VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi 75 

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Just saw Avatar 2 and I can’t get over how photo-real everything looks. I need someone working on the shot to tell me what’s fake cuz I couldn’t tell.

I think that, as an artist, the best compliment you can get is when people argue whether your creation is CG or Real

Even if it looks like it did 13 years ago, that's just a testament to how incredibly ahead of its time the first movie was.

"I think it's just a few people with loud voices." Man, this is true for so many instances of "internet outrage". Every time I see an article that says something like "internet up in arms about x", if you actually track it down to the sources, it's like three twitter accounts.

You see, the problem with Avatar 2's CGI is that it's leaped *sooo* far across the Uncanny Valley that people refuse to believe it's not real.

I genuinely don't understand peoples reaction to the new Avatar trailer. I saw that and was blown away and speechless. It made me realize just how far technology has come because before I thought that CGI fully crossing the uncanny valley was impossible, until I saw this trailer and I felt nothing but excitement for what the future holds for CGI.

Just watched Avatar 2 (twice) and god, every single shot looks photo realistic. There isn't 1 shot that took me out of the experience.

The fact that Ian Hubert's animation is played right after the Avatar 2 trailer and still holds its own makes Ian a true common man's legend!

James Cameron started out as a VFX guy and is a DIY legend. I not only think he would be a great guest on this show, but I predict he will be a guest come the end of the year!

I suggest you guys take a look at Prehistoric Planet by David Attenborough - possibly the most realistic looking dinosaurs filmed through the perspective of a documentary. Just gorgeous.

I normally skip the sponsor section but I really appreciate Jake's effort and desperation. 5 Stars

The water in the first Avatar was all CG as well. When you guys covered that in an older video, it blew my mind. It still looks so real to this day.

Just knowing James Cameron has lifetime career experiences studying underwater life just has me so excited for the sequel. Just the imagination that make pandora going underwater is just crazy.

Titling a CG movie titled "The Way of Water" almost sounds like a demo to flex your water-sims.

I was absolutely blown away by The Way of Water trailer! It looks phenomenal! People take so much for granted and aren’t really good at looking at details. Most artists who pay attention who obsessed over detail have that same eye.

As a software developer, SFX and VFX artist I know how frustrating it is with VFX. When you do it really well, nobody sees it. For Dunkirk my mentor who was a subcontractor for DNEG contacted me to help him out with the aerial shot. The shot had been refused twice because the oil and the life vests and other debris didn’t feel to be in the real shot. So what I did (and I’m still proud of that, because I’m terrible at maths), was to track high contrast points in the waves and push the X and Y vector up in that direction and basically created a dynamic 2D mesh warp that is added to the vectors of the camera track. And all that for 2 seconds of film and a dozen or so of CG elements between actual stuff. And suddenly it fit. But then nobody sees it. When I do a cool SFX make up or make a nice electronic prop, people are like: “woah that person is obviously not really injured but it looks like he is!” So practical solutions are more visible and ironically, therefore often more appreciated. I also see that in my freelance IT career. When I write backend and CI/CD solutions people take it for granted because it’s hidden. When you write a simple ugly GUI to help them out in their daily work, they orgasm at the sight of it. We I build an pill counting machine for a pharmacy they were ecstatic. The fact that the whole pharmacy can only operate because of the other software my client made, they don’t see. Because “it’s been since the came to work there. It has become invisible to them.”

Obviously it must be frustrating seeing the arguments around Avatar 2 as VFX artists, but just the fact some people are convinced that it's real is testement to the quality of the work in a way, it's so good that people can't even believe it's effects anymore. Then you've got the other crowd ofc who think it doesn't look any better but I guess that comes down to the classic problem where when VFX gets to a certain quality, especially on small scale shots, it goes unnoticed by a lot of viewers, despite being hell of a lot of work (sometimes more than spectecle shots) and great technical achievements. Great breakdown of the advances made, that water is insane!

Knowing what motivates James Cameron, I feel like the whole point of Avatar is to show the advancement of CG. That’s why I don’t see him slipping live action water shots into the movie. He’s doing the sequel in a water environment precisely because he wants to show how revolutionary the water tech is.

Avatar 2 was amazing. Can't wait to see what kind of content y'all make about that incredibly eye-popping film

I just want to note, the VFX team actually confirmed the the hand-in-water shot actually *_WAS_* shot practically, and not CGI. I'm curious what Corridor would have to say about it, but it actually was skin painted blue as well. There was some CGI used for the parts of the arm above the wrist, but the hands, straps, cloth, water, etc were all real. (source: _Befores and afters_ article _"Why the CG water in ‘The Way of Water’ looks so good"_ )

Glad I'm not the only one that got the belt tightening scene stuck on my mind. There are 100s of mind-blowing shots in that trailer, but that one shot is the most impressive to me.

Not only was Ian a massively influential and knowledgeable guests to have, but he also seemed to genuinely get along and the three of you have excellent chemistry with him Hopefully we'll see him as recurring guest on this

Cameron said the shots are all performance captured. That shot of that hand near water is a real hand, saddle and water were apparently real. He’s blending both and that’s why its so impressive.

Ever since the trailer for Avatar: The Way if Water was released, I've been hardcore nerding over that single shot of the hand fastening the leather strap; it looks so realistic, I'm so happy that you addressed it!

Avatar 2 is literally called "The Way of Water" and people don't think they're using the most cutting edge techniques and simulations on it? Lol. Plus the insane budget it has. The first one pushed cgi to its limits for the time and this one looks to be as well.

Avatar was already a CGI masterpiece, the second one will be an even bigger one. I can’t wait for it to get out, I’ve been waiting for so long!

the Avatar 2 trailer looks how i remember Avatar 1 looking back in 2009, but when i actually review Avatar 1 footage i realize that James Cameron's team just actually perfectly nailed how my memory would warp things to keep them current. they literally modernized the art style without really changing it and that's an incredible feat, even if it's confusing a lot of folk.

Avatar 2 is gonna be gorgeous! This is one of two movies this year that I have to see in the theater

Ian Hubert is a Blender Legend. When I started in Blender he was one of the first people I watched. Go show him some love as his Blender film is incredible with insane Visual effects.

Holy crap, I've never seen Ian Hubert before, but not only is his work incredible, his honest breakdowns of how basically everything he's doing is cheating are such an amazing way to help me appreciate his work even more. What a great artist.

4:04 It's actually part practical and part CGI: “We shot that practically,” he explains. “At the time, there was talk about whether that shot was going to be [used for] reference, or whether it was going to be in the film. It looked really good, what had been done - but it was just the hand that was practical. So we had the challenge of connecting that hand, mid-arm, to a CG arm, which was connected to a CG body, which was sitting on a CG skimwing. And then we had some practical water as well that then had to connect to CG water. So it's a mix. The hand and water surrounding [the shot] is practical. The rest is digital.” Source is Techradar (links not allowed on this channel).

I wanna see a full episode review of Avatar 2 FX!!!

You guys should react to Prehistoric Planet with David Attenborough and also essentially the older version of it which is Walking With Dinosaurs from BBC which also had groundbreaking VFX for its time and that was also a series that dominated my childhood. Also you guys should react to more video game related stuff, like the amazing graphics and snow simulations in Black Myth Wukong, the water physics in Horizon Forbidden West, etc.

IAN HUBERT is a LEGEND. His lazy tutorials single handedly got me into Blender!

"Bust-a-Keaton" needs to be its own format. A spin-off show on Corridor Crew, where they only analyze the classics, cause some of those effects were literally done for the very first time in human history. Absolutely amazing! ❤

Avatar 2 was literally the best cgi movie I've ever seen and it's not even close... The film deserves high praise!

Honestly when looking at Ians stuff right after the avatar trailer and knowing one is probably the best CGI Team on the planet and one is a single genious person, Ians stuff REALLY shines!

When the trailer first came out I told my wife about the water/leather strap shot and tried explaining why its so incredible. And she didn’t understand. Now I’m vindicated!!!

Even if it was for a joke, you gotta appreciate how much Sam(and the rest of them) appreciate Nikos knowledge of certain things to actually call him in to explain something they arent quite grasping.

Avatar 2009 was incredible for its time

I’d legit watch an entire series of this show just about old timey special effects. That practical way of creating special effects will always be more impressive to me than computer simulations, and I’m not try to take anything away from CG artists- I just think there’s a certain “magic trick” element of that old school practicality.

You guys are the reason I'm really going to enjoy Avatar 2. I have gained such a massive appreciation for CGI and special effects through this channel that now I can watch something like that and truly appreciate what it takes to make it look that goddamned real. For you to spend half an episode on just the one shot of the leather and the water I can't imagine the time it took for people to perfect the details in that shot.

Calling for Nico, dramatic music playing as the camera pans and zooms to his office door. You expect him to storm through that door like Kramer, but then he just bloops on out lmao. I love the Corridor Crew❤️

I really like Wren, man. He’s the best. They all seem like cool dudes, but he seems so sincerely stoked I love it.

The new Avatar Trailer blew my mind. Cant understand why people argue about it. I can fully understand why they need such a long time to produce it.

i loved avatar one and simply how amazing it looked especially in a time of animation evolving. this looks fucking incredible. anyone saying otherwise acting like it doesn’t is because they are the person who knows absolutely nothing on the field but has the most to say about it. happens in everything today. i can’t wait for Avatar 2!

honestly avatar is just the most if not one the most groundbreaking movies with the most innovative CGI and visual effects. No wonder people find it hard to believe that stuff was achievable. James cameron is honestly the master mind if not the legend of his craft, i love him and avatar so much >>>>

I’ve been going through and listening to all of the earbiscuit podcast episodes and just recently listened to the episode you guys were on. It was awesome to remember how the channel was so long ago and how much progress and in ovation has been made. Y’all talked about your aspirations and goals for the future and it was really inspiring and heartwarming to see exactly how they those goals become reality and played out into the future. Love y’all, thanks for the work the whole crew does to put out such amazing content!

The CG in Avatar 2 is insane... It looks so freaking good.

Y'all should do "Sound Designers React!" Like: How they make sounds for things that don't even exist; How they made the T-Rex or Godzilla roar; Even the subtle ways they have to add basic clothing, movement, and walking sounds into animated films. You know those punch and beefy gun sounds in old action movies? WHAT IS THAT? I'll keep posting this comment until SDR is a thing!

I was blown away trying to figure out the old buster Keaton film at the end where he dives through the suitcase and the fence. I saw that scene in a documentary all they said that it was one take. I've been scratching my head ever since. So THANK YOU for figuring it out! The bottom of the skirt moves abruptly suggesting he is swinging down into it. Genius!

I saw the Avatar 2 Trailer in the Cinema and i was just blown away. Its crazy how good it looks.

I always love it when you guys cover really old movies that use practical effects that look like witchcraft. It's amazing how creative their problem solving skills were back then.

It would have been nice to discuss how important 3D is to Avatar 2, as with stereoscopic renders there can be no lens & depth of field, leading to extremely detailed 3D effects. You can see every little lapse and splash like it's really there, even more so than any other elements in the scenes I saw in the trailer. So for a shot like the 'hands close up', it only makes sense to do it in CG so that the 3D can have maximum impact.

I love how there’s nearly ten minutes of you guys geeking out over Ian’s work, and Ian just sitting there like “I really didn’t do that much…”

They taught their actors how to breath underwater for 10 minutes? 🤯🤯 Black Panther 2 needed to do this, instead we watched as an entire city of people struggling to not drown pretending they were fish people

The commentary is what keeps bringing me back. You guys have so much knowledge. I'd like to see you improve on the CGI Alien in Alien3. Underrated movie, let down by studio interference, and sloppy CGI.

16:53 That’s not an exposure jump, it’s the wall shaking from the guy’s body swinging down into position. I imagine it was a low-tech as two guys on the other side of the wall holding him up horizontal with their hands and then dropping him down as soon as Buster cleared the hole. Really awesome, creative stuff. I don’t think you guys have covered it yet, but would love to see you look at Bedknobs and Broomsticks. One of my favorite movies when I was a kid.

I mean you've gotta be pretty proud of yourself if a bunch of people are fighting over if a scene is CGI or not, I'd be grinning ear to ear with happiness that my teams hard work payed off like that.

I thought that was shot practically, that is an actors hand painted blue to match Jake's, the water is real. The upper strap is cg but that small plate was given to Weta to expand the outside of the plate. So the hand and water on the hand is technically real and practical with cg extending the scene. There is a whole article on the process from avatar

I’m so excited for Avatar! Personally knowing some of the freedivers that worked on the film has really upped the hype for me, but also being a nerd about the VFX means I’m stoked beyond belief 😂

Them calling Niko as a life line was hilarious. I knew that man had all the answers. I also enjoy whenever he is stumped, proves that we all still have plenty to learn

Ian you taught me so many little tricks like making lots of little people or buildings or signs or whatever. Been following you for years so awesome to see you in the spotlight :) Congrats also on the release of Dynamo Dream!

The hand and strap scene was a mix of CGI and live action. They filmed the hand painted blue pulling on the strap of an actual saddle in water, and then the arm and surrounding waters were CGI.

Love when they're able to just straight up tell critics they're wrong "it doesn't look any better" "no it's way better, you're just wrong"

The other thing I noticed in the avatar 2 trailer is that the lighting feels much more realistic. I'm surprised they didn't mention that. The contrast between dark and light feels much bigger, but I can still see the details in the darker parts (I'm talking about the neytiri closeup shot).

Was pretty sweet to have Ian back again. Ian's lazy tutorial vids are simply amazing for anyone that wants to do blender stuff

You gotta make a Ian Hubert episode alone just him talking about all of his work, dude is a LEGEND, wish we had seen more of his stuff in this episode

3:40 People saying it looks like it did in 2009 Do not understand how fucking good that shot looks.

It looks like the “exposure jump” in the Sherlock clip could have maybe just been light bouncing off of the fake wall as it shakes from the impact of the actors pulling off the practical effect! So cool!

Super super excited and happy to see y'all break down my favorite Buster Keaton film!! Would love to see you look at older films similar to it!

If I'm a person living in 1924 and saw this in the movie 12:37 I'd be like WHAAAAAAAA!!!!! I don't think any amount of modern CG can make me go nuts like this in 1924. damn good stuff

**Reaction suggestion**: The “Friend Like Me” sequence from the new Aladdin with Will Smith. I know you guys reacted to some shots of Will Smith as the genie, but the VFX and overall directing/editing/planning that went into this musical sequence is truly remarkable. There’s so much to talk about.

When I saw that hand shot from the trailer and how real it looked I knew that they were going to go beyond what we know as vfx

4:18 Because people on the internet are experts on everything.

I am so glad to see you guys elaborating so much on that Avatar 2 close-up water scene. I saw it in theater and it really stood out to me. I finally know why!

I really want to see you guys watch the VFX breakdown for Shin Godzilla! It’s an awesome mix of puppetry and CGI that’s made to look like puppetry!

There were comments last time about this, but you guys should really look at Everything Everywhere All At Once. Most of the vfx was done by like five people and there are lots of really cool shots.

Just watched AVATAR 2 n it's ineffable... DECADES ahead of MARVEL N DC in terms of VFX. Gonna break all RECORDS.

Would definitely love to see Ian on here more. This was super informative.

I was lucky to see "The way of water" trailer I'm 3D, and it was absolutely stunning

Ian Hubert making amazing shit by being a sort of "visual psychologist" is fascinating. I'm used to distracting from bad assets from doing game development, but Ian is on another plane of existence when it comes to that

I love what you guys are doing! Would love to see a new series similar to this one: Cinematographers React :) Make it happen! Love you guys!

I just saw the new season (3) of Love, Death and Robots and was blown away by the last chapter (Jibaro). The scenery, movement, reflections, camera, lighting, textures, sound design, its all very high level stuff and would love to hear your take on it. (It feels like unreal engine if sam is about to react). Keep up the good work!

The whole section about the water proves 1 thing that has always been true: the majority doesn't know what they're talking about and doesn't have a clue on where technology stands right now. Unless you follow this stuff religiously or have a job in a cg studio, you're just throwing out the most likely claim in hopes you're right. Which is annoying for the artists and people like me alike, because that's usually stated as a fact and not as someone's guess. The majority of movie watchers also always seem to forget the feats of yesterday's cgi so they end up undermining things while at the same time claiming it was stronger than today's cgi. They're not careful at all.

You guys NEED to react to Alternative Cut's video where they inserted Tuco from Breakikg Bad into Endgame, they did a phenomenal job

In the Buster Keaton clip, They had to slow crank because of the time and effort to lower the actors body into the dress. Thus when it ran at regular speed, there was a more "instant" feel when the actor walks away from the wall.... also, that may be why the side actors arms move funny. They needed to slow down as well to match the film speed.

AAH. You did Buster Keaton! That was a lot of fun. I'd love to see you guys do more very old films like that. Harold Lloyd did some crazy special effects as well.

At 7:38 I absolutely love the attention to detail making Neytiri’s pupils shrink when she open’s her eyes. I wonder if they studied cat eyes because that’s what they remind me of. Or some kind of bird, it’s amazing!

I'd suggest for you guys to check out how the water particules, the explosions and more in the movie Greyhound with Tom Hanks like the battle scene. Would be sick to know everything about how it was made.

So good to finally see Ian Hubert on the show. 😍 Please bring more VFX gems like him. Like Andrew Kramer, Nick from GSG, Captain D and Blender guru more on the show. It just makes us look forward to the next show and makes it worth the wait when watching the show 😊

I LOVE when you guys break down older practical effects. Everything from ghost busters, blade runner to this ooolllddd stuff too.

I need to know what Ian was going to say when Wren interrupted him at 8:22!!

Mann we’ve got to cherish Wren. I’m sure his excitement always brings joy to anyone and everyone.

Sorry to burst the bubble but that hand tightening shot was actually shot practically. Weta's team was asked about it and the hands and leather strap were both real as well as the water that was in direct contact with them. However, a lot of the surrounding parts of the image were replaced which they weren't too specific about.

Ian is a wizard, I love his stuff. The jump in the exposure of that last clip might be because the actor bumped into the structure when he came from from his position into the suit. You can actually see some dust coming up a few seconds later.

I remember using blender with a core duo cpu. The fan on the cpu cooler failed. The cpu melted into the motherboard. So the whole thing just crashed. And we were running it for 24 hours.

That Buster Keaton dive through the standing person was an old Vaudeville bit that could be performed live on stage. Probably not as well as Keaton did it, but pretty damn clever.

@corridorcrew So just saw the prop for that one shot with the hand strap on the news (in NZ). That one shot was a practical effect for the closeup. There you go, not entirely digital.