker and one lighter. It's a useful place to start.

3. When your material isn't in the library

The library is big, but it's not going to have everything. When your exact material isn't there, find the closest match and use that as your starting point.

My example was a blue aluminum wallet. So I asked myself: what is it? It's metal, it's blue, and it felt light, so it's probably aluminum. Then I looked for something in the library that's metal, aluminum and blue.

The quick way is to type blue into the search box. You get all the blue items, and most of them will be pretty similar. I went for a blue coated aluminum alloy, because that's basically what I had. It's not exactly the same item, but it's the same material and the same color, so the settings should be in the right ballpark.

On a machine with more than one laser, check the laser type too. Here Studio picked Fiber IR reference by default, and the one-click set grid shows all the squares looking much the same, so you might as well pick the fastest. Switch to Blue light reference and you get a totally different set of results. In my experience the Fiber IR laser gives a clearer, more contrasting result on metal than the blue laser, but blue is often a tricky color, so it's worth testing.

I always recommend running your own material test on a new material. I've got a full guide on how to do a material test in xTool Studio.

4. Saving your own setting

Once you've found settings you love, save them so you can use them again and again.

1. Set your power, speed, lines per cm and so on.
2. Click the little save icon next to the settings dropdown on the right.
3. The Add material setting box opens. Type a name you'll recognize later.
4. If you like, use Import to add a photo of your result (Processing Result Image), so you can see what the setting looks like.
5. Click Submit. Your setting now appears in the dropdown.

One thing to watch: Score, Engrave and Cut each have their own saved settings. If you save a setting while on Engrave, it won't show up when you're on Score. You'd need to save a separate one for scoring. If you ever can't find a setting you saved, check you're on the same process type.

5. "Where did my setting go?"

This is the bit that catches most people out, and it's why I made the custom materials video. When you save a setting, Studio saves it inside whichever material is selected.

In the video I had a bamboo keychain on the bed, so I set 1/8" (3 mm) Bamboo as the material, put in some made-up settings (just for the demo, don't use them), and saved them as "Bamboo test (do not use)". It showed up in the dropdown straight away.

But then I switched the material back to Unknown material and looked in the User-defined list, and it was empty. In xTool Creative Space everything was in one big list, so you'd expect to see it there. In Studio it's organized by material. Go back to Bamboo and there it is. Close Studio, open it again, and it's still in Bamboo. Once you understand that, it's actually a good way to keep things organized.

6. Creating your own custom material

Whenever I recommend settings in my videos, you'll see I've got my own materials set up, with my logo on them. This is how to make your own, for a material that isn't in the library at all.

1. Make sure Unknown material is selected. It lives at the top of the list. If you've got another material selected, open the library and switch back to Unknown material first. This is the important part.
2. Put your design on and set up your settings.
3. Click the same save icon. Because no material is selected, you now get more options.
4. Fill in the Material name. I used "Magic Wood" for the demo.
5. Pick the Material characteristics from the list, such as flammable material, use odor protection during processing, or clean the material after processing. These become the precautions on your material. You can leave them blank if you like.
6. Add a Material cover image. I use my logo, but a photo of the material works just as well.
7. Give the setting itself a name (I used "Detailed Vector 1") and click Submit.

Now Magic Wood is a material in its own right, with Detailed Vector 1 inside it. Save another setting while Magic Wood is selected and it's added to the same material, so you can build up a list of settings for it.

Open a new project, click Unknown material, and your material is there in the list permanently. Select it, click Apply (you'll get the flammable warning, because we said it was flammable), set your shape to engrave, and your settings are ready to pick.

7. Materials on the Home screen

You don't even need a project open to look up a material. On the Home screen, the Materials tab on the left lets you search the library on its own. It's handy if someone asks you for settings and you just want to check. The current version also has a Material setting page on the Home screen, with your own settings and the Atomm Community in one place.

Use my settings as a starting point

When you see me pull up a preset material in my tutorials, this is exactly how I've set it up. Take the settings from those videos, make your own version in Studio, and you're good to go. My free Laser Settings Library has the settings I've tested on xTool machines, so you can add the ones you need as your own materials. Always run a quick test on a scrap first, because every material and machine varies a little.

If you're brand new to Studio, start with my beginner's walkthrough. Any questions about saving materials, ask in the comments on the video and I'll help where I can.