I love how folks think they know exactly how a Fantasy Starship should look in space. The CGI is fine considering it's making nonexistent things appear to actually exist.
Looks amazing but it's a shame because I know they'll never be able to actually climb around those CG background pipes.
Yeah I agree. Though we did get by with minimal stuff in TOS. But the later seasons of Voyager/DS9 and ENT. Spoiled be.lol They all had fantastic ship scenes/action etc. Now yeah it feels like the pendulum has swung the other way. Not totally bad though...but I think Star Trek effects were at their best balance during the late 90 's and early 2000's....
I don't know, I know what a real surface looks like. I also know what a small surface looks like - that was often visible back in the day when they were using models. CGI often has the problem of looking hollow - because it actually is. Now artistry is immensely subjective. But the same way as there are great model makers, that make their models look much bigger then they actually are, good CGi also feels like something is actually there that really isn't. As I said - the cgi works very well within the show. But still - it's one of the weaker parts of the show.
Yeah I'm not too impressed with the cgi. Honestly DS9 and Voyagers effects were much nicer. But who knows maybe it will be better once we get a full adventure in space.
Part of the problem is how separated the VFX is from the production, it seems. If I remember right, TNG-DS9 did most visual effects in house, VOY did almost all visual effects outsourced. By Enterprise, VFX were virtually all done outsourced, although I think the production did maintain a little more control. One of the things that cracks me up is watching the BTS of Mandalorian S1. A couple of guys suggested that the effects team build a physical model of the Razor Crest for "lighting reference." Next thing you know, the back office has thrown together a 3D printed, painted and electrified RZ ship, and the ILM guys are building a motion control rig in their garage. They ended up using the model a lot more than initially intended, and in some shots they filmed the model and drew over it with CGI because something about the way a physical model moves is just really hard to capture digitally.
The Orville built a physical model of the ship, apparently mainly to be able to see how the real object looked in various kinds of environmental lighting and to use that as a reference for some of the CG.
Though keep in mind, VOY, DS9 and even ENT had way, WAY less vfx shots than any of the new shows - it's easy to spot some shoddy cgi when there are a hundred shots per episode, and dozens of them were made extremely rushed to meet a deadline. Old Trek often had only one or two new vfx shots per episode. Also, back then they were strategically hiding their models - backlight, viewed from afar, steady camera. Modern cgi often has the camera swirling around and going from wide shots to super close. It's the same reason the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park still look better than in the new ones : Hiding them in the dark of the night, obscured by rain, and mixed with actual models. The newest Jurassic World has vastly superior vfx. Theoretically. But they're shown too much & too close, so that the seams suddenly become visible. I feel somewhat similar here. Not dunking on Trek specifically. I think a lot of modern vfx has that problem. But also we're just getting a shit-ton more cgi and just become used to it.