KEER2010, PARIS | MARCH 2-4 2010 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON KANSEI ENGINEERING AND EMOTION RESEARCH 2010 COMPUTATIONAL METHODS FOR SHAPE MANIPULATION IN GENERATION A LITERATURE REVIEW Jean-François OMHOVER* * a , Carole BOUCHARD a , Jieun KIM a , Améziane AOUSSAT a a Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Product Design and Innovation Laboratory (LCPI), France ABSTRACT In this paper we will present a state of the art of the descriptive and generative models for shape. We will present several different approaches for the manipulation of shape in computational systems: numerical models, graph models, descriptive models. This investigation will lead to a discussion regarding the use of these models for supporting the generation of shapes in the early phases of the design process. Keywords: design, shape description, shape generation 1. INTRODUCTION AND FOCUS OF RESEARCH There is a quite common list of tools that can be used for computer-aided design in the late phases of the design process. These tools support the detailed design phase, where designers develop a product architecture, and specify shapes corresponding to the product physical features. It is quite less common to find tools for supporting the early phases of the design process, where designers imagine and provide shapes, concepts and ideas for innovative products. These tools have been investigated in the context of the GENIUS project†. This project consists in the elaboration of a categorization and generation system for designers. Considering the design process [1,2], this system intends to support the generation phase (generation of solutions, sketches, identification of a “good shape”). In order to do so, several issues have to be adressed : the modelisation of the designers cognitive process, the * Corresponding author : LCPI – 151 bd de l’Hopital – 75013 Paris, France jean-francois.omhover@ensam.eu † www.genius-anr.org