L'Altell: a 3D configurator with real-time pricing for made-to-measure furniture

Deciding on made-to-measure furniture from a floor plan and a few photos is hard: it's difficult to picture the real space, and a mistake isn't caught until the carpentry is already built. L'Altell grew out of one real case —turning a loft into a cinema, office, mini gym and library— and a way of solving it: a browser-based 3D configurator that shows the finished space and its budget instantly, before commissioning anything.

The tool

A self-contained HTML file, with no server or install, that opens in any browser with WebGL:

• Several design alternatives — a selector to switch between proposals without losing the view or the controls.
• Real-time budget — quantities, finishes, manufacturing, installation, transport and VAT, updating instantly with every choice.
• Exportable PDF inventory — ready to print on A4 with the selected finish.
• 2D floor plan and room views — floor plan, office, library and bathroom, to check the layout from every angle.
• Built-in measuring tool — mark two points on the 3D model to get direct, horizontal and vertical distances, exportable as CSV.

Built on the real floor plan, not an empty mock-up

The model is built from the real DWG and photographs of the space, not generic geometry. On that basis, three complete design alternatives were compared —each with its own layout, finishes and budget— something that would otherwise have taken three physical mock-ups or three visits from an interior designer to reach the same decision point.

A service for anyone who needs to decide before opening a workshop order

The same method —a 3D configurator built to the real space, with a budget that responds instantly— can be built for any made-to-measure furniture or interior design project:

• Individuals who want to see how a renovation or a made-to-measure piece will look before commissioning it, and compare finishes without asking for a new quote every time.
• Architects and interior designers who need to show a client several alternatives, with the cost of each, without relying on static renders that have to be redone every time someone changes their mind.
• Carpenters and workshops who want to close the job with an inventory and a budget already approved by the client, instead of negotiating them once work has started.

How it's built

The 3D viewer is Three.js on WebGL, in a self-contained HTML file that needs no server or connection. The printable dossiers and inventory are generated with Python (Pycairo and Pillow) from the model's actual state, not from a separate template that could drift out of sync.