IGA-based interactive framework using conjoint analysis and SOM for designing room layout

In this paper, the authors propose the user evaluation support methods for IGA (Interactive Genetic Algorithm)-based 3D room layout generation. Although IGA is useful for applying the user preferences to the solution, IGA-based systems force users to evaluate a lot of individuals, causing the fatigue of operators. Therefore, we adopted the following methods in order to cope with the problem: (a) Prediction of user preferences with a conjoint analysis. (b) Individuals clustering with a self-organizing map. To make a 3D scene such as a furniture layout, the IGA-based 3D room layout system is very helpful because it requires easy 3D graphics and manipulation only. The authors have been developing a web-based system that optimizes 3D room layouts based on user preferences. Finally, we tested the usefulness of our system with the demonstration, and had positive outcomes.