Does cgi allow the show to do more?

[snake]

I feel that doing the show in cgi allows them to do more with it, just try to imagine the series hand drawn, if it was hand drawn characters like snakeweed probably wouldn't be as interesting, or the fight scenes wouldnt be as good, just try to imagine the gauntlet fight in hand drawn animation, it wouldn't be done right, and I feel the show wouldn't be as successful as most kids go for the pretty looking shiny animation.

( I AM NOT HATING ON HAND DRAWN CARTOONS, I WAS JUST THINKING THAT CGI ALLOWS THE SHOW TO DO MORE)

So, what do you think?
Does cgi allow the show to do more?

[TheSmartOne]

XD Legit question, especially considering that CG really gets a bad rap sometimes. The important thing to keep in mind is that the principles of animation don't change, regardless of whether you're watching something in 2D and something in 3D. If you have competent animators, you'll have good animation.

I guess you could say that 3D requires a different skill set. It's more technically oriented, rather then art oriented, though every teacher I ever had always encouraged figure drawing. There are a lot of things that become easier to do. Your characters are already in the computer, so you don't have to redraw them all the time. Moving the character from one pose to the next is a simple matter of manipulating your model rather then (again) redrawing. On the other hand, 2D has some advantages over 3D. The Nick show has a limited cast because every character they put on screen has to be designed by an artist, modelled by a modeller, rigged by a character artist, and finally textured, before getting anywhere near the animator.

....And I went of on yet another long winded tangent, when I really only meant to give my two cents XD SO LONG STORY SHORT. The sequences could probably still be done in 2D. In fact, the 4Kids version had a lot of really really really beautifully animated fight scenes. You just have to get those talented animators, and you have to get the budget. The quality of animation went waaay down in the 4kids TMNT after Season 4. Simply put, as long as you have the people with the skills, and a really good storyboard artist (because how the shots are cut and framed are also really important) it would look good even if they did it in clay XD

[Martin]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

( I AM NOT HATING ON HAND DRAWN CARTOONS, I WAS JUST THINKING THAT CGI ALLOWS THE SHOW TO DO MORE)

I love how every time we make an statement or write down our opinions we have to put out big disclaimers so no random character of the interweb starts bashing on us. Man, I love the internet... {*S*} -> (sarcasm sign)

I personally love both styles. In the one hand, CG is great: the way it lets you play with camera angles is amazing. That being said, just the fact that it is CG doesn't mean the show will look good. It all comes down to camera angles and establishing shoots. The CG might be great but if you fail to get that right it will not look good. Not that that is happening here!

In the other hand, hand drawn toons can also portray battles in awesome ways. Just look at anime, a ton of them involve fighting and in most is really well done. I guess CG is good for some things and hand drawn for others.

All in all I'll have to agree with you: CG really does let you do more and it's more appealing to younger generations. Hand drawn will always have a special place in my heart though.

[CyberCubed]

In terms of backgrounds and characters, its a lot less. They're re-using the same models for the pedestrians over and over because in CG they have to create each model from scratch, whereas cartoons can have many human characters all standing around looking different.

Also they have to build the, "sets" which is why we keep seeing the same rooftops and same city alleyways again and again. Shredder's throne room, the Purple Dragon hideout, Baxter's place are re-used instead of seeing other areas.

[BabyTurtles]

idk but I wouldn't want TMNT 2012 to be done any other way :3

[Jester]

Things are always "on model" because there isn't the variation between animation studios. I'm not sure if having the character ready to be manipulated makes the process easier....but it'd seem so.

[CyberCubed]

One thing I'll kinda miss is seeing different animation studios do different episodes where the characters look a little different.

[snake]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

One thing I'll kinda miss is seeing different animation studios do different episodes where the characters look a little different.

Yeeeeah, I don't like that, except in comics, but in shows, no.

[Yorae]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

One thing I'll kinda miss is seeing different animation studios do different episodes where the characters look a little different.

I agree. I loved the episodes in the 2k3 series with the more "fluid" animation. (the Metalhead episode comes to mind here). Same with the different styles in the OT.

Also, as mentioned in previous posts, the use of CG limits the variety of the pedestrians and spaces. It didn't bother me at first, but it became blaringly obvious as the season went on. Kinda disappoints me a bit to be honest.

I think CG makes the action scenes look much better though. The quick movements and the camera angles are much easier to do, I think, with the use of 3D models.

[Candy Kappa]

CGI gives more freedom, want another camera shot, just add an extra camera in the animation program. Quick and easy without having to redraw everything. Less animators on the job, the animation program do all the in between animation.

And more fluid animation compared to 2D animated shows for TV

[Shredded]

One think I thing the CGI actually improves are the fight scenes, I havn't ever seen fight-scenes like this in 2D animated form, not even in Avatar the Last Airbender, that did have beautiful hand-to-hand combat scenes ones in a while, but here, it just feels better.

I guess it's way you have your figure, and keep the camera on it as you manipulate it, as previously said to, the camera ankles you can play with, how steady and fluent you can make it, some-how the models nature of the thing makes it seem a little more real.

Also they look more like their action figure counterparts X)

Just, the texture looks like their action figures, just a little fun thing I noticed.

There's also one thing it feels like this show tried out I havn't seen before in CGI, that really works out.. the more manga-like feel. The blend between Manga and western animation, use of small visual side-kicks, a more cartoonish over-all look to characters, it really works in this instance. And it does give the show a very unique feel.

[The Big Bad]

It depends on what you mean. Sure, it allows for a certain aesthetic which wouldn't otherwise be possible, and of certain high level of consistency. That said, I think the CGI is much more limiting than a hand-drawn shown would be, and that those limits are a key reason why the show is the way it is. I think that, in the end, a decently-budgeted show could very well do pretty much everything that has been done here, while this show wouldn't be able to do what a decently-budgeted hand-drawn show can: I don't see this show being able to do stories like the Kirby story, or time-travel tales like TMNT (Vol. 1) #8, or even larger stories like "The Big Brawl", at least not anytime soon. Granted, there's no reason why the series has to follow what has gone before, but still, that variety of stories was always one of the thing that most appealed to me about the turtles, and it saddens me to see that that's not a priority here.

[NinjaPug]

The TCRI episode got me thinking...which is worse? When the Turtles were driving their patrol buggies down the street chasing Bradford and seeing no one or them chasing the Kraang in the helicopter and seeing two people?

Seeing only two random people seems weird to me when there should be multiple people or cars in the street.

[chrisdude]

I like that insures consistency. I figure if this were a hand drawn show, we'd have new posts every week about things that changed, or something that moved.

The models are a lot of work, but they're so detailed, and they look great. I don't consider it a "limit," I consider it a payoff.

But sure, if you went hand drawn, you could make new characters and environments faster. But they'd be drawn with 5-10 colors and you'd lose all that detail. Hey, they could use South Park cutout animation and animate even faster. They could crank more characters that you could keep up with! the turtles could go to a new dimension every week!

Honestly, I don't care. Hand drawn can look great, CG can look great. But I have no complaints with what they're doing now.

Spoiler:

[Shark_Blade]

We've already seen hand drawn so it's a nice change that they set out to do CGI. If they went with hand drawn TMNT, they'd probably look exactly like Teen Titans style.

Both hand drawn and CGI has it's pros and cons; but I feel CGI has more pluses. I prefer the CGI very much.

[LH]

My favorite thing about CGI is that it is basically a form of digital puppetry. It allows characters to keep a consistent look as well as have complex details that hand drawn animation cannot capture(for example, the pattern on Leatherhead's skin).

[kzekedaurus]

Like everybody else has said before me, CGI and 2D animation have different individual strengths. You shouldn't look to CGI to do what 2D does and vice versa. CGI is certainly more practical for studios to do television shows, because of the use of models that can be pre-set, and reused. And with a tight budget that makes a world of difference. I'm not saying that the creators of the Nick show chose CGI because of this; maybe that's just their preference. Or they could've thought that CG was more appropriate for the kind of show they wanted.

For someone like me, I like being able to see an animator's imprint in a work, so I give a little more leeway when it comes to sacrificing some consistency. With CGI, that's a little harder to do, because things blend together much better. But that doesn't mean an animator can't have their style come through with CGI.

One of my favorite, favorite shows is the cartoon Ed, Edd, n' Eddy, which used, and managed to mantain quality traditional animation for its entire run (6 seasons). Admittedly, its rare to find a network that's willing to support something like that these days, and this was Cartoon Network!

[TheSkeletonMan939]

If it's well done, certainly. As CyberCubed pointed out, the animation isn't as detailed or varied as you'd hope. But seeing as they have to churn out 26 of these in less than a year, I can cut them some slack.

[BubblyShell22]

Yes, I think CGI does allow for more to be shown. They can do more with the fighting scenes and even the backgrounds as well as details to the characters themselves. I love traditional animation myself, but CGI has become so advanced that it's able to show more detail and be more detailed.

[pannoni1]

I also notice that text also comes in clearer and more realistic and the shading is much improved compared to hand-drawn animation, and everything looks smoother without the abrupt color changes. Plus it still allows 2D animation to be used when necessary. Many books/articles have been discussed on the subject so there is lots more discussion/opinion about it. I tend to like hand-drawn more now because of its "so fake its funny" atmosphere.