Visual Framing Studio

Framing Studio is a browser workspace for people who actually build frames. Upload a print, drag the mat, set the moulding, check whether the stack fits the rabbet, hang a preview on a wall, then switch into Workshop for cut diagrams and a 1D stock optimizer. The same engine powers the SEO calculators, so a number you type on the mat board calculator is the number you will cut.

DIY framers, photographers, Etsy print sellers, woodworkers, hobby framers, and small shops all hit the same wall: a calculator that cannot see, and a design tool that cannot cut. This site is both. Artwork never leaves the machine. Projects live in IndexedDB. Export JSON if you want a file; import it on another computer without creating an account.

From artwork to a build plan

The canvas is the product. Drop a JPG, PNG, or WebP, or start with blank dimensions. Choose no mat, single mat, or double mat. Pull the window edges until the snap hint reads 2.5" or Bottom weighted. Hold Alt to turn snap off. When the package drifts near 18×24 or another standard size, keep custom or snap. The inspector on the right is for exact tenths after the hands have decided.

Frame geometry includes face width, rabbet overlap, rabbet depth, fitting clearance, saw kerf, and optional stock allowance. The plan reports package, rabbet, sight opening, finished outside size, and every rail’s long and short point. The stack inspector draws glass, mats, artwork, backing, and retainer against the rabbet and tells you if you still have millimetres left.

Workshop optimizer

Build This Frame is not a PDF of the same form. Mat boards get a window diagram. Rails get 45° drawings. Inventory holds 96" sticks and remnants per profile. The optimizer tries First Fit Decreasing, Best Fit Decreasing, and a bounded search on small jobs. Remnants are preferred. Kerf is real. Different profiles never share a stick. New leftovers can be saved back into inventory.

Costing uses prices you type — moulding per foot, mat per sheet, acrylic per square foot, backing per sheet. There is no market-price database to rot. Print a single-frame build sheet or a full workshop pack. Download frame and mat SVG as reference drawings, not as a CNC promise.

Calculators that convert

If you arrived from search, start on picture frame calculator, mat board calculator, frame size calculator, frame moulding calculator, double mat calculator, or picture frame cut calculator. Each page is a fast form. Each form opens the studio with the same measurements. That is how a search tool becomes a workshop.