FORM—01 / Relief authoring system

Depth-map editing and 3D ceramic modeling, in your browser.

Surfaces youcan hold.

Turn grayscale images into relief, wrap them onto vessels, and export a 3D model.

Open the surface workbench Open the form workbench
Illustrative ivory ceramic vessel and matching relief tile with flowing vertical ridges
Plate 01—AWave relief / raking lightAI concept study
InputGrayscale height field
FeedbackLive lit geometry
Output3D vessel model
ExportSTL mesh

00 / Proposition

A depth map is a plan for a surface.

It is waiting for material.

BLACK / LOWWHITE / HIGH

Every pixel becomes a physical decision: height, edge, shadow, release.

01 / Apparatus

Two instruments.
One continuous surface.

The surface workbench edits the depth map; the form workbench builds the ceramic body. They share the same material logic, so the idea stays legible from source to object.

Illustrative plaster relief studies arranged on a graphite fieldConcept plate / surface atlas

Instrument 01—S

Surface
workbench

Paint, layer, generate, blend, crop, remap, and test the height field while its lit relief stays in view.

Source
Image · brushwork · type
Control
Layered modifiers
Readout
Relief · normals · section
Open the surface workbench

Instrument 02—F

Form
workbench

Draw the vessel profile, shape the foot, wrap relief around the body, and resolve the object for export.

Profile
Revolved vessel curve
Surface
Placed relief layers
Output
Closed printable mesh
Open the form workbench
Three matte ivory ceramic vessels with ribbed, botanical, and stepped relief surfaces
Plate 04 / Ceramic forms · AI concept study

02 / Method

A short loop
between eye and object.

Illustrative study of three ivory wave-relief tiles with progressively stronger projections
Relief study / 02—MShallow → pronounced / AI concept
  1. 01

    Encode

    Build the grayscale field from reference, drawing, type, pattern, or generation.

    IMAGE → HEIGHT
  2. 02

    Interrogate

    Move the light, orbit the mesh, cut a section, and tune what the surface actually does.

    HEIGHT → SHADOW
  3. 03

    Form

    Place the resolved relief on the ceramic body and export the closed model.

    SURFACE → OBJECT
Illustrative arrangement of plaster architectural fragments

Plate 06 / Architectural concept study

Ornament you can name.

A Persepolis rosette, a Maya mask, a Manueline knot, a Horta capital. FORM keeps a growing library of ready reliefs, cast in plaster and measured into true depth maps, from the capitals, bosses and corbels of every period and culture. Search it by name, open the relief in 3D, and place it on your vessel as a layer you can still scale, turn and blend.Browse the library

Range
Egypt to Art Deco, five continents
Each relief
Render, 16-bit depth map, mask
Use
One click onto the vessel

FORM / OPEN WORKBENCH

Start with an image.
Leave with a form.

Build the surface first, or begin directly with the ceramic body.

Open the surface workbench Open the form workbench