Connectors decide which pieces snap together, and where. Get them right and customers build runs, corners and curves without thinking about it. This tutorial explains how they work, with examples for a modular seating range.
In short
- A connector is a side of the piece that can join another.
- Give each connector a type, and list any others it accepts.
- Copy the pattern for end units, corners and tables.
- Use Start and Length for part of a side.
- Check sides, types, rotation and the snap distance.
1. Sides that join
A connector is a side of a piece that can join another piece: left, right, back or front, looking at the piece from above — back is the side away from the customer. Two pieces snap together when a connector on one faces a connector on the other, after any rotation, and their types match.
Put a connector on each open side, and none on a side with an arm or a back.
2. Types and what they accept
Give each connector a type, such as seat, desk or table. A connector always accepts its own type; Accepts adds more. Only one of the two sides has to list the other, so giving a table’s connectors Accepts: seat, table lets it join seats without changing the seats.
3. Examples for modular seating
| Piece | Connectors |
|---|---|
| End unit, arm on its left | right: seat |
| Central unit | left and right: seat |
| End unit, arm on its right | left: seat |
| Corner unit, backs on its back and left | right and front: seat |
| Backless unit | left, right and back: seat, so it can go back to back |
| D-shaped end, flat side at the back | back: seat — it caps two backless units back to back |
| Side table | all four sides: table, accepting seat, table |
Ranges usually name end units from the sitter’s point of view, so a “left end unit” often has its arm on your right as you look at it. Go by where the arm is, not by the name, and check in the preview.
4. Part of a side, and curves
Start and Length, in grid cells, limit a connector to part of a side — a 1600 mm desk that only joins on its first 800 mm, say. Start counts from the left end of a back or front side, and from the back end of a left or right side.
A curve needs them: its ends take up only part of each side. A quarter-circle curve of 1200 × 1200 mm on a 50 mm grid, bent round its back-left corner, has back and left connectors of type seat, each with start 10 and length 14.
5. When pieces won’t snap
- Do the sides that should meet both have a connector?
- Do the types match, or does one list the other under Accepts?
- Is Snap distance in Settings above 0?
- Remember sides rotate with the piece, and Start and Length limit a connector to part of a side.
Good to know
- Pieces without connectors can still be placed anywhere on the grid; they just never snap.
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