U&C Shade3D Interview

Vol.

Tokyo Technical College
Educational Foundation
Koyama Gakuen

Interior Department
Mr. Ryo Murata

URL　https://tec.ttc.ac.jp/

Location: Nakano-ku, Tokyo

Tokyo Technical College (TTC) is one of the 4 technical colleges operated by Educational Foundation Koyama Gakuen. Established in 1987, the college now consists of 11 faculties including architectural, ICT (Information Communication Technology), environmental and biologic departments. "Interior Department", where Mr. Ryo Murata whom we interviewed this time is belonged, is a 2-year course, and its policy is to foster human resources who can create interior spaces "which make people happy and realize rich housing environments". Therefore, the department is actively promoting off-campus learning, which is one of TTC's unique features. Students learn about interior coordination through the latest trends and actual interior elements in the showrooms of several partner companies. This approach helps the students to acquire qualifications while feeling the joy of manufacturing. "In recent years, most of our classes have shifted to remote lectures between showrooms and schools as a countermeasure against COVID-19. However, the students can come to the showroom more and more this year", said Mr. Murata. The department is also focusing on learning skills on digital presentation including 3D CG which are necessary for creating coordinate boards. The curriculum is structured so that students can learn how to operate Shade3D and can actually create their own spatial images in 3DCG in their first year. In addition, Mr. Murata says that a characteristic approach of lessons at the college is its original lesson system. For each 90-min class, teachers create materials called "lesson sheet" which consists of the key point and the purpose of lesson, and what the students can learn in the lesson ("Goal to do and to understand"). Teachers explain the lesson sheet at the beginning of each class and proceed the lesson according to it. At the end of each class, students take a quiz to check their understanding of the lesson of the day and learn again in additional lessons if they made mistakes. Through this system, students can objectively assess their own level of understanding. The Interior Department has 30 students in each grade, and since it is a 2-year college, there are about 60 students in the department. The 1st grade has a uniformed curriculum. Students in the 2nd grade can select a class in the latter half of the year between 1) Class to design and create furniture, and 2) class to learn how to do digital presentation using 3D CG.

Focusing on conveying the joy of design and developing professional interior designers by making full use of unique methods such as off-campus lessons.
Creating from total coordinate board to animation using Shade3D.

Shade3D was first used in classes at Tokyo Technical College (TTC) more than 20 years ago. "Actually, I was graduated from this school", said Mr. Murata. About 10 years ago, his teacher introduced Shade3D as "Japan-made comprehensive 3D CG software which can complete designing from modeling to lighting and rendering". He looked back on the time when he started to learning and said that the teacher explained the advantages of using Shade3D to create 3D objects based on drawings made with 2D CAD software, while considering basic settings such as texture, color, lighting, and natural light.

"The screen consists of 4 screens which is similar to drawings of interior and furniture. The software itself is intuitive and easy to learn". Mr. Murata positions Shade3D as being appropriate from the aspect of curriculum configuration where students in the 1st grade of Interior Department complete all the basic operations of the integrated software in only about 8 month and apply and develop it further. He explains the reason of the background where Shade3D has been used still after he has his own classes in TTC as follows.

Students who entered the 1st grade of Interior Department in April mainly learn the basic operations of CAD software and each presentation software at first.

▲Tokyo Technical College (TTC)

Then, from June, they start to use Shade3D in classes. They learn basic software operations while using 3DCG to represent various types of furniture such as chairs.

After the summer vacation, from September to October, each student decides on a theme or concept and coordinates the interior design for an interior elevation of an empty room under the same conditions for all students. Each student creates a CG work that represents a different space through the use of wallpaper, flooring, different furniture type and placement, and other factors while maintaining a certain level of quality.

In addition, from November to December, students create CG models of a room with Shade3D from design drawings which they draw in the design classes so far. This becomes the first work for students where they express the results of their interior coordination based on a theme or concept designed and decided by themselves.


▲ Chairs designed and made by students of Interior Department

Following the previous term, in January and February at the end of the 1st grade, students totally coordinate interiors in all rooms of a flat house based on the design drawing which they draw in the design classes. They first model the entire space of the house with Shade3D and then convert it to CG, reflecting the themes and concepts of each room in addition to the design requirements of the house. Students complete a total coordination board including an overhead perspective for presentation as the final work of the 1st grade.

In the Interior Department, students are assumed to have mastered the basic operations of Shade3D in the 1st grade, and for second-year students, some of the design classes taught by Mr. Murata cover its application. They create 3DCG of a two-family house or a two- or three-story house to experience the modeling with more volume including the exterior of the building and the surrounding environment.


▲ Perspectives created by students in the Interior Department with Shade3D

In addition, in the 2nd semester of the 2nd grade of the department (November to February), students are supposed to choose one of the two classes for their graduation project, as mentioned above. Mr. Murata is in charge of one of the classes, where students learn digital presentation in 3DCG. Using Shade3D, the students basically create a walk-through animation in a house they have designed. The purpose of this class is to effectively introduce the interior coordination of the house.

"I think Shade3D is suitable as an integrated 3DCG software, considering the time it takes to learn the basic operations (according to the current curriculum)."

Mr. Murata reiterated the advantages of Shade3D, including its intuitive operability and ease of teaching. He also explained that "Shade3D has the potential to improve the quality to any level if we pursue.


▲ In front of the cafe at the entrance on 1F of TTC. Mr. Ryo Murata, Interior Department and Mr. Juichiro Takayama, the director of the department, from the left

Index

Translation of the Japanese article written by Takashi Ikeno
(Up&Coming '22 Summer issue)

Up&Coming