Before I keep writing stuff to various topics I wanted to share our use case here in a new thread. I hope to add some context about how people work. Maybe there are other stories that could help with the development of Rhino.
We’re a small architecture office, and we need to work collaboratively and efficiently on one project. Using WorkSessions in Rhino could be a solution, but it still lacks some of the functionalities we need. We’re looking for a unified and controllable structure without redundant file management. Rhino, in general, is stable, flexible, and great in 3D—and that’s why we use it.
About how we work: Our work focuses on the built environment—renovation, rebuilding, reconstruction, adaptation. We use laser scanning (point clouds) and structure-from-motion (meshes) to draw plans, build 3D twins, and visualize ideas. This helps us design and communicate with owners, planners, builders, and sometimes even politicians. We use the full range of 2D and 3D tools in Rhino 8. Rhino is fantastic for our 3D work (B-Reps, clipping planes, plugins like Grasshopper, point clouds) because it enables us to design everything—unlike the other architectural apps. Our projects have a scale range from about 1:1000 to 1:10—and in 3D, of course, 1:1. The challenge is in the 2D part. Everything is there, but it isn’t fully combinable yet. We just need too many workarounds, scripts, and hacks to make it work.
Here’s a quick rundown of how we work:
Import Files: We import files from other planners and institutions—state agencies, surveyors, civil engineers, other architects, historians, artists, etc. These can include plans, 3D models, scans, images, and even sound. Point clouds sometimes go to CloudCompare first.
Analyze the Context: We analyze the ground, vegetation, and built environment using point clouds, meshes, and photos in both 2D and 3D.
Transform the Information: We convert all this input into plans and sections—and also into 3D—mostly through manual work or, in some cases, via scripts.
Design and Idea Sessions: From this foundation, we start our design sessions. There’s a lot of copying involved as different designs get aligned side by side and arranged into layouts for printing. For most of the rendering tasks, we either use Rhino; but if it needs to look really good, we use Blender. Sometimes we even rent the V-Ray plugin, depending on the project.
Produce Laser-Cutting and 3D Printing Files: We also produce files for laser cutting and 3D printing (PLA, sometimes sand). Occasionally, these files go into other software (like ZBrush or GOM Inspect) before coming back into our Rhino file after digital modifications or after updating physical models and scanning them back in.
Building Application: In our region, legal standards still require us to produce detailed plans with strict definitions for line thickness, color, and hatches (sometimes we have to submit complete layer structures, too). This is where Rhino starts to feel shaky and cumbersome. Even though Rhino has made a big leap in the right direction over the past year (kudos to the team), it’s still not ideal—especially when dealing with line thickness across multiple scales (1:500, 1:100, 1:20) and WorkSessions. And navigating layouts in large projects? That’s crazy frustrating—gosh, we hate it.
Produce Company Plans: After the Building Application, we create plans for companies at scales like 1:50, 1:20, and 1:10, where hatches, line thickness, and color are once again critical. For construction companies, it’s all about the lines—they don’t care about BIM or 3D at all.
Cleanup and Publication: Once something is built, we clean up the files and produce plans for publication—sometimes using Adobe Illustrator, and sometimes entirely within Rhino. If we want to add point clouds in the background, we prepare them in CloudCompare and incorporate them either in Photoshop or sometimes directly in Rhino. In Rhino it just doesn’t always work.
Next Project: And then, we move on to the next project. Where we sometimes need stuff from previous projects.
This is our story—how we work, where Rhino shines, and where we still see room for improvement.
Thanks for sharing your workflow – very interesting to see it written out like that. I’m an architect myself and use a very similar setup, and I’ve also run into a few problems, especially with Rhino 8 and worksessions.
From my experience, there are two main issues:
Layer management in worksessions is still quite limited.
It’s not really practical to organize or edit layers across multiple files. It would be super helpful if we could control layer attributes globally — for example, adjusting line weights in a layout file and having those changes apply to all attached files. Right now, you have to open each individual file to make those changes, which takes a lot of time. If this kind of global layer control was possible, it would solve a lot of problems. For me, this is one of the biggest limitations at the moment.
The “Detail Visibility” bug you mentioned.
As you pointed out (link), Detail Visibility doesn’t save properly in worksessions. That makes it very hard to use layouts in a reliable way. Once you have more than just a few layouts, it becomes basically unusable — I can’t go through and reset visibility settings every time. If it could be fixed in Rhino 8, it would really help. Or maybe someone knows a workaround? I already tried using layerstates in selected details but they are also buggy.
I’ll share my experience too, as it sounds a bit different from yours but runs into the same problematics.
The fact is that there is no “perfect” workflow in Rhino for architecture/interior design, everyone has to make it suitable for their own requirements and cobble things up together in order to overcome the limitations.
(By the way, I do commercial interior design on medium to large scale, from concept to DD, and I use VisualArq 3 with Rhino 8)
I use Worksessions which usually consist in 1) Survey/Base plan, 2) Existing Model, 3) Proposed Model. This could vary whether instead of a CAD survey or lease plan I start from a cloud points or photogrammetry model.
The issues with the above setup are that worksession do not save layer states properly, therefore you need to check and switch layers on/off every time you open or reload a worksession file.
Also the layer custom section properties are buggy, the hatches on the inactive model often do not match in the active model.
Additionally: Crashes are often common when using a worksession with more than 3 models loaded.
Printing the layouts can be quite buggy too, the most reliable setup I found is to use saved layer states in the detail viewports (these often need to be reapplied when reloading the worksession) and the RhinoPDF printer with vector output.
The layers settings panels could do with a bit of improved design: It should automatically switch between model/layout/detail properties according to what is active, right now it creates a lot of confusion between layout and detail properties unless you really pay attention (which is hard to do when the properties reset every time you open or reload a worksession model)
I often have to render my interior views into Twinmotion. Importing the Rhino model through datasmith sync works pretty well, also most PBR materials are exported (although you need to reset values and mapping every time), the main issue is that I work in millimeters and Twinmotion does only centimeters or meters, I therefore have to use a “transition” Rhino file in CM to sync the model every time. It’s not a Rhino issue, I know, but it may be a useful tip for other users.
Overall, yes it is possible and also very productive to use Rhino for architecture/interiors (especially if you also have VisualArq and are proficient on Grasshopper), but there are a few minor annoyances that detract from the experience and waste a bit of your time every now and then.
I’m feeling the same here.. and recently posted my situation in a post about Design Options (maked bellow). Layer management need improvements, not only on the Worksessions, but in the default modeling too. I’m wondering what is your use of worksession..
How do you handle situations like: a wall that has one material on the exterior face and another on the interior face? Since TM can’t understand rhino objects with different materials applied..