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Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer

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P

PeskyToaster

Member
I always bring this up but nobody has any idea of which things are practical or cgi. Every time someone is like "this CGI is horrible" someone posts a set picture showing the practical effects.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
PeskyToaster said:
I always bring this up but nobody has any idea of which things are practical or cgi. Every time someone is like "this CGI is horrible" someone posts a set picture showing the practical effects.
Click to expand...

People are weird about CG, and amazingly uninformed. Sure there's bad CG out there but it's not some inherently evil tactic.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
BTM said:
People like complaining about things
Click to expand...

Yeah, but CGI in particular draws a lot of flack around here for some reason. It's vaguely bizarre, considering that GAF is (in theory) a gaming forum, a medium which consists of literally nothing but computer generated images, lol.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Poodlestrike said:
Yeah, but CGI in particular draws a lot of flack around here for some reason. It's vaguely bizarre, considering that GAF is (in theory) a gaming forum, a medium which consists of literally nothing but computer generated images, lol.
Click to expand...

What's annoying are the complaints about the shots that actually look fine.
 
Coreda

Coreda

Member
PeskyToaster said:
I always bring this up but nobody has any idea of which things are practical or cgi. Every time someone is like "this CGI is horrible" someone posts a set picture showing the practical effects.
Click to expand...

The opposite can be true as well, and even those experienced can have trouble. Jon Favreau found himself critiquing a physical Iron Man suit having thought it was CG during a test screening, same for Ikea folk unwittingly singling out flaws in real photos assuming they were the CG variety during their transition to CG renders years ago.
 
B

BTM

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Yeah, but CGI in particular draws a lot of flack around here for some reason. It's vaguely bizarre, considering that GAF is (in theory) a gaming forum, a medium which consists of literally nothing but computer generated images, lol.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. The CGI hate is a little weird
 
M

mollipen

Member
Edag Plata said:
So because the skin tone of one Stormtrooper is a tiny bit darker than the skin tone of the clones (the only other Stormtroopers we've seen take off their costumes), the movie is instantly super interesting?
Click to expand...

When you're part of a group of people who aren't usually represented in film, seeing a major character who actually represents you can greatly increase your interest in a film, yes.

(Not trying to speak for CONRAD, of course.)
 
F

Fliesen

Member
Poodlestrike said:
I'm always vaguely amused by the practical vs. CGI silliness. Like.. if it works, it works. Why does it matter if it's a prop or a pixel? Good effects are timeless, regardless of source.
Click to expand...

even good CGI has its limits, though. Sure, it'll have the same (if not better) visual impact to the audience. But actors who have to play in CG sets along CGI characters are often having a harder time than those in practically built sets. - and this will also be noticeable to the Audience.
Ewan McGregor didn't only once "complain" how hard it is to act if everything around you is just green and people tell you to imagine some long-ass-necked Kamino dude.

Actors need to be able to build some sort of relationship to everything / everyone they act with / along. This is why Serkis as Gollum works great, because apart from the weird froggy eyes, Serkis IS Gollum on set.
Similarly, if there's an actual robot rolling alongside you, you build some sort of relationship. People even project some sort of personality into their Roombas.

This is especially important when working with kids actors, imho.

TRex-Car-Glass-Jurassic-Park-1.jpg
Click to expand...
i don't think the kids would have screamed as convincingly if the T-Rex head had been included in Post.
Little Drew Barrymore even believed E.T. to be a real person which made her genuinely cry during the scenes that he was about to die.
Similarly, the entire film was shot chronologically - when E.T. leaves them, the kids are all genuinely sad, because they had built a relationship to the puppet / the character.

Don't think CGI can ever evoke that much emotion from a person.
 
U

unholyrevenger72

Banned
Poodlestrike said:
Yeah, but CGI in particular draws a lot of flack around here for some reason. It's vaguely bizarre, considering that GAF is (in theory) a gaming forum, a medium which consists of literally nothing but computer generated images, lol.
Click to expand...

That's the thing when it's all CG nothing sticks out too bad, but bad CG against a real shot or real thing in CG shot makes it look even worse.
 
I

injurai

Banned
Slime said:
I was actually more shocked by how many people didn't think it was practical.
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I was in the camp that believed an undergraduate engineering team could easily make something to behave like that. The shocking part was that people said it was unrealistic to the extent that making cgi behave that way was still too unbelievable.

But I still assumed that shot was CGI. But of course they will also have a practical model.

Anyways I think it's awesome it's entirely practical.
 
U

unholyrevenger72

Banned
But what is BB-8's Purpose? R2, is an automated Starship Repair Toolbox, 3PO is a Translator and Protocol droid and is inoffensively humanoid in form. What practical design purpose is a ball with a head?
 
F

FriendlyGoat

Member
unholyrevenger72 said:
But what is BB-8's Purpose? R2, is an automated Starship Repair Toolbox, 3PO is a Translator and Protocol droid and is inoffensively humanoid in form. What practical design purpose is a ball with a head?
Click to expand...
What's stopping BB from also being a toolbox and or repair bot? Like a literal rolling toolbox slash space swiss army knife for Rey?

I could easily see little arms popping out or slots opening up for storing tools (or lighsabers). Its small size and relative range of motion seem like they would be good for those sorts of applications.
 
J

jstevenson

Sailor Stevenson
unholyrevenger72 said:
But what is BB-8's Purpose? R2, is an automated Starship Repair Toolbox, 3PO is a Translator and Protocol droid and is inoffensively humanoid in form. What practical design purpose is a ball with a head?
Click to expand...

I'm sure all sorts of things can pop out of his spherical surface, just like R2 has stuff all over his body
 
V

vladdamad

Member
Not sure if this has been noticed before, but are there podracing engines in the background to the BB-8 scene of the trailer? They look like the ones that belong to Ody Mandrell and Ben Quadinaros. I used to play the N64 game a lot, so I would love for there to be a podracing scene in the new film
 
C

Calabi

Member
unholyrevenger72 said:
But what is BB-8's Purpose? R2, is an automated Starship Repair Toolbox, 3PO is a Translator and Protocol droid and is inoffensively humanoid in form. What practical design purpose is a ball with a head?
Click to expand...

Its the most functional looking Droid I've seen in the Star Wars films. Fast and manoeuvrable with lots of room inside.
 
D

Derwind

Member
Of course its not CG, it looks too much like a stuffed soccerball with saucer top.

Its too weird of a design for my tastes but the target really is the merchandising sales afterall. So maybe its not weird and charming enough.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Member
Fliesen said:
even good CGI has its limits, though. Sure, it'll have the same (if not better) visual impact to the audience. But actors who have to play in CG sets along CGI characters are often having a harder time than those in practically built sets. - and this will also be noticeable to the Audience.
Ewan McGregor didn't only once "complain" how hard it is to act if everything around you is just green and people tell you to imagine some long-ass-necked Kamino dude.

Actors need to be able to build some sort of relationship to everything / everyone they act with / along. This is why Serkis as Gollum works great, because apart from the weird froggy eyes, Serkis IS Gollum on set.
Similarly, if there's an actual robot rolling alongside you, you build some sort of relationship. People even project some sort of personality into their Roombas.

This is especially important when working with kids actors, imho.


i don't think the kids would have screamed as convincingly if the T-Rex head had been included in Post.
Little Drew Barrymore even believed E.T. to be a real person which made her genuinely cry during the scenes that he was about to die.
Similarly, the entire film was shot chronologically - when E.T. leaves them, the kids are all genuinely sad, because they had built a relationship to the puppet / the character.

Don't think CGI can ever evoke that much emotion from a person.
Click to expand...


That shot right there - that's stunt people.
 
M

Mariolee

Member
Gambit 1138 said:
Lmao told you people that droid was not CGI. Proved Gaf wrong again including some alleged "former ILM employees".
Click to expand...

It's not "alleged" dude lol Xia used to work for ILM but was let go following some Disney deals around the time they acquired Lucasfilms and ILM.

Still, sweet sweet crow for those who made fun of me for thinking it was practical.
 
Arkos

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
What whaaat holy shit I'm late to this party. Full boner. I did not expect to be excited by it, but I was.
 
G

Graphics Horse

Member
Woorloog said:
How the heck does it work? Is the head on a rail? Or is it magnetically attached to the ball, or a ring inside a plastic shell?
Seriously. I believe it is real if Hamill so claims but man... i can't imagine how it works.
Click to expand...

There's a weighted pole connected to the head which runs through a gap down the middle. The gap might need to be CGI'd out when it's viewed from any other angle, I'm not sure.
The cgi argument passed me by but I'd already read this before the trailer came out: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/TheFunkyBunchRises/news/?a=111588
 
J

Jaeger

Member
I agree. Just not everyone could pull it off with every type of render. Now its much more common and not limited to certain studios or objects.
 
R

Randam

Member
the ball droid in the gif is clearly not done without cgi.
maybe there is a real one, but this is done with the help of cgi.
 
G

-griffy-

Banned
Randam said:
the ball droid in the gif is clearly not done without cgi.
maybe there is a real one, but this is done with the help of cgi.
Click to expand...

I would be willing to bet it works exactly like a Segway:
segway-x2-turf.jpg


Only instead of two wheels it's the two halves of the ball/sphere that aren't perfectly sealed, so as to leave a space for the pole that the head sits on.. And any CG would just be to fill in the slit in the ball.
 
D

Dead Man

Member
I don't think I ever thought one way or the other about whether the droid was practical or cgi, the design is ridiculous to me. :/ Not the end of the world though.
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
Randam said:
the ball droid in the gif is clearly not done without cgi.
maybe there is a real one, but this is done with the help of cgi.
Click to expand...

The scene likely is touched up with CG, but doesn't mean the droid is CG.

Alot of the stuff in Ep1 people claim is CG, was actually models and practical puppets that were simply touched up with CG
 
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