CG vs Practical Effects - General

Hi, I've been working on a project for the past few months trying to show differences between CG effects and Practical Effects. The problem I've run into is that in movies, the two types of effects can't be found trying to accomplish the same goal - save for things like X-Wings in the Star Wars Special Editions. So, instead of compiling other movies, I made my own, the exact same movie twice, one with CG effects and one with Practical Effects. It is a Star Wars themed movie, set right after the Rebels evacuate Hoth in the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. It's very short, but I feel like it gets the point across. The two movies: [video=youtube;fypmFTmNyV0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fypmFTmNyV0[/video] And here is a short walkthrough of how each of the effects were done: [video=youtube;fypmFTmNyV0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fypmFTmNyV0[/video] Thanks for your time guys, and any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

your practical effects were worse than the cgi

[QUOTE=Fish Muffin;47634936]your practical effects were worse than the cgi[/QUOTE] Yeah, this project pretty much shows that if you want practical effects done right, you have to [I]really[/I] do them right. Notice I didn't at any point specify that I preferred one or the other, it's a completely objective comparison.

[QUOTE=captinchikin;47634941]Yeah, this project pretty much shows that if you want practical effects done right, you have to [I]really[/I] do them right. Notice I didn't at any point specify that I preferred one or the other, it's a completely objective comparison.[/QUOTE] No offense, but an objective comparison would be getting two professionals of each craft doing the same scene, rather than a novice in both.

Each one of those effects is worse than the other. Way, way worse.

[QUOTE=ijyt;47634950]No offense, but an objective comparison would be getting two professionals of each craft doing the same scene, rather than a novice in both.[/QUOTE] That's the problem, though: two different professionals means two different people, who might both be a different level of "good" at their craft. Me, I'll admit I'm not good at either of these, but I know my way around enough to get something like this done. Because of that, it shows that practical effects are harder to do than CG effects.

[QUOTE=captinchikin;47634967]That's the problem, though: two different professionals means two different people, who might both be a different level of "good" at their craft. Me, I'll admit I'm not good at either of these, but I know my way around enough to get something like this done. Because of that, it shows that practical effects are harder to do than CG effects.[/QUOTE] It shows fuck all tbh. CG is easier because you have access to the environments and tools similar to what pros use. Practical, eh doesn't seem so. I have no idea what's the point of this "movie". It doesn't prove anything, nor does it have a point.

Fair enough.

Like hell, when the screaming things(whatever their name was) fly over the practical effect was just awful. I'm sure you could do better. They looked like flat paper models, something I'd expect form novice cgi.

[QUOTE=itisjuly;47634995]It shows fuck all tbh. CG is easier because you have access to the environments and tools similar to what pros use. Practical, eh doesn't seem so. I have no idea what's the point of this "movie". It doesn't prove anything, nor does it have a point.[/QUOTE] It proves exactly what you just said...I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. [editline]30th April 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=itisjuly;47635004]Like hell, when the screaming things(whatever their name was) fly over the practical effect was just awful. I'm sure you could do better. They looked like flat paper models, something I'd expect form novice cgi.[/QUOTE] If you watch the second video I admit that very clearly.

Practical effects are a whole different beast than CGI but they involve incredibly similar levels of dedication. For a CGI shot(this is becoming less and less true I think) it's required you light things a specific way, you use certain foreground elements to sell it, you use a perfect white balance and rarely interrupt that with other light colours unless specifically prepped for it. Practical effects require a similar level of preparation. You're basically building everything already knowing how that shot is going to go down and how you want to shoot it, you problem solve from there. Many practical effects use lens trickery to hide things, they frame things at specific distances that sell them best, they change shutter rates to make the motion of the effect look more real if they have to. I think practical effects usually look better, but you really have to have an understanding of the camera and your equipment to best implement them.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;47635141]Practical effects are a whole different beast than CGI but they involve incredibly similar levels of dedication. For a CGI shot(this is becoming less and less true I think) it's required you light things a specific way, you use certain foreground elements to sell it, you use a perfect white balance and rarely interrupt that with other light colours unless specifically prepped for it. Practical effects require a similar level of preparation. You're basically building everything already knowing how that shot is going to go down and how you want to shoot it, you problem solve from there. Many practical effects use lens trickery to hide things, they frame things at specific distances that sell them best, they change shutter rates to make the motion of the effect look more real if they have to. I think practical effects usually look better, but you really have to have an understanding of the camera and your equipment to best implement them.[/QUOTE] Yeah, everything you said was very true, and I think me having more of a computer-oriented as opposed to camera-oriented background may have factored into the way this turned out.

this experimental video of yours is pointless because there can be shitty cgi and good practical effects and vice-versa. Sorry to say both of them were pretty bad. You need hollywood level equipment and artists to do a fair comparison.