From Free-Form Concepts to Build-Ready Surfaces

Led by architect and digital designer Hazel Özrenk, Fluid Forms: Geometry Rationalization with Maya & Rhino3D guided participants through the creative and technical journey of transforming expressive, organic forms into clean, buildable geometries. Over two intensive sessions, the workshop demonstrated how Maya’s mesh modeling freedom and Rhino’s precision SubD and NURBS tools can be combined into a seamless design-to-construction workflow enriched with visualization in Enscape and final presentation touches in Photoshop and Runway.

Rather than focusing solely on form generation, the workshop emphasized the architectural reality: free-form shapes must ultimately meet rationalization and fabrication requirements without losing their design intent.

Form Creation in Maya and Preparation in Rhino

The workshop opened with a visual roadmap of the full workflow from Maya’s conceptual modeling environment to Rhino’s precision refinement tools. Hazel introduced clean mesh modeling techniques as the foundation of every successful fluid form project.

Participants explored Maya’s subdivision modeling tools, learning to manage edge loops and subdivision lines to maintain control over curvature. Hazel demonstrated how to organize geometry with layers, apply basic materials for early visualization, and ensure meshes remain clean before export.

Transitioning to Rhino, the session compared export methods from Maya and the subtle differences they produce in geometry quality. Students practiced importing models, converting mesh to SubD, scaling with human reference objects, and finally refining SubD into NURBS surfaces for greater precision and interoperability. By the end of the day, attendees had their initial fluid forms structured and ready for rationalization.

Rationalization, Surface Evaluation & Visualization

Day two focused on making complex forms practical. Hazel began with surface evaluation techniques to identify areas needing curvature adjustment. Through live demonstrations, she showed how to rebuild curves, improve continuity, and simplify overly complex regions without compromising design intent.

The session introduced façade cladding logic, covering modular panel sizing and creating clean panel outlines, a process essential for translating design into fabrication-ready components.

With geometry rationalized, Hazel shifted to Enscape for rapid visualization inside Rhino. Students learned to assign materials, adjust lighting, and set up environmental contexts to bring their models to life. The final outputs were rendered at high quality, followed by quick post-processing in Photoshop and AI-assisted motion enhancements in Runway, adding dynamic animations to static designs.

A Designer’s Mindset: Balancing Expression with Precision

Throughout both sessions, Hazel reinforced the mindset shift from pure form-making to designing with buildability in mind. By treating Maya and Rhino not as separate tools but as stages in one continuous process, participants gained a repeatable workflow for bringing imaginative geometries into the real world.

The combination of mesh modeling, SubD/NURBS conversion, rationalization techniques, and visualization gave attendees not just technical skills, but a holistic understanding of how to take a concept from fluid sketch to presentation-ready, fabrication-conscious design.