What Is Maqet?
In our last post, we talked about the problems we see with the current state of woodworking design software. Today, I want to talk about how we think we can solve them.
Real-world Metaphors
Remember, we are building Maqet for furniture makers who are not full-time designers and don’t want to spend weeks learning a new piece of software. That means everything in Maqet should just make sense the first time you see it in action. If you come back after a few weeks, you should be able to pick it up again without rewatching all those tutorials you watched the first time around. In fact, we hope you won’t have to watch any tutorials at all.
To achieve this, every tool in Maqet maps closely to how you would do it in real life. For example, I’m guessing your designs mostly contain rectangular boards or planks. To draw those, most software will have you draw a rectangle, and extrude it. That’s two tools, and you may have to switch between a 2D and 3D view along the way. In Maqet, you just use the Board tool and click 4 times to define the corners.
This may not sound like a big deal, but imagine applying it to every single tool and action: chamfers, joints, edge banding, shelf-pin holes, and more are all supported out of the box. You don’t have to think about how to do them, you just do them.
3D First With a Twist
You can divide 3D design software into two categories. In traditional CAD software, you start with a 2D drawing and then extrude it into a 3D model. This gives you a lot of control over the model and unlocks powerful tools like parametric design. But it’s difficult to learn and become productive in.
On the other hand, you have software like SketchUp, where everything is in 3D from the start. That’s much easier to learn, but it also makes it easier to introduce small mistakes that are hard to spot. It can also take longer to create similar but slightly different designs, like the different cabinets in a kitchen.
We believe starting from 3D is the only way for Maqet to be intuitive. But we also want to add tools for working more precisely: connecting corners so they cannot come undone, using variables to define board sizes, and more. We will also add things like templates and a cabinet wizard to speed up the repetitive parts of the design process.
Effortless Renders
Visualization is a key part of communication. You need to be able to show your design to clients so they know exactly what they’re getting. And if you’re building for yourself, you may still want to get a good sense of real-world dimensions. A technical drawing is not always enough: proportions, materials and lighting are all easier to grasp in a more realistic visualization.
In Maqet, a good render of your design is just a click away at all times. You don’t have to spend time (and money) exporting your model to another tool. We’re not aiming for photorealism (yet), but we want to make it effortless to create a visual that’s good enough.
Ready for the Workshop
Because Maqet understands the materials you used in your design, it can be much more helpful in exporting the right files for your build. If you’re placing an order at the sawmill, Maqet can give you a cutting list with the right dimensions, edge banding and line boring options. If you’re cutting your sheet goods yourself, we’ll generate an optimized cutting diagram that minimizes waste. And if you’re working with a CNC machine, we can provide a full set of CNC files so you don’t have to redraw your parts in another tool. Finally, we want to make it as easy as possible to create a bundle with detail views, 2D views and dimensions.
While it’s impossible to anticipate every single workflow, our goal is to cover the most common ones out of the box, so most people don’t need to rely on additional tools for rendering or handoff.