Skapa, a parametric 3D printing app like an IKEA manual (2025)

Summary

SKÅPA, a parametric 3D printing app like an IKEA manual March 24, 2025 This is a mini-release for Skapa, an app I made for generating 3D-printable models for IKEA Skadis pegboards. This post goes through some of the UI & UX decisions and gives an overview of the tech used for model generation and rendering (with Three.js). My Skadis board at home First, let’s clarify. Skadis (skådis) is IKEA’s pegboard system, allowing different kinds of boxes and accessories to be mounted on the wall. Skapa (skåpa) is how I named my app, and comes from the Swedish word for “create” or “make” (or so I was led to believe). With Skapa you can generate custom boxes for IKEA Skadis. The boxes can be downloaded and 3D-printed. The app is very opinionated and I reserve the right to break anything at any time! It’s a side project I’ve been playing with on & off for a few months — and also an excuse to learn more about 3D graphics. To use it, head over to skapa.build, specify the dimensions (width, height & depth) and click the download button. Open the downloaded file in your slicer of choice (PrusaSlicer team here) and print. Voila! The user interface of https://skapa.build The code is on GitHub and there is also a Printables entry you can check out (and star). I’ll briefly describe the interface (and some of the “thinking” behind it), then talk about the tech that makes it possible, and then briefly touch on where I’ll try to take the project. Nu kör vi! (let’s go!) UI/UX considerations Big disclaimer: This is a side project where I decided to explore every possible rabbit hole and allowed myself to obsess over potentially irrelevant details. I’ve been learning a ton in the process. If something doesn’t look right, let me know! The base idea (and hopefully most obvious design choice) was to make the app look like an IKEA manual. This was done by sticking to black and white, using big blocky letters with an Å, and showing strong, black outlines (more on how this is achieved later). The fi...