Virtual Gallery Curator: Salon-Hang Wall Packing

Curation

Artworks requested 14

Frame spacing (gap) 0.22 m

Layout algorithm

Track-light intensity 1.0×

Curation Stats

Wall coverage

Placed / requested

0 / 0

Shelf rows

Avg frame area

0 m²

How it works

The curator arranges variable-sized paintings on a fixed wall using Next-Fit Decreasing Height (NFDH), a classic shelf bin-packing heuristic — the same family of algorithm used for masonry/Pinterest-style image grids and real 2D cutting-stock problems:

sort frames by height, descending
row = new shelf at y = 0, cursor x = 0
for each frame:
  if row.x + frame.w > wallWidth:
     close row; start new shelf at y += row.height
  if row.y + frame.h > wallHeight: stop (out of wall)
  place frame at (row.x, row.y); row.x += frame.w + gap
  row.height = max(row.height, frame.h)

Sorting tallest-first before packing is what keeps each shelf's wasted headroom small — this is provably within 2× of the optimal packing area for this class of problem. "Wall coverage" below is Σ(frame area) / (wallWidth × wallHeight); a denser, better-tuned packing pushes it higher without any frame overlapping another.

Artworks requested — how many frames the curator tries to hang; NFDH may run out of wall height first, so "placed" can be lower than "requested".
Salon Shelf-Pack vs Even Grid — the historic "salon hang" (floor-to-ceiling, mixed sizes, minimal gaps) vs a uniform museum grid of equal frames.
Track lighting — each visible frame gets a spotlight whose cone and inverse-square falloff are aimed at its own center, the way real gallery track heads are individually adjusted per artwork.

Track spotlight Frame (packed)

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