MODELING PERCEPTION OF 3D FORMS USING FUZZY KNOWLEDGE BASES

The aesthetics of a product influences the decisions made by consumers when purchasing products Research has shown that designers are not always successful in creating a product with the desired perception amongst its users Hence methods and tools which can support the designer in predicting how the aesthetics of their products are likely to be perceived are of value In this paper the authors propose an approach to formalize the relationship between geometric information of a 3D object and the intended emotion using fuzzy logic 3D objects (shapes) created by design engineering students to evoke a certain perception were analysed Three different fuzzy logic models, with different input variables, for evaluating massiveness and lightness in a form are proposed The authors identified geometric information as inputs of the fuzzy model and developed a set of fuzzy if/then rules to map the relationships between the fuzzy sets on each input premise and the output premise In our case the output premise of the fuzzy logic model is the level of belonging to the design context (emotion) An evaluation of how users perceived the shapes was conducted to validate the fuzzy logic models and showed a high correlation between the fuzzy logic model and user perception The models show the possibility of creating tools to support designers with forms to evoke the desired perceptions amongst consumers