Support NeoGAF

[bathala]

Davey Jones
and Jurassic Park T-rex (still look awesome)


FF CGI :lol

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Davy Jones, Gollum, and the Transformers are all the most incredible looking live action to CGI creations in released films thus far. I'm still in awe when ever I pop in their respective films.

On a related note, I can't for the life of me figure how in the bloody hell that "The Golden Compass" won for best visual effects over Industrial Light and Magic's epic impressive creations in Pirates and Transformers at the 2008 Academy Awards. I mean did they watch "The Golden Compass" with beer goggles on or something?

The Golden Compass? Really, really?!

 

[Dead Man]

IMO, the only thing that looks bad in LOTR in the Ents, and that may have to do with not liking their vision of the Ents, not necessarily the execution.

Every time Legolas jumps around on an animal or troll or surfs down stairs, it looks bad imo. Of course, modelling a human like figure diong things that are impossible for a human is always going to cause [problems.

 

[tak]

The Bayformers.

I'm just so glad I didn't have to create the animation rig for some of the transformers. I'm pretty at least one or two of the riggers went insane.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I'm just so glad I didn't have to create the animation rig for some of the transformers. I'm pretty at least one or two of the riggers went insane.

You should see what had to be done for Devestator. ;P

Davy Jones, Gollum, and the Transformers are all the most incredible looking live action to CGI creations in released films thus far. I'm still in awe when ever I pop in their respective films.

On a related note, I can't for the life of me figure how in the bloody hell that "The Golden Compass" won for best visual effects over Industrial Light and Magic's epic impressive creations in Pirates and Transformers at the 2008 Academy Awards. I mean did they watch "The Golden Compass" with beer goggles on or something?

The Golden Compass? Really, really?!

At least for this year's slate of likely nominees, ILM will have been involved with all of them (though they weren't necessarily the main vfx house for them all).

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Neytiri will be spectacular.

Yeah damn straight! I think what's really gonna set her apart from the rest will be her facial expressions....I’m more than confident that she’ll be blowing minds in December. <3 <3 <3

 

[momolicious]

Neytiri will be spectacular.

Is there a 1440 x 900 resolution wallpaper for the first pic?

 

[GillianSeed79]

Someone post the hot chick from tripping the rift.

Also Frank Oz puppet yoda»»»»»cgi yoda.

 

[PhoenixDark]

There's only one answer: Gollum. No cgi character has yet to surpass him. Sure some may look better (Davey Jones, and even that's debatable) but as a character none have surpassed the depth of that performance.

edit: please leave Avatar nonsense out of this thread. We're discussing actual achievements here

 

[Spire]

As far as looking real goes, Benjamin Button wins by a mile.

The best totally CG character award still goes to Gollum though.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

We get it PD. Gollum is great. The most convincing scene realism qise with Gollum is when he's chasing the fish downstream in TTT. And yes, he's very emotive.

That said, Neytiri will blow Gollum out of the water.

 

[DY_nasty]

Those Avatar characters don't even look that good...

 

[Unknown One]

Gollum has my vote. Gollum saying "My precious!" already wipes the floor with all other CGI characters that are there just to be eye candy.

 

[XMonkey]

Benjamin Button followed closely by Davey Jones. Avatar comes next, but I'm still not sold on the eyes... I'm kind of disappointed actually, after seeing them done so well in BB.

 

[Tenkai Star]

The T-rex wins because its fucking old an sill looking good
Optimus Prime wins because he is so fucking awesome!
Benjamin Button wins because I seriosuly thought that was real and not CGI
Davy Jones wins cause thats a lot of shit
Neytiri wins because thats is a shitload of details
Doctor Aki Ross wins because that is a lot of hair, wonder if they did ALL the hair.

I can't decide =(

 

[Zaptruder]

I thought that too when I first saw the movie in theatres. Then I went home and watched a making of and found out it was entirely CG. I was blown away. I mean everything is cg. The face, the eyes, the body. Everything.

But my vote doesn't go to Davy Jones. It goes to those fuckin Prawns. Holy shit they look real.

Though I'm going to throw a curve ball in here and say that Jake/Neytiri from AVATAR is the best. Seriously, in the 15 minute preview, there's a scene where they are behind a waterfall and you know how water sprays mist into the air? Well the water looked real, the mist looked real, and when the droplets hit their hair, it looks real. They even animate so lifelike it's mind boggling.

This is incorrect. Those are bill's eyes... they couldn't quite get the eyes right, so they put the makeup around it, then shopped them into the final composition to get the effect... pulled it off fantastically of course.

 

[cory]

Those Avatar characters don't even look that good...

In motion they look amazing; They're not very "still-friendly".

 

[Mr. Sam]

From those already in the thread, it's definitely a toss up between Davey Jones, Benjamin Button, the T-Rex and the District 9 prawns.

Best use of CGI goes to David Fincher for Zodiac and Benjamin Button, though I really don't care much for the latter.

 

[DY_nasty]

From those already in the thread, it's definitely a toss up between Davey Jones, Benjamin Button, the T-Rex and the District 9 prawns.

Best use of CGI goes to David Fincher for Zodiac and Benjamin Button, though I really don't care much for the latter.

For the budget, District 9 dominates all.

 

[Mr. Sam]

For the budget, District 9 dominates all.

Truth. I'd take the prawns over Avatar's... 'nav'ri' (?) any day of the week.

Edit: And probably not just in terms of character design.

I'm sure it has an 'n', a 'v', an apostrophe and ends with a vowel. I think that's a good guess.

 

[DieNgamers]

Oh, yeah the Avatars will crush everything that came before. I was convinced after the first trailer and scans/screens but that leaked 4 minute chase scene (I won't go into detail here because some people don't want to see it that early) just blows any previous CG out of the water.

 

[Amalthea]

The T-Rex from Jurassic Park.
It's just such an iconic effort.

Something that bothers me about most CGI are the movements, sometimes they are too smooth or they are too stiff. I think they avoided this in the first JP by reworking the early Go-Motion-puppets for the Dinosaurs into an input device for the CGI's movements wich made them look almost mo-ca'pped.

 

[rezuth]

For the budget, District 9 dominates all.

Having Peter Jackson with WETA supporting your movie pretty much means that you will have one of the best digital effects studios helping with your movie for no money at all. Not sure we can count it being the best for "budget".

 

[DY_nasty]

Having Peter Jackson with WETA supporting your movie pretty much means that you will have one of the best digital effects studios helping with your movie for no money at all. Not sure we can count it being the best for "budget".

Well, even then the Prawns look much, much better than the Avatar dudes.

I think a lot of people are placing Avatar up so high because of hype and expectation alone.

 

[DieNgamers]

Well, even then the Prawns look much, much better than the Avatar dudes.

I think a lot of people are placing Avatar up so high because of hype and expectation alone.

Not really, no. I have eyes and if whatever I see blows me and many others away I guess it must be good. I think you just don't like their design. ;D

 

[big_z]

Jurassic Park T-rex is the best. It's almost 17 years old and it still looks better than a lot of CG today.

I think the CG in avatar isnt that great. Looks closer to a video game than real life...

 

[DY_nasty]

Thats the best shot I can find in this thread of avatar but the detail of District 9's prawns is just on another level. I can't find the gif of Christopher's son, but there was a scene in D9 where he was running around playing underneath some shade that absolutely floored me.

 

[Black-Wind]

Well, even then the Prawns look much, much better than the Avatar dudes.

I think a lot of people are placing Avatar up so high because of hype and expectation alone.

This.

I really don't see whats there to be hyped about for Avatar . . . the characters just look like 3D models with photo realistic add on parts.

But hell, all I have seen was the original trailer afew times and the ads. Maybe it looks better in motion . . . but as of right now they don't fit into the real world nearly as well as the Prawns.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

LOOK AT THIS and tell me it isn't the best CGI character ever in a movie. It looks like a puppet!

isnt it actually a mask? i think i saw in a making of that only the tentacels are animated/cgi...

am i wrong?

 

[Blablurn]

+1 for the jurassic park t-rex. so awesome.

 

[DieNgamers]

isnt it actually a mask? i think i saw in a making of that they only the tentacels are animated/cgi...

am i wrong?

The whole face was CGed, so yes, you're wrong. They even remade the eyes (of course as close to the real ones as possible).

 

[Solo]

Sure some may look better (Davey Jones, and even that's debatable)

No, thats not debatable. There is not a single way in which Gollum LOOKS better than Davy Jones. Not by any criteria.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

then my vote goes to tentacle-men... stunning

 

[DY_nasty]

No, thats not debatable. There is not a single way in which Gollum LOOKS better than Davy Jones. Not by any criteria.

Gollum was a better character... but thats about all.

Davy Jones is a fucking achievement. Set the bar across the board.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

I really don't see whats there to be hyped about for Avatar . . . the characters just look like 3D models with photo realistic add on parts.

But hell, all I have seen was the original trailer afew times and the ads. Maybe it looks better in motion . . . but as of right now they don't fit into the real world nearly as well as the Prawns.

Sculli, do not click of this gif:

http://i38.tinypic.com/290ue69.gif

Surely you’re impressed with that? Her facial expression is ridiculous!

Mark my words, AVATAR will be the king of CGI. Just you all wait.

 

[DY_nasty]

Its pretty clear you didn't see District 9...

Not saying that Avatar isn't impressive, it is, but the bar is a lot higher than many of those hyped for it are ready to acknowledge.

 

[Karma Kramer]

Sigh...

Davy Jones and the District 9 Aliens are definitely not the best because their appearance is already heavily based off real-life things (squid and bug scales).

Benjamin Button and Gollum are the winners so far, and Avatar will be the king soon.

 

[DY_nasty]

Sigh...

Davy Jones and the District 9 Aliens are definitely not the best because their appearance is already heavily based off real-life things (squid and bug scales).

Benjamin Button and Gollum are the winners so far, and Avatar will be the king soon.

Thats got to be the shallowest argument I've seen since Hannity went off.

 

[shuyin_]

Sure some may look better (Davey Jones, and even that's debatable) [...]

Debatable? WTF are you talking about?
Me,
- after seeing Gollum: that's CGI and it's not that good;
- after seeing Davy Jones: heh, cool animatronics they used on that actor's face. As it turns out, there were no animatronics, no actor... Davy Jones is 100% CG, from head to toe. The scenes on the beach, in broad daylight still make him look real.

And you really have to see them in motion: Gollum smells like CGI from a mile; for Davy Jones, as i said, most people (myself included) didn't even think he might be CGI - he was perfectly modelled and animated. If you think it's debatable that Davy Jones looks better than Gollum as a CGI character you need to change your glasses. Or maybe get some

 

[Salazar]

Debatable? WTF are you talking about?
Me,
- after seeing Gollum: that's CGI and it's not that good;
- after seeing Davy Jones: heh, cool animatronics they used on that actor's face. As it turns out, there were no animatronics, no actor... Davy Jones is 100% CG, from head to toe. The scenes on the beach, in broad daylight still make him look real.

And you really have to see them in motion: Gollum smells like CGI from a mile; for Davy Jones, as i said, most people (myself included) didn't even think he might be CGI - he was perfectly modelled and animated. If you think it's debatable that Davy Jones looks better than Gollum as a CGI character you need to change your glasses. Or maybe get some

Andy Serkis.

 

[Kozak]

D9 is amazing. You can actually see pain and sadness in their eyes and face. Just amazing.

 

[shuyin_]

Andy Serkis.

I know who mocapped Gollum. Your point is?

 

[Salazar]

I know who mocapped Gollum. Your point is?

I guess I think considering character CGI in isolation from performance, especially when the acting is so unprecedentedly lively, memorable, and evocative, is a line of questioning without answers that interest me.

I'll back out of the thread.

 

[DY_nasty]

I guess I think considering character CGI in isolation from performance, especially when the acting is so unprecedentedly lively, memorable, and evocative, is a line of questioning without answers that interest me.

I'll back out of the thread.

As a character Gollum was great.

He looks like trash when put up against Davy Jones though.

 

[SuperAngelo64]

I just want to point out that Gollum is shit.

My wife is a big LOTR fan so I sit through them every now and then.

He's obviously a character you're supposed to hate, I don't know why he has such a following.

I honestly like Jar-Jar Binks more than him.

 

[Binabik15]

Best human(oid) is still Davy Jones, best non-human the prawns and best machine goes to all of the Transformers.

Perfomance wise it´s Gollum.

I really dislike the Avatar shots, something looks really off. Maybe depth of field or lighting, but compare it to Davy Jones, he really looks like he´s there as a part of the scene, while the Avatar stuff looks still like it was shopped in.

 

[Solo]

D9 has the highest CG quality:budget ratio ever, and by a massive fucking margin. I was stunned at how incredible and seamless everything was.

 

[shuyin_]

@Salazar: Maybe you weren't paying attention, but i was replying to some guy that said it's debatable if Davy Jones looks better than Gollum.

So the point you were trying to make, that CGI shouldn't be isolated from the motion capture actor that performs said character, is exactly what i didn't talk about. Because our discussion revolved around which CGI characters looks better (as in more realistically portrayed).

Reading comprehension FTW

 

[Solo]

Not to mention that I probably preferred Bill Nighy's performance to Andy Serkis' too. So on the whole, Davy Jones is superior to Gollum in every way, save for that DJ is stuck in 2 crappy movies, while Gollum has a 2 second cameo in a great film (FOTR) and stars in two decent ones.

 

[suikodan]

The T-Rex from Jurassic Park still has my vote.