Is it just me or should all CGI toons be put on hold until someone can get it right?

[I.R Joey]

I'm tired of seeing all these CG shows with their horrible animation. This would be fine for Videogames (and may be possible in the next generation 4 or five years from now) but in cartoons it just does not come off right. Max Steele for instance his movements just come of laim, for a superpowered secret agent that does not come off right (not to mention that the slow motion is just :( ) In the movies this really works, but on TV budgets it just does not.


I must admit that of all the ones I've seen Mainframe does it the best the Beast wars/machines series and the last season of Rebbot (When Bob and The all grown up Matrix take on Megabyte, that was very nice.)

Their is still a long way to go though. Until then I think we should go back to good old hand drawn (or maybe I'm just an old squishy nostalgic guy)

[Calhoun07]

I have to back you up totally on this one, Joey. The only CGI show I enjoy is Starship Troopers, but it is not for the animation! It's ok, but it has all the problems you talked about. In ten years or so, this cartoon will look SO out dated. I think they should have tried more traditional type animation and then touched it up with CGI.

As with any animation style, though, you're going to have a clunky period. I mean, compare the first Disney movies to the ones released today. There is no comparison to how far we've come in traditional type animation. I trust that it won't be long before we see more sophisticated CGI shows on TV.

I don't see what's holding back great CGI animation on TV either. Movies like Toy Story 2 and Shrek and what not have proven that CGI animation can look GREAT! Also, I've seen CGI short films done on a home computer that look better than the CGI cartoons we are talking about. It really makes me scratch my head.

[killercroc]

Man, have you seen Roughnecks: Starship Troopers? DG's been talking about how it has a good story, and it does, but they do a decent job of CGI, also. Of course, not perfect.

But I think they should keep practicing on it, and making money on it, until they get it right. Otherwise it won't happen. You know?

Course, I agree that Max Steele has a lousy storyline.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by killercroc
Man, have you seen Roughnecks: Starship Troopers? DG's been talking about how it has a good story, and it does, but they do a decent job of CGI, also. Of course, not perfect.

That's the show I am talking about! I love it! But you have to admit it isn't the best CGI you've ever seen. All I am saying, no matter how good it looks now, in ten years or so (actually, probably in less time than that!), it will look SO out dated. I see CGI animation increasing in leaps and bounds for TV and Roughnecks will look like today's Steamboat Willie before long. But that's not to say anything against this great show, just saying technology will improve. I can see a future where they will have an animated series that looks as awesome as Toy Story 2.

[James Harvey]

I think IRON GIANT did a good job on their CGI, bt that's a bit off topic. CGI must be realy hard to do, and these shows don't have the budget that big CGI movies do. The budgets they have are sometimes not even $500,000 which isn't alot considering the technology they use for the show. But ROUGHNECKS does the best CGI from anyshow I've seen on TV.

[The Mad Hatter]

CGI can be tough to do right. As far as all-CGI TV series go, they're getting better. Mainframe usually does the best job, and they continually improve. Beast Wars didn't look too bad at all.

As far as combining CGI with cel animation, a lot of people screw that up. Disney has been doing a great job of it for years, and it didn't surprise me to figure out that even New Groove contained all-CGI elements (logs, sacks, Pacha's cart, etc). Don Bluth, on the other hand, botched it in Anastasia and Titan A.E. with CGI that stuck out like a sore thumb. CGI can be cool, it's just important to get it to match the style of what you're blending it with. Iron Giant did that admirably, and the CGI in Futurama is darn good by TV standards.

[Nightflower]

Well....things get better with practice, and you'd expect thigns to look a little clunky in the beginning. If you "hold off" CGI toons, they'll never get better, because things progress as time passes.

Roughnecks is a great show, but I don't think it's animation is "the best" on TV. It is still a little rough.

I really like Mainframe's stuff, but they haven't done anything worthwhile in a few years (Although they keep saying they're doing a Reboot fourth season). Mainframe is almost years ahead of some of its competition (Animation-wise. Yeah, I know, I know, Weird-Ohs and Action Man are pretty lame). But even in the beginning, like the first season of Reboot, their CGI looked pretty rubbery.

[James Harvey]

I just think ROUGHNECKS has great CGI. It all work sout nicely. Sure some of the movement is a bit choppy, but they look nice in context of the show. But then again, there isn't any other CGI shows that I like so, that could be why it's my "favorite". As for Reboot, I hear YTV is getting it this fall, and it will be apart of a weekend Toonami block on CN, if the weekend Toonami block comes to pass.

[Calhoun07]

I read an article today about these Internet Star Wars fan films people are making on their home computers, movies that are entirely CGI creations. MANY of these movies are looking slick, professional, and making several top players in Hollywood sit up and take notice (and Lucasfilm is even buying the rights to the best of these films, understandably!) but it isn't costing the home hobbyist an arm and a leg to make these either.

CGI is such a rapidly and fast expanding market. I really was way off the mark when I said in ten years you'd see a big difference. I think a big difference can be seen NOW. I mean, compare Roughnecks to a short CGI film like 406. There is just no comparison. People are making CGI films on their computers that make Roughnecks look like yesterday's demo film

Don't get me wrong, I love Roughnecks, and I am sure the animation in it was the best they could do up to that time, but the argument made that these TV shows don't have big budgets don't hold water with me when people can crank out a 28 minute CGI film that looks better and costs less than 10 minutes of CGI done for a television series.