All Hail Layout.Computer

Now even your dog can design a stick chair.

It takes me longer to “build” a stick chair in SketchUp than it does to build it in real life. (And I’m damn good at SketchUp.)

SketchUp is – I’m sorry to say – a terrible design tool for chairs.¹ Want to change the rake and splay of your legs in the model? There are lots of ways to do it. None are fun.

This blog entry is not a request for suggestions on which 3D modeling software I should devote my life to. I don’t need that.

And that’s because we all have layout.computer from Nick Stanchenko.

Bookmark the page for it. If you have any interest in vernacular chairs, you will need it someday.

What is it? Well, layout.computer is a free design tool that allows you to easily mock up a chair (or a settee) using a series of sliding tabs. You can choose from all sorts of chair bodies: comb-back, lowback, Irish lounge chair, freak-back (that’s what I lovingly call it) or a simple Irish chair.

Then you use sliders to adjust everything about the chair. The interface breaks down the chair into its maj…