Analysis of 3D Shapes of Liquid Soap Bottles Using Spherical Harmonics

抄録

Quantitative analytical framework for investigating the relationship between the design of 3D products and subjective impressions regarding shapes was developed by using a combination of spherical harmonics (SPHARM) and multivariate analysis. SPHARM is a parametric surface description that uses spherical harmonics as its basic function. The shape of liquid soap bottles was focused as a typical example of 3D product design. We converted 3D surface data on shape of 22 liquid soap bottles into multivariate coefficients using SPHARM, in order to extract their major morphological features. Then, we performed a principal component analysis of these coefficients. The extracted morphological features were related to the aspect ratio in the frontal plane, thickness and roundness. Subsequently, participants rated their subjective impressions of bottle shapes on a semantic differential scale. We examined relationships between major morphological features of bottles and their subjective impressions. Results indicated that this methodology is effective for appreciating the positioning of a product's shape design, as well as for systematically understanding the correspondence between shapes and subjective impressions of products.