Disney's Groundbreaking Photoreal CGI Movie Leaves VFX Artists Spellbound
Disney's groundbreaking CGI film impresses VFX artists, showcasing the evolution of photorealistic animation techniques From the influence of 'Dinosaur' to the film's strong foundations, Disney continues to push the boundaries of visual effects
Disney's photorealistic CGI movies may have a connection to a film released 23 years ago called Dinosaur. In 2000, Dinosaur told the story of a solitary dinosaur protecting his family of lemurs after an asteroid impact. Despite its dark themes, the film earned a modest $349 million worldwide against its $127.5 million budget. What sets Dinosaur apart is its pioneering animation, which attempted to achieve realism through CGI. Recently, a group of VFX artists from Corridor Crew have suggested that Dinosaur might have served as the inspiration for Disney's more recent photorealistic CGI films. Watch the video below for further insight.
How Dinosaur Influenced Disney
From 0:45 to 8:26, the team acknowledges the impressive animation featured in Dinosaur, particularly highlighting the incorporation of actual grass from the real world. While pointing out a few shortcomings in terms of shadowing, they commend the attention to detail in rendering the hair and grass, and delve into the intriguing techniques employed by Disney and The Secret Lab. Notably, Dinosaur was predominantly CGI-animated, but also incorporated certain shots captured with the utilization of red screen technology and other creative animation methods.
The Corridor Crew delves into the profound impact of Dinosaur on Disney's CGI animation journey, which has significantly influenced the company's subsequent productions. The meticulous efforts invested in the development of Dinosaur not only facilitated smoother production processes for future films, but also allowed animators to build upon established techniques, resulting in the creation of awe-inspiring and lifelike settings.
The recent remake of Disney's The Lion King is an example of a movie that builds upon the foundation laid by Dinosaur. While Dinosaur introduced the concept of creating an animated world within real-world settings, The Lion King took it a step further. Instead of incorporating real environments, The Lion King approached the production as if it were a video game, with both settings and characters rendered. Unlike Dinosaur, where animators rendered scenes and adjusted for environments, The Lion King was designed from the beginning, making the remake much easier for Disney to produce.
In many ways, 2016's The Jungle Book is a closer successor to Dinosaur. The project included fully-rendered and animated animals, with actor Neel Sethi later inserted into the production after performing in front of a blue screen. Similar to Dinosaur, The Jungle Book featured a blend of live-action and animated elements. Disney's recent productions demonstrate a departure from the strategies employed in Dinosaur, but it laid a foundation for the company to build upon and create today's photorealistic CGI movies.
Source: Corridor Crew/YouTube
