Abstract:

Computer Graphics courses are taught since half a century in several universities, but mainly they are computer science courses where the "computer graphics" term means a teaching activity on algorithms and on how to write a code to implement those algorithms. That's useful and interesting for computer science students, but it's a way to teach how a computer can generate a graphic product, not how to do a graphic product using a computer.

Of course, there are also CAD courses, mainly on Mechanical Engineering undergraduate paths, in which usually the focus is on how digital 3D modelling softwares work.

The aim of this paper is to focus on how to teach Computer Graphics and 3D digital modelling in the product design undergraduate courses as a tool for developing a new design.

This is a challenging scenario because it means to setup a course in which there are several topics overlapping each others: a theoretical part about the most important algorithms (the theory); a first time user basic course on a software (the tool); how to use the software at its best (the method); and how to use it for doing a new design (the practice).

We will present the experience done in the last three years at Bologna University in the Computer Graphics course for industrial product design undergraduate students; the goal of this text is to share the teaching method, to define the most critical situations and to look for how to go over them.

Keywords:

Computer Graphics, 3D digital modelling, product design, teaching.