I see use of CGI as just a different medium for the staff to work in for creating animation. I prefer smooth, slick, and carefully applied CGI over slapdash cost-cutting but I think with stylistic changes and improvement in both technology and skills, it's in a spot I would say is alright. There was a very serious learning curve 20+ years ago and a lot of things from that era that looked almost revolutionary then but look like trash now. The opening dog fight from episode 1 of Macross 0 is quite the exception - that whole scene is still glorious and I am sure it's not because I am a secret MiG-29 fan.danth wrote: ↑Mon Jul 11, 2022 9:24 amMy attitude is: if I wanted CGI mecha, I'd play a video game.
Furthermore, I don't really like any anime at all made after the jump to computers. Perhaps sacrilege around here, I don't know. When you have computers generating in-betweens, I don't want it. When you have "animators" pulling on vectorized curves with a mouse, instead of hand drawing them, I don't want it. I want drawings, drawn by humans. I can tell the difference.
None of that is to say that it is inherently better than skilled work with paint on celluloid either. There's a lot of bad looking "traditional animation" out there. Skilled traditional animation is still impressive and yes, arguably, more impressive than CGI. In the end, I care about the presentation of the final product and less about the tools used to get there.