NVC Campus Introduction text

Welcome to the Digital Design Graphics Technology (DDGT) interactive Napa Valley College (NVC) campus.

The DDGT department is a two-year program covering many different aspects of design. The culmination in the fourth semester is an ongoing live project that each subsequent class adds to. Currently, each student is in charge of one specific building.

We start by 3D Scanning the buildings on campus with a laser scanner creating a point cloud. Students then work with the point cloud data, cleaning it up and optimizing the data for their specific building. Once that information is cleaned up, they create a 3D digital model of the building in a process known as “reverse engineering”. The model is then used to make a realistic representation by adding lighting and materials and added to the master campus file.

This master file is then optimized to be placed on Sketchfab – a website that hosts 3D models. Annotations (building labels and information) is then added to the interactive model. The model is then added to our department website so anyone can view it and take a virtual tour.

The same model is also shrunk at a scale of 1:500 and optimized specifically for 3D Printing. At 1:500, the campus can fit on a 4’ by 8’ board. The model is printed modularly with the buildings and terrain separate so they can be updated and changed out easily in the future. The whole model is held together with magnets added to the 3D printed models.

We have also created a “living document” of the campus map that incorporates our 3D buildings. This is designed to be printed poster size, 24” by 36”.

Lastly, single buildings (as the whole campus is too large of a file) can be uploaded to our Augmented Reality devices. We are using Microsoft Hololens 2. Augmented Reality is when you can overlay digital holograms over the the real world and interact with them.

All files are updated annually at the end of Spring with the latest building additions.