TREK/CGI again

[RobertScorpio]

Okay..the other thread became a Yoda Puppet thread, so let us stay on topic..

I just watched INSURRECTION last week on Showtime. This weekend I happend to catch the end of Nemesis as my son was watching it...

Here is the deal...the STARFIELDS in CGI FX lacks depth in my opinion. And the way the ship moves is too cartoony..

Someone said he thought the ships looked small with model work..I totally disagree. I think the CGI ships do not movie naturally at all (Sort of the problem I had with SEAQUEST all those years ago)....

I am 50 years old and I have seen model work from the old days (TREK-2001-star wars) all the way to today's CGI Star battles (chiefly STAR WARS 1-2-3)..

And in my opinion, I believe CGI just isn't there. STAR WARS 1-2-3 was close, but NEMESIS and INSURRECTION were just not there. And the FX of those two movies, just as V's inferior FX, led to my over all negative opinion of the movies.

Though, to be sure, I prefer Star Trek V over Nemesis and Insurrection..

NOW!!! having said that? BSG has nailed it! I love the FX of that show. And it is done on a shoe string budget compared to TREK nemesis. So...who knows what the future holds..

 

[Ziz]

Don't confuse image quality with animation. The problem with moving ships in CG is that even though they're in space and don't feel the effects of gravity - or at least not to the extent they would in atmosphere - they still need to have a sense of mass when they turn and move. It's so easy to move things around in a virtual environment that the CG guys get distracted making it look "kewl" rather than making it look real. That's what the old physical FX models had that sold them as believable.

 

[archeryguy1701]

That's probably my biggest issue with Nemesis (please don't string me up). I disliked the fact that the Enterprise and the Scimitar were fighting more like small fighters than two cumbersome battleships.

 

[EnsignJulka]

I too prefer models over CGI, it just seems more credible....

 

[USS KG5]

archeryguy1701 said:
That's probably my biggest issue with Nemesis (please don't string me up). I disliked the fact that the Enterprise and the Scimitar were fighting more like small fighters than two cumbersome battleships.

That is a matter of personal preference though - I thought it was pretty natural considering the supposed engine power of these babies - we are talking ships that can accelerate to 0.25c in very little time at all - they would certainly be capable of some pretty extreme ACM.

Now that said, I love the lumbering look of TWOK as well, the ships move with a certain grace that is like, well, ships really.

That said the Reliant making a big sweeping turn to make another pass at the Enterprise is a bit silly, it can be rationalised as a grandstanding gesture by Khan but logically he would just finish her with his aft torpedoes or spin on the spot, changing his attitude but not his speed and direction.

But Trek has never had much to do with real physics in the way the ships move - TWOK was selling on traditonal naval battles, and Nemesis on, as another poster commented, looking "Kewl".

 

[FalTorPan]

USS KG5 said:
But Trek has never had much to do with real physics in the way the ships move...

Exactly. I'm not sure what "realism" means with respect to Star Trek spacecraft movement.

 

[gobstopper]

Is this just a "CGI models suck! Bring back physical models!" thread?

 

[EnsignJulka]

Yes, we should rename this thread!