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Explore new shapes with Form Variation

Generate variations of your design’s form by positioning a point on a 2D grid whose axes represent opposing design qualities — from complex to simple, geometric to organic, and more.

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When to use Form Variation

Form Variation is for early-stage shape exploration. Instead of describing changes in words, you steer the silhouette directly by moving through a space defined by design qualities, and Vizcom generates concepts biased toward that point. Use Form Variation when:
  • Exploring silhouette and proportion options early in a project
  • Pushing a concept toward a quality (simpler, more organic, more dynamic)
  • Generating a range of forms from a single base design
  • Breaking out of a fixed shape direction
It’s available as a Variate block in Workbench and as the Form tab of the Variation panel in Studio. (Its sibling, Color Variation, explores colorways instead.)

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How to use Form Variation

You set the meaning of the grid’s four axes, then drag a point to bias the generated form toward those qualities.

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Using Form Variation in Workbench

  1. From the toolbar, add a Variate block and connect a source drawing.
  2. Choose a Preset to set the axis meanings, or edit the four axis labels yourself.
  3. Drag the dot on the grid. The center is closest to your original; drag toward an axis to push the form toward that quality.
  4. Use the center Reset to return to neutral.
  5. Click Generate to produce variations next to your source.

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Using Form Variation in Studio

  1. Open the Variation panel and select the Form tab.
  2. Pick a Preset or edit the axis labels.
  3. Drag the point on the grid to set your direction.
  4. Choose how many variations to generate, then click Generate. Results appear in the results panel.

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Presets

  • Expression — Complex / Simple, Geometric / Organic (the default; sets overall stylistic tone)
  • Proportion — Tall / Short, Wide / Narrow
  • Massing — Light / Heavy, Airy / Dense
  • Edge Quality — Soft / Sharp, Rounded / Angular
  • Symmetry & Balance — Symmetrical / Asymmetrical, Stable / Dynamic
  • Flow / Continuity — Smooth / Faceted, Flowing / Broken
  • Custom — edit the labels freely to define your own axes

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Best practices when using Form Variation

  • Start from a preset, then customize
    • Presets give you meaningful opposing axes; switch to custom labels once you know which qualities you want to explore.
  • Use distance to control intensity
    • Stay near center for subtle variations; drag farther for bolder departures from the original.
  • Write specific axis labels
    • The labels are sent to the model, so descriptive opposites (“chunky” vs “delicate”) steer results more clearly than vague ones.

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Tips

The axis labels directly shape the output — empty labels revert to defaults, so always give each axis a meaningful pair of opposites before generating.

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Next steps

  • Switch to the Color tab (Color Variation) to explore colorways on a form you like.
  • Use Modify to refine the details of a chosen variation.
  • Use New Angle / New View to see your selected form from other viewpoints.