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Tuesday, January 23,
2001
This boy's going places TAKE one look at Tan Jin Ho, who prefers to be called "Tajino,'' and you would most probably mistake him as another one of those thousands of college students busy studying and partying.Well, the 20-year-old has managed to create quite a name for himself -- this student of the Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology could very well be be one of Malaysia's most creative and industrious talents. The proof is in the pudding, they say -- just grab a taste of the fully 3D animated short he created, A Malaysian Friday (http://www.amalaysianfriday.cjb.net/). And yes, he did it all by himself ... after all, only George Lucas can afford an Industrial Light and Magic budget. The full details of the software tools he used for A Malaysian Friday can be found on http://www.cgchannel.com/interview_tajino.php.
Taking three months to plan and another three of actual production, A Malaysian Friday came about simply because Tajino wanted to do "something nice and surreal.'' "I was inspired by TV shows and movies such as Seaquest DSV, Babylon 5 and Lost In Space,'' he said. He used the LightWave [6] software, learning through books (his main reference source was Inside LightWave [6] by Dan Ablan) and online discussion groups. Tajino started honing his 3D animation skills on the AutoCAD design software, and only started using 3D animation software, his first being 3D Studio for DOS, seven years ago. Some of his earlier 3D animation work won the Silver Award in the Malaysian Video Awards 2000 competition and the grand prize in the Futuristic Car Design Competition in 1995. And yes, he also won the In.Tech & The One Academy Digital Art and Design Award in 1999. Tajino's work even caught the eye of Ahmed Balfakih, managing director of Click Grafix Sdn Bhd, who immediately gave him a free copy of LightWave [6], which retails at approximately RM10,000. Click Grafix is a local distributor for animation software and post-production tools such as LightWave, Aura, Vidget, Video Toaster NT 2.0 and Inspire 3D. When asked on his future aspirations, Tajino exclaimed, "I want to work in the film industry.'' Stressing that he undertook the A Malaysian Friday project mainly because of his passion, Tajino added: "It's not about the money, as I'd rather do something I feel very strongly about.'' Only through passion would one go far with 3D animation, he said, and Tajino encourages other aspiring 3D animators to explore and try out as many different tools as possible. -- CHEE YIH YANG
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