UITM SEGAMAT
UKM
KOLEJ RISDA MELAKA
BAYANGKAN filem animasi Sang Kancil yang dihasilkan Filem Negara Malaysia (FNM), ia mengambil masa bertahun-tahun untuk disiapkan walaupun tempoh tayangan hanya beberapa minit.
Bayangkan berapa banyak kos yang terpaksa dilaburkan sedangkan prosesnya boleh dipercepatkan dan kerugian dapat dielakkan jika menggunakan teknologi tinggi.
Justeru, pengeluar filem animasi terkemuka negara, Les Copaque, mengguna pakai teknologi perkomputeran grid bagi menghasilkan filem animasi bermutu dengan kerjasama Mimos Berhad.
Pengarah Teknikal dan Produksi, Les Copaque Production Sdn Bhd, Mohd Safwan Ab Karim, berkata syarikatnya yang memulakan operasi pada Disember 2005 melalui projek Geng, filem animasi mengenai dua budak yang menempuh misteri ketika pulang ke kampung.
Ia menggunakan komputer peribadi biasa untuk memproses warna.
Animasi Geng: The Adventure Begins dijangka ditayangkan ketika Kongres Teknologi Maklumat Dunia 2008 (WCIT08), kini dalam proses rendering menggunakan teknologi canggih tajaan Mimos.
"Di peringkat awal, kami menjalankan penyelidikan berkaitan teknologi animasi dan ia mengambil masa dua tahun menyiapkan animasi menggunakan 32 pekerja sedia ada," katanya.
Bagaimanapun, katanya penggunaan teknologi pengkomputeran grid membolehkan proses yang sama dilakukan lebih pantas dan hasil bermutu.
Penyelia 'Rendering', Mohd Zarin Abdul Karim, berkata penggunaaan teknologi canggih Mimos membolehkan syarikat itu menghasilkan filem animasi berkualiti dan setaraf dengan pengeluar antarabangsa.
"Animasi Geng siap 80 peratus dan kami dalam proses perkomputeran grid.
"Perkomputeran grid mampu mengawal kerja 'render' selain menyelia hasil yang belum disiapkan," katanya.
Menurutnya, Grid PC memiliki pemprosesan tinggi sehingga 32 gigabit (GB) berbanding komputer biasa, 2GB.
Ini membolehkan kerja proses pewarnaan animasi menjadi pantas.
"Komputer peribadi (PC) biasa mengambil masa lebih setahun memproses animasi selama 90 minit.
"Dengan menggunakan perkomputeran grid, proses pewarnaan dapat disiapkan dalam tempoh tiga hingga empat bulan sahaja," katanya.
Beliau berkata, setiap satu saat dalam animasi memerlukan 25 kerangka untuk menghasilkan pergerakan dan diproses selama tiga hingga empat (pewarnaan) menggunakan PC biasa.
"Perkomputeran grid hanya mengambil masa seminit untuk proses yang sama tanpa menjejaskan kualiti warna," katanya.
Safwan berkata, jika animasi di Malaysia mahu diiktiraf di peringkat antarabangsa, ia perlu mengambil kira setiap lukisan atau karektor yang dihasilkan seperti alunan rambut, mimik muka dan pergerakan.
"Ini memerlukan kerangka yang banyak untuk mencipta pelbagai pergerakan dan mengambil masa bertahun jika menggunakan PC biasa.
"Perkomputeran grid membantu mengurangkan kos dan meningkatkan kualiti animasi setanding produksi luar seperti Pixar dan Disney," katanya.
Naib Presiden Pembangunan Perisian dan Kejuruteraan Pusat, Mimos Berhad, Thillai Raj, berkata kekuatan pengkomputeran grid seolah-olah seseorang itu menggunakan 256 unit pemprosesan pusat (CPU) untuk proses rendering.
Menurutnya, perkomputeran grid atau 'Knowledge Grid' dilancarkan tahun lalu turut diguna pakai di Jepun dan negara Eropah lain.
"Ada dua jenis perkomputeran grid iaitu gabungan ratusan komputer dalam satu tempat dan data grid yang menyimpan maklumat bersaiz besar.
"Seperti animasi pada satu kerangka untuk proses rendering yang mempunyai data sebesar 10 hingga 20 megabait dihasilkan Les Copaque tentunya memerlukan setoran banyak," katanya.
Manakala satu animasi sekurang-kurangnya memerlukan lapan terabait, bayangkan jika menggunakan PC biasa?
"Setakat ini data sedia ada disimpan di Taman Teknologi Malaysia (TPM) dan kami merancang membuka setoran tambahan di Taman Teknologi Kulim," katanya.
Perkomputeran grid bukan saja untuk industri animasi tetapi boleh diperluas dalam sektor pendidikan dan kerja perkomputeran bagi kejuruteraan mekanikal atau elektrikal.
"Kami menyambung grid di universiti tempatan ke grid Eropah dan India sebagai platform bertukar idea dalam pelbagai penyelidikan serta pendidikan," katanya.
Penggunaan perkomputeran grid mudah kerana ia boleh dikendalikan tanpa memasukkan arahan tertentu.
"Kami menghantar beberapa kerja mereka melalui jalur lebar untuk menghubungkan pejabat dan sistem perkomputeran grid di TPM sebelum menyiapkan proses render," katanya.
Zarin berkata, dalam proses animasi, ia tugas yang rumit terutama memasukkan warna dan membina bayang-bayang untuk setiap watak yang siap.
Semua ini memerlukan komputer berkuasa tinggi untuk memproses setiap pergerakan termasuk memori dan pemprosesan.
Justeru, penggunakan perkomputeran grid membantu mempercepatkan proses.
Menurutnya, melalui perkomputeran grid, pengeluar industri animasi tempatan tidak perlu bergantung kepada negara luar malah mampu menghasilkan mutu kerja yang tinggi.
"Bayangkan untuk menghasilkan animasi yang mengambil masa beberapa minit, kita mengambil masa bertahun untuk menyiapkan.
"Tetapi, teknologi sedia ada membolehkan ia disiapkan dalam tempoh singkat," katanya.
Beliau berkata, setakat ini beberapa syarikat korporat termasuk Proton menggunakan teknologi perkomputeran grid bagi meningkat mutu kerja.
Penggunaan perkomputeran grid juga terjamin kerana ia sentiasa dipantau kakitangan Mimos termasuk menghalang kehadiran virus.
Sistem keselamatan biometrik turut diperkenalkan bagi meningkatkan kawalan ke atas data dan mengelak daripada dicuri.
Les’ Copaque has consistently made ripples. These ripples hopefully will turn into a tidal wave in the local animation industry with the release of Malaysia’s first full-length three-dimensional (3-D) animation movie Geng: The Adventure Begins sometime in May (international release: 2009).
What started out as a four-man animation team right out from the Multimedia University with Misi Mustahak, a geriatric parody of a bunch of old folks in a home trying to sneak past their bedtime to watch Mission Impossible on the telly, is now a full-fledged animation studio. Les’ Copaque had been consistently winning awards and accolades both from the local and international arenas in the past year. Not bad for what started out in a room under the staircase of a shared office.
The pre-Les’ Copaque team consisted of the studio’s current creative and marketing director Mohd Nizam Abdul Razak, animation director Muhammad Usamah Zaid, technical and production director Mohd Safwan Ab Karim and animator Nazrul Hadi Nazlan.
The name “Les’ Copaque”, a wordplay of the local expression last kopek which means last resort, was coined when Nizam, Usamah and Safwan decided to set up a studio after gaining support from entrepreneur Burhanuddin Md Radzi who is now managing director of Les’ Copaque.
According to Nizam, history was created when Burhanuddin, through one of his coursemates, saw Misi Mustahak. Burhanuddin thought that the effort had potential to be explored and brought the three together. It was also a coincidence that Burhanuddin’s wife, Ainon Ariff, now Les’ Copaque’s creative content director, wanted to get into animation and film-making.
Before that chanced meeting, both Nizam and Safwan had been working for four months with an animation company producing content for the China market. “That was before China instated their closed door policy on animation,” says Nizam.
Meanwhile, Usamah had been with the illustrious MFX for seven months. According to Safwan, “MFX was a good experience, but we were limited then to client projects. I thought that it would be great if I could do something which I could contribute more of my creative juices.”
Les’ Copaque grew steadily from three animators in December 2005 to the now 35-strong team consisting of 11 animators, three modellers and character designers, three storyboard artists, three rendering experts, three audio engineers and other support staff. They are all now housed in a new three-storey studio in Shah Alam behind Tesco Extra, and hard at work to finish Geng by next month.
Geng isn’t the only thing on their mind, though. Last year during Ramadhan, Les’ Copaque produced a series of short Upin & Ipin mini-episodes which were well-received on Channel 9 and TVRI in Indonesia. The twin brothers of Upin and Ipin are part of the character line-up for Geng.
The episodes put up on YouTube.com have racked up over 700,000 hits to date. Les’ Copaque has even successfully sold over 3,000 Upin & Ipin T-shirts and over 1,000 VCD and DVDs through its Web site. These sales will be used as a benchmark on how to start merchandising their characters at prospective outlets.
There’s apparently a lot of interest for good animation work. Thai animation studio giant Kantana, for example, is now helping with the musical scoring for Geng.
Also, the full Upin & Ipin series will start production in May for Channel 9. The new mini-series has a unique arrangement due to the high quality of its 3-D animation: five minutes of animation will be released per week. At the end of the month, these will be combined into a 24-minute mini-series.
The unique setup at Les’ Copaque reflects a work philosophy: “We think big, but start small. We like to test the waters with small projects like Upin & Ipin before jumping in. Many have made the mistake of making the jump without testing the market first to gain feedback. It is a matter of calculating the risks involved,” explains Nizam.
Besides that, Les’ Copaque is working on several non-profit, public service announcements, including one to educate children on dangers of speaking to strangers. “Les’ Copaque will continue with safety campaigns to carry out our social obligation to the Malaysian public,” says Nizam.
The Science, Technology and Environment Ministry, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry and Mimos Bhd have all been supportive of Les’ Copaque’s efforts to market Malaysia through its films. Mimos, for example, is handling the rendering task for Geng through 128 nodes running on Windows in its Knowledge Grid programme.
Geng needs plenty of processing muscle. One second of the high-definition animation requires 24 frames per second. Each frame can be up to one gigabyte in size. To speed up things in the future, Nizam says the company might look into making use of the over 100 remaining nodes running on Linux on the Mimos Knowledge Grid.