Multi material layered maps

1. StreetsWalnutPieces only, held by the frame band
2. LandMapleSolid, water cut out, local streets engraved
3. WaterBlue acrylicSolid base, seen only through the land holes

Open a layer's Material tab, pick the material and type its thickness in mm (0.5 to 50). The material name is written into the file names in your download, so the walnut file never ends up on the birch. In the 3D preview you can try woods like birch, maple, oak, cherry and walnut, and colored acrylics, and adjust sheen, grain and shade. Those looks only change the preview, never the files.

The trick in every stacked map is that each layer is mostly about what you take away. Water layers are solid. The land layer is solid with the water cut out, so the layer below shows through. The top street layer is "pieces only": just the streets, welded to a frame band so they hold together.

• Solid plate: the whole sheet, with shapes cut or engraved into it.
• Pieces only: just the shapes, held by the band. Needs a band or a name bar crossing the pieces.
• Frame only: the band with the middle removed. A clean edge for a deep stack.

Add up the layers before you promise a frame depth. Three 3 mm layers make a 9 mm stack (our math). A 12-layer lake or terrain relief at 3 mm is 36 mm, which needs a shadow box, not a picture frame. The Terrain & Depth panel shows stack height as you change layers and sheet thickness.

Acrylic and plywood labeled 3 mm are rarely exactly 3 mm. Measure your stock and type the real number. It keeps the 3D preview honest and helps you order frames.

1. 01Dry-stack firstEvery layer in order, no glue. Fix problems now.
2. 02Use glue guides or keysMappSmith can score where the next layer sits. Makers also use built-in keys, etched outlines of the next layer, or dowel holes to stop rotation.
3. 03Glue thinThick CA in dots on wide intersections and the frame, or yellow wood glue brushed on the back away from cutouts.
4. 04Weight, don’t crushWeights with wax paper. Clamps squeeze out more glue than you think.

Want a light? Edge-lit acrylic is engraved on the back with the design mirrored and set in a cheap LED base. It pairs well with a wood street layer in front.

Mixed materials are where mistakes get expensive. A walnut sheet cut wrong is real money. Use the 3D preview to catch problems on screen, before any stock is on the bed:

• Assemble shows the stack glued up, in the materials you picked.
• Exploded lifts the layers apart. Choose Straight, Fan or Steps and set the gap. This is the view that sells a layered map to a customer.
• Welded shows pieces joined the way the export cuts them, and warns if any piece is attached to nothing.
• This sheet at the top of each layer shows that one layer exactly as it comes off the machine.

Then save a picture from the 3D view and send it as the proof. When the customer says yes, the files match what they approved, because the preview and the download come from the same layers.