Make your own lapstop stand / Serving tray

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DIY Laptop Stand

Working from home is turning out to be more resourceful especially considering the commute distance. The low center table  has always been where we laid the laptop while working. However, there are times during a call when we needed to work from the room, and it was not possible to move the table. And so the need to make a portable DIY laptop stand. While it was intended to be used as a laptop stand, here are other functional uses for this piece of furniture.

DIY Laptop stand

Google Sketchup as a design tool

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I did write a little about how Google Sketchup is a wonderful, easy to use free tool for furniture designing. With Google introducing the ability to embed models using html (Visit our Gallery), I thought it deserved a much detailed post. Sketchup is a freely downloadable application for creating 3D models and has a simple to understand interface.

The interface comes with a patented push and pull technology which makes creation of 3 dimensional images a cakewalk. Quoting Wiki, “Images can be created in 2D and these 2 dimensional planar faces can then be pushed or pulled by editing tools within the environment to easily and intuitively model 3D volumes and geometrics”.

The interface also has the axes in place which makes drawing a certain line or an image along a particular axis much easier. 

Google Sketchup interface

Below are some practical uses for the Sketchup interface. The images below are embedded directly from my Google Sketchup warehouse - a feature that enables home decor and design bloggers to showcase their design work with a 3D perspective to their readers. You can rotate the images below along the Y-axis, and have a 180 degree view, while the Google Sketchup application allows for rotation along any which axis that you desire. 

Understand the color schemes that can be used for the furniture. The interface allows for various colors as well as textures to be applied onto the image faces. This enables experimenting with colors / textures, especially when you are making your own furniture or custom making it, before taking a decision		Design the interior of a room (in our case a kitchen). Play around with cabinet / couch / table / draw / shelf etc... placements, especially when the piece of furniture is a permanent fixture and cannot be moved around. You want to do a feature wall and want to know how it will affect the overall look ? This is a tool for you. Take a moment to let us know how the image looks in comparison to the actual red and while kitchen below.

Provide the end user with a 3D visual of what you are building for him / her. It allows for discussion and enables the user to modify any aspect of the design that he / she may not like. The user can also give his stamp of approval of the design and any contention at a later stage on the end result can be amicably handled.		Convert the approved design into a 3D skeletal view. This is more so useful to understand the number of planks required and at what dimensions. This allows for estimating raw material required and for evaluating cost. Also to understand where additional reinforcements, in terms of screws and glue, are required.

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Red and White Kitchen

These are only some of the uses that I have encountered for my personal requirements. However, this tool is extensively used in automobile design, architecture, interior designing, etc... with an ability to contribute and share your models with friends. The 3D warehouse also has a load of  models from other designers that can be downloaded and modified per your requirements. The options are limitless and I have listed only a very limited aspect of it.  Certainly an alternative tool to Autocad. Try it out. It is bound to be lot of fun.

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SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

• How do you plan your designs before implementing them?
• Be it decorating your room, or building a piece of furniture, do you visualize what you want and how you want through an interface besides your mind ?
• What tools do you use ?
• Or do you love the traditional way of capturing your visuals in a paper ?
• What do you think of the 3D image of the kitchen in comparison to its original counterpart ?          >>>>>>>

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P.S. I also intend to provide a detailed DIY tutorial of this center table and this garden corner shelf using the Google Sketchup tool. Be back for more or just stay in touch through our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.


Linking in : Lines Across My Face, Colours Dekor - Somu

Creating a 3D design

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When custom making furniture, the end user may want to have an idea of the product through a 3-dimensional image (Check out our 3D gallery of furniture). Besides serving this purpose, a 3D image is also useful to estimate raw material requirement, identify areas for additional reinforcements, play around with colors, and most importantly to arrive at a near accurate cost estimation. Having a 360 degree view helps plan for every possible requirement in advance as against learning and applying during the making process.

Creating a 3D image is easy if your basics on geometry, elevation, projection and perspective are intact. It is addictive and you can see yourself creating more designs - copied, inspired, original or otherwise. This coffee table was inspired by many similar designs and has been approved by the potential user. It is now work in progress and likely to be completed in another week. For this project, I used Google Sketchup.

Creating a 3D design of a room using Google Sketchup

Sketchup is a freely available Google tool that allows for creation of 3D models of furniture, rooms, and other design models. It is used by designers to play around with their designs and comes with a user friendly interface.   I created this 3D model of our kitchen for the SMALL KITCHEN COMPETITION @ APARTMENT THERAPY. Considering I have very limited background on design, you can imagine how much of an easy to use tool it is.

P.S. Linking in : In the Studio, Sneak peak, Kreative Korner, @ the picket fence, Colours Dekor, Lines Across my Face, todayscreativeblog

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Over to you : Do you plan your designs prior to implementing them ? Be it decorating your room, or building a piece of furniture, do you visualize what you want and how you want through an interface besides your mind ? What tools do you use ? Or do you love the traditional way of capturing your visuals in a paper ? Share  your thoughts.

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- Somu