Rock star welcome for Dr Kalam - Nanyang Technological University

06newsSeptember 15, 2008The nanyang chronicleAnimate faster andmore cheaplySya f i q a h Om a rTHE next animated film youwatch may just be a product ofNTU.A team from the Schoolof Computer Engineering hasdeveloped an innovative drawingand animation system calledCacani (Computer Assisted CellAnimation).Led by Professor Seah HockSoon, the team includes sixother professors, ten researchengineers and artists, as well asseven doctorate students.Cacani produces twodimensionalanimations withthree-dimensional technologycommonly found in video games,helping animators producedrawings more easily.Said Professor Seah: “Thesystem enables easy and stylishline drawing … without relyingon animators to draw everyframe by hand in traditional 2-Danimation production.”A typical 30-minute cartoonepisode—mostly hand-drawnwith some software support—could cost more than US$150,000and take animators half a yearto complete.With Cacani, Professor Seahestimates that production costcould be cut by up to 40 percent.Schools, OAS on early registrationGw e n d o l y n NgIT looks unfair: school committeemembers are allowed to registersubjects ahead of everyoneelse.But it is for a good reason:these committee members cantake the courses that fit theirtimetables, to allow them todevote enough time to bothschoolwork and extra-curricularactivities.Both Nanyang BusinessSchool (NBS) and the Schoolof Electrical and ElectronicEngineering (EEE) extend thisprivilege to some of its schoolclub members.This is in place to let theclub members put their schoolduties first, said both the schoolsand the Office of AcademicServices.EEE A ssistant Chair ofStudents Goh Wang Ling said:"Many of the EEE studentactivities require the EEE Clubcommittee member to be free forcertain block of times, for betterexecution of duties.”Assistant Director MdmHariaty Mohamed Senin, fromthe Office of Academic Services,shared similar sentiments.His team had managed tosecure $2.56m in funding fromthe Interactive Digital MediaProgramme Office last year, aspart of Singapore’s efforts todevelop the digital animationindustry here. This year, another$18m will be used to fund a newbatch of research teams.Professor Seah’s team iscurrently collaborating withAnime International Company(AIC) from Japan to produce a 40-minute long feature film called‘Justeen’. Production is slated tostart in November this year andis expected to be completed in“Arrangements made for themain committee members whoare heavily involved in schoolevents is part of the supportprovided by the schools,” shesaid.In an earlier issue, TheNanyang Chronicle reported thatpopular Psychology courses weresnapped up by main committeemembers and double majorstudents before registration wasopened to the main cohort.However, the schools saidthere are measures in placeto ensure a fairer system. Forregistration of the engineeringschool’s subjects, no more thanfive members of a committeemay register for the same class.Also, members would not beable to take courses ahead of theirJune 2009 where it will thenbe aired in Japan.AIC is an establishedcompany that has producedshows easily recognisable tofans of Japanese animation,also known as anime, such as“El Hazard”, “Ah! My Goddess”and “Sol Bianca”.Professor Seah is himselfan avid fan whose favouriteanime is the Oscar-winningfilm, “Spirited Away”. It is alsoone of the films he aspires to.“I hope that Cacani wouldbe able to help produce awardwinningfilms based on theirown unique storytelling andaesthetic styles,” he said.FASTER AND CHEAPER: The clips of Justeen (above) is the product of an NTUresearch to make animation faster and cheaper. PHOTO | COURTESY“The majority ofthe cohort is notdisadvantagedduring theregistrationexercise.”Ms Loh Mei YingNBS Spokespersoncurrent year of study.On the other hand, NBSreleases vacancies for eachcourse in proportion to thenumber of students who areregistering on each day. This isaimed at ensuring all studentsget the chance to register forthe courses they need.Furthermore, both schoolssaid the early registrationpractice applied to a smallpercentage of their totalcohort.Up to 80 members ofthe EEE club are entitled tothis privilege for any singleregistration exercise, which theschool feels, works out only toa relatively small proportion of4,000-strong in the cohort.NBS UndergraduateP r o g r a m m e s O f f i c espokesperson Loh Mei Yingestimated that the earlyregistration practice appliedto “less than 1 per cent of theirtotal cohort”."These student numbersare not significant,” she said.“Therefore, the majority of thecohort is not disadvantaged inany way during the registrationexercise.”ADDITIONAL REPORTINGBY KONG YEN LINA fairer chance forall at hall admissionNa b i l a Ha n i mSTUDENTS in the Non-ConstituentClubs (NCCs) will now have to workharder to gain a place in hall.In an email sent on August 7th,the Student Affairs Office (SAO)announced that the revised HallAllocation Scheme (HAS) will includea tiering system that ranks NCCs intofour categories.The NCCs—clubs and societiesformed on an interest basis—areranked according to their membershipsize, budget, nature and frequency oftheir activities.The ranking is based on feedback bythe HAS Implementation Committee,which is made up of various studentbodies.Only four NCCs, the ChineseSociety, Earthlink, Outdoor ActivitiesClub and the Red Cross, have madeit into the top tier this year, earningtheir management committee membersthe maximum nine points for campusparticipation.The bulk of other NCCs were placedin tier three, with a small proportionin tiers two and four.The Chronicle reported in January(“NCCs distorts HAS, says ODACPresident”) that clubs placed in thelower tiers would either be newcomersor underperforming ones.The tiering system has beenimplemented to counter “what shouldhave been a pyramidal distribution ofpoints for campus life involvement”,said SAO in the announcement, withfewer people obtaining the maximumpoints.Before the latest revision, allmanagement committee membersof NCCs earn nine points, puttingthem on the same level as thosefrom the Students’ Union, JuniorCommon Room Committees (JCRC) andConstituent Clubs (CC).These clubs are formed alongregulatory requirements; they arecrucial in handling student welfareacross the university.They are not included in thetiering- system and are still awardednine points under the new system.Some students, however, feel thatthe tiering-system seems to give lessimportance to NCCs.“While NCCs work very hard topursue their interests, this does notmean that they are any less importantthan non-NCCs,” said Lye KitYing, a management committeemember of Epiphany, the Englishand Drama society.A s a t h i r d - t i e r N C C ,management committee membersget only five points; its presidentand vice-president earn sevenpoints each.This puts most of theEpiphany management committeemembers on the same level as asub-committee members of theStudents’ Union, JCRCs and CCs.The SAO said rankings will bereviewed once every two years.Some students, however, wantthese reviews to be conductedmore frequently."This may be theonly way to ensurestudents obtainthe points theydeserve."Delta Purna WidyanggaEx-Vice PresidentNTU Muslim SocietyFormer president of Riders’Club, Aadil Dafir, 23, a third-tierclub, said: “Allowances should bemade on a yearly basis to allowlower-tiered clubs to progress asan incentive to perform better,”said the third-year Mechanical andAerospace Engineering student.Outgoing vice-president ofNTU Muslim Society, Delta PurnaWidyangga, said: “It’s hard to saybut this may be the only way toensure that students obtain thepoints they deserve.”Among other changes in theHAS is the revision of pointsawarded to students who werewilling to share a room with aforeigner from three to one pointnow.Said a SAO spokesperson:“Many (students) felt it was unfairthat students not active in campuslife involvement were able toobtain the points awarded for thisoption to be admitted into the hallwhile students who contributedtheir efforts in the campus lifeactivities were displaced.”A PLACE IN HALL: The new tiering-system offers a fairer distribution. 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