Research on the Model and Application of Feature-based Automobile Styling

The study of automobile styling is one of the difficult problems in the field of automobile design. Research on the automobile styling from aesthetics is the main motivation of industrial design research. This paper depicts the process and pattern of automobile styling design adopting feature based method in a cognitive approach. The experiment designed to acquiring the feature knowledge about design process have been carried out, using protocol analysis and sketch analysis which can detect the cognition and thinking in the design process. Based on the results of the experiment, the analysis was made from three aspects: the meaning of feature, the cognition mode and the styling design process. Then, a model of feature representation is proposed which consists of the feature library and the feature manipulating rules. On the basis of the model, a computer aided styling (CAS) system is developed which can aid designers in automobile styling design.