简介:Natureisaninformationsourcebookofbehaviour,function,colourandshapewhichcaninspirevisualdesignandinven-tion.Studyingtheformandfunctionalcharacteristicsofanaturalobjectcanprovideinspirationforproductdesignandhelptoimprovethemarketabilityofmanufacturedproducts.Theinspirationcanbetriggeredeitherbydirectobservationorcapturedbythree-dimensional(3D)digitisingtechniquestoobtainsuperficialinformation(geometryandcolour).Anartdesigneroftencreatesaconceptintheformofatwo-dimensional(2D)sketchwhileengineeringmethodsleadtoapointcloudin3D.Eachhasitslimitationsinthattheartdesignercommonlylackstheknowledgetobuildafinalproductfroma2Dsketchandtheengi-neeringdesigner’s3Dpointcloudsmaynotbeverybeautiful.WeproposeamethodforProductDesignfromNature(PDN),couplingaestheticintentandgeometricalcharacteristics,exploringtheinteractionsbetweendesignersandnature’ssystemsinPDN.Webelievethatthisapproachwouldconsiderablyreducetheleadtimeandcostofproductdesignfromnature.