Mat and Frame Calculator
The ParametrIQ Mat and Frame Calculator works out a picture's mount and frame from its size: the mount's windows
and outside size, the frame's rebate, sight and outside sizes, its four rails and how they come out of the moulding's
lengths, the glass and backing, and the price. It draws the mount for a computerised mat cutter as ParametrIQ CAD's
picture framing library draws it. It is a separate, free program (PiQ.Framing.App).
Getting the Mat and Frame Calculator
The Mat and Frame Calculator is free: it needs a ParametrIQ account and its own licence, which costs nothing. Ask for it under ParametrIQ Mat and Frame Calculator on your account's Licenses page, download and install it, and activate it when it first starts, as Free Apps describes.
The picture and mount
Type the picture's Width and Height, then choose the Mount: None (the picture straight in the frame), Single or Double.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Over the picture's edge | How far the mount covers the picture all round, holding it. |
| Border (sides and top) | The mount's width round its window. |
| More at the bottom | A heavier bottom border, which looks centred to the eye. |
| Board thickness | The mount board; the width of its bevel. |
| Under mount's reveal | For a double mount: how much of the under mount shows inside the top one. |
The frame
Choose a Moulding to start from, or type your own: its Face width, its Rebate, the lengths it Comes in and its Price per metre. The Rebate allowance makes the rebate that much bigger than what goes in it, so it fits; the Saw kerf is lost at each cut.
Your prices
Under Your prices type the mount board, glass (or acrylic) and backing board per m², a price for Making it, the Spare moulding bought over the length cut, and the Selling price as a multiple of the cost. Your prices are kept for next time.
The sizes and quote
On the right, made again as you type:
- Cut sizes: the under mount's and the mount's windows, the mount's outside, the frame's rebate, its sight (what shows) and its outside, the glass and backing, and the rails, long point to long point with 45° mitres, two of each. The moulding line says how many lengths the rails are cut from, and the offcut.
- Quote: the moulding, mount board, glass, backing and making, then the cost and the price.
Save quote… saves the sizes and the quote as a list (CSV); it needs the licence.
The mount for the mat cutter
The mount is drawn in the middle as the library's Window mount or Double mount design draws it at these sizes: the outside a straight cut, each window a bevel. Export mount… writes it as mat cutter DXF for a computerised mat cutter, or as PDF, SVG or a ParametrIQ drawing; it needs the licence.