Getting closer to crossing the uncanny valley... November 17, 2010

One of my issues with CGI-generated effects is that it lacks the depth of traditional models. A wonderful example is when Star Trek went all-CGI for the first time, looking at Voyager, versus the models used in the movies thus far:

CGI is usually used in two ways: to touch up or remove certain assets in a film, or to almost hyper-kinetically overload the viewer in an attempt to deflect observation of how off it is - and this only really works for 1 or 2 viewings of the material. Beyond that, the limited magic just... dissipates away. For me, it's become the status-quo that effects will be shiny, loud, and will only incrementally move forward in terms of believability.

And then I watched this:

The lighting and depth are perfect. Shadowing is absolutely believeable and casts itself naturally. If filmmakers can discipline themselves a bit better on how much they use CGI and how they use it, we might actually regain the ground lost when it comes to CGI replacing so much.