Combining Virtual Reality and Eye Tracking to Recognize Users’ Aesthetic Preference for Product Modeling

Abstract

As one of the unique cultural products and representative symbols of China, Yixing teapots have a unique aesthetic connotation. The cultural and creative products of Yixing teapot have played a positive role in the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, however, they still face higher requirements in terms of design innovation and adaptation to users’ aesthetic needs. Although several methods of evaluating and measuring user experience have been established, such as subjective reporting and questionnaire surveys, designers still need objective methods to evaluate users’ perception and response for Yixing teapots modeling. This paper aims to combine virtual reality and eye tracking technology to recognize users’ aesthetic preference for the 3D modeling of Yixing teapots. Eye tracking signals were recorded in a preference categorization task, and users’ aesthetic preference was analyzed via eye tracking data and users’ subjective evaluation. The results showed that the fixation count and time of first fixation in different AOIs had significant effects on users’ subjective evaluation. The study provides an objective method in recognizing users’ aesthetic preference, and can provide practical reference for the future modeling design of Yixing teapots.