## 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.

## 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.)

## 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.

### 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.

### 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.

### 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

## 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.

## 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.

## 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.