{"id":3368,"date":"2023-02-09T18:15:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T09:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/?p=3368"},"modified":"2024-03-13T13:29:26","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T04:29:26","slug":"shugo-yamaguchi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/study-abroad-en\/3368","title":{"rendered":"Shugo YAMAGUCHI"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Visiting period:<br \/>\nOctober 2017 to January 2018<\/li>\n<li>Visiting university:<br \/>\nUniversity of Southern California(USC)<\/li>\n<li>Visiting country and region:<br \/>\nLos Angeles, USA<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Content of the study program<\/h3>\n<p>On this program, I pursued research for approximately four months, relating to facial texture synthesis under Mr. Hao Li at the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), a laboratory affiliated with the University of Southern California (USC), in Los Angeles, United States. The ICT possesses technology that is essential in the production of state-of-the-art CG movies; for example, it has developed light stages, face capturing equipment for the production of CG in Hollywood movies. During my time abroad, I conducted research into facial texture synthesis, using highly-detailed data recorded on a light stage. It was not only data that I could obtain here though; I felt that I was able to grow substantially as a researcher by gaining experience, coming into contact with high-level research, at the global cutting edge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Study results<\/h3>\n<p>By carrying out studies based on deep learning using 4K-level high definition facial texture data recorded on a light stage, it was possible to automatically create, high-quality CG models of faces, at the level of Hollywood movies, from selfies taken using a device such as an iPhone. We submitted this research as a technical paper for SIGGRAPH, a top conference on CG. I was able to pursue an extremely-focused research lifestyle, for the short period of four months, during which I carried out research at a level where it was possible to aim for submission to SIGGRAPH; this is something that would never have been possible while I was in Japan. The fact that I could obtain these results in such a short period of time was thanks to the substantial strength of collaboration with truly excellent researchers (some of whom already had several top conferences under their belts). One conducted high-quality rendering for me based on my output textures, another corrected the paper from a native perspective, and so forth; this team-based approach to writing a paper was a new experience for me, that I did not have in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/12\/photo_s-yamaguchi_01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>My experience abroad<\/h3>\n<p>This was my first long-term stay abroad (previously, my longest was around one week). As a result, I was nervous before departure, but when I actually went through with it, Los Angeles was very welcoming in terms of climate, food and so forth; the other members of the laboratory, as well as my roommate, were superb people. In fact, I felt regret, that I would have liked to extend my stay, even by a little. My greatest concern before I set off was the low level of my English ability. I did not become able to speak fluently during my period abroad, but I felt at least, that my fear when speaking to foreign people faded somewhat. Until now, I was nervous when starting to speak and nervous when responding, but I became able to speak with confidence, and even fail confidently. The difference is huge (probably).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2192\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/12\/photo_s-yamaguchi_02.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"467\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Influence on my future career<\/h3>\n<p>Before, I had vague feelings that I wanted to perhaps work overseas or in a foreign-affiliated organization, but due to this study abroad, these feelings came to manifest within me with more a sense of reality. At the very least, I was able to develop a clearer, more substantial vision about my remaining two years of life as a doctoral researcher. It is certainly true that this was a large step forward for me as a researcher.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2193\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/12\/photo_s-yamaguchi_03.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Other comments<\/h3>\n<p>I am very grateful for the support I received from the SGU program. Thanks to this support, I was able to be active in research without feeling anxiety over financial matters. This study abroad was truly a turning point in my life. I must thank SGU for providing me with this opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>Visiting period:<\/b><br \/>October 2017 to January 2018<br \/><b>Visiting university:<\/b><br \/>University of Southern California(USC)<br \/><b>Visiting country and region:<\/b><br \/>Los Angeles, USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-study-abroad-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4073,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions\/4073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fsci\/ict-robotics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}