Topic: 3D-Printing Clay Mastery
Date: September 20 – 21, 2025
Time: 14:00 – 18:00 GMT
Format: Online on Zoom
Duration: 2 Sessions (8 Hours)
Registration Deadline: September 19th, 2025
Total Seats: 50 seats
Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Language: English
Certificate: Yes
General Registration: 100 EUR
Join free: with Full Access membership
Fee For Digital Members: 85 EUR (15% discount available only for Digital Members)
Organized By: PAACADEMY
Tutor: Lili Yas Tayefi
Recordings: Recordings will be available for all participants afterward indefinitely.
Introduction to 3D-Printing Clay Mastery:
This workshop is designed for artists, architects, designers, and digital fabricators interested in deepening their understanding of clay 3D printing. Over two intensive live sessions, you’ll explore technical and material-driven strategies for generating optimized toolpaths using a newly developed custom plugin for Grasshopper 8 by LYT Studio, based on a decade of accumulated research.
Rather than treating the digital model as a static object, this course approaches design as an active, material-aware process, where the toolpath itself becomes the object to design. Participants will learn how to design for gravity, extrusion flow, and drying behavior, developing forms with both technical precision and experimental potential.
Whether working with simple forms or 3D scans of the body (optional), you’ll leave with strategies to print smarter, cleaner, and more intuitively with clay.
©GregoriCivera
The Scope of 3D-Printing Clay Mastery:
This live workshop follows a hands-on, exploratory approach featuring live demonstrations and walkthroughs in Rhino and Grasshopper using a custom plug-in. Participants engage in design exercises that emphasize toolpath-based thinking.
Technical Content
The course covers technical strategies for clay extrusion, including managing cantilevers, overlaps, and understanding geometry behavior during printing.
Case Studies and Applications
- Real-world case studies from modular sculpture and architectural ceramics illustrate practical applications of the techniques taught.
- Participants may explore optional body-scan workflows for hybrid digital-organic design experimentation.
Support and Accessibility
An open Q&A session offers individualized troubleshooting support.
Key Learning Topics:
- Design optimized forms for additive layering with extrusion constraints in mind.
- Understand how line thickness, overlaps, cantilevers, and nozzle sizes affect real-world prints.
- Use the LYT.Studio Grasshopper 8 plug-in to generate custom G-code for clay 3D printers.
- Export toolpaths directly from Rhino without using an external slicer.
- Develop surface textures and clean a base for your model using parametric control.
- Integrate body-inspired geometries as a framework for sculptural experimentation (optional)
- Consider the full clay workflow: from recipe to print to drying and shrinkage.
- Troubleshoot issues related to scale, material stress, and deformation during printing.
Program:
Day 1
Module 1: Clay Material Prep, Rhino Overview & Print Demonstration
- Overview of ideal clay consistency and printable mixtures
- Quick introduction to the Rhino 3D interface for those who haven’t used it
- Live demonstration of a successful clay 3D print using the new plug-in
- Tips for handling shrinkage, drying, and reusability
Module 2: Introduction to the Custom Clay 3D Printing LYT Plug-in
- How to export and check clean print-ready files
- Overview of the new Grasshopper plug-in for Rhino 8
- Walkthrough of customizable parameters for different hardware setups (desktop printers, robotic arms, WASP printers)
- Understanding G-code generation and toolpath logic
Day 2
Module 3: Design Exercise – Simple Forms & Optional Body-Based Geometry
- Designing with clay printing constraints in mind (overhangs, gravity, scale, print line thickness)
- Approaches to additive logic: modeling for toolpath rather than object alone
- Adding surface texture and varying wall thickness or double walls for scale
- Optional: Working from 3D scans or abstracted body-based forms
Module 4: Test Prints & Troubleshooting
- Discussion on drying, support-free structures, and clean bases
- Preparing, slicing, and simulating prints
- Live or remote printing demo and analysis
- Review of common printing issues and how to fix them
Software &
- Rhino 8
- Grasshopper
- LYT.Studio Clay Printing Plugin (download link will be provided before the workshop)
Workshop Notes:
- Please ensure you have all the software installed before the workshop starts. Software installation is NOT a part of the workshop.
- Prior experience with Rhino and/or Grasshopper is recommended, but not required. Concepts will be
clearly explained. - You do not need a clay 3D printer to follow along; the course is focused on simulation and design
preparation - A body 3D scan (or a simple 3D scanned object) may be used optionally for experimentation, but is not
mandatory
Instructor:
Lili Yas Tayefi
Lili Yas Tayefi is an Iranian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist, educator, and designer working in computational design, digital fabrication, and sculptural ceramics. Her practice explores the space between bodies, buildings, craft, and code, translating softness, modularity, and movement into tactile form.
Since 2015, Lili has worked extensively with 3D-printed biomaterials, beginning at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), where she specialized in large-scale clay 3D printing and bio fabrication techniques. Her projects include Spain’s first 3D-printed earthen dwelling and numerous international collaborations bridging material experimentation and digital craft.
As founder of LYT.Studio, she develops custom tools and workflows for clay 3D printing, including a newly launched Grasshopper plugin for optimized g-code generation. Her teaching practice spans architecture, art, and technology, with a focus on intuitive design, hands-on methods, and body-aware fabrication.
Important Notes:
- The “3D-Printing Clay Mastery” Studio workshop by PAACADEMY will start at 14:00 (GMT) on Saturday, September 20th, 2025.
- Total sessions: 2 Sessions
- The teaching duration per session will be 4 hours.
- Students will have time for a break between teaching hours.
- Each session and the entire studio will be recorded, and videos will be available for participants just a day after the class for unlimited time.
- PAACADEMY will provide a certificate of attendance.
- The studio has limited seats. Tickets are non-transferable & non-refundable. Please read carefully before you register.
Topic: 3D-Printing Clay Mastery
Date: September 20 – 21, 2025
Time: 14:00 – 18:00 GMT
Format: Online on Zoom
Duration: 2 Sessions (8 Hours)
Registration Deadline: September 19th, 2025
Total Seats: 50 seats
Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Language: English
Certificate: Yes
General Registration: 100 EUR
Join free: with Full Access membership
Fee For Digital Members: 85 EUR (15% discount available only for Digital Members)
Organized By: PAACADEMY
Tutor: Lili Yas Tayefi
Recordings: Recordings will be available for all participants afterward indefinitely.
