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Conspicuous CG: Difference between revisions
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See also [[Special Effect Failure]] for when CG is conspicuous within a live-action work (or for other, practical bad effects), [[Uncanny Valley]], [[Serkis Folk]] and [[Cel Shading]]. Often crops up in games with a [[Sprite Polygon Mix]].
For when ''everything'' is CGI, see [[All CGI Cartoon]]. Voluntarily switching between CG and another animation style is [[Medium Blending]].
{{examples}}
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* Trumping any of the below examples of unconvincing 2D/3D meshing are the helicopters from ''[[Golgo 13]]: The Professional''. Of course, those helicopters have a good excuse -- they were the first use of CG in anime history. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJxPjUo5-cI You can see it here.]
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', CG was mainly used for the trains in the Tokyo Settlement and for the ''Ikaruga'' vessel during ''R2''.
* In ''[[Beck (manga)|Beck]]'': Mongolian Chop Squad, in some sequences where Ryusuke, Koyuki and Taira play their instruments, there is a CG close up of their hands on the fretboards and strumming.
** The performance close-ups were done by filming people playing, and then rotoscoping the footage to blend it with the show.
* The ''[[Lensman]]'' anime used CG for some of the spaceships and the titular Lens.
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* ''[[Karas]]'' averts the living hell out of this trope. The CG is obvious, but extremely well-integrated, not to mention [[Visual Effects of Awesome|extremely good-looking.]]
* ''[[Tekkon Kinkreet]]'''s CGI similarly succeeds in avoiding this trope by incorporating traditional elements. Textures of cityscape rendered in 3D are hand-drawn, and cel shading works remarkably well with the simplistic art style of characters, especially when applied to vehicles. Even while moving vehicles tend to be cel shaded, bits of shading look handmade, and static vehicles are either rendered with irregular lines or simply drawn from scratch.
* It happens a few times in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', but [http://i56.tinypic.com/2rescbq.jpg these bananas] are an especially bad example.
* ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'' used CG for when the Mirror Coating was applied to the robots, and for the Zonders morphing their bodies. Since CG wasn't used extensively yet at the time, it tended to really look out of place.
* ''[[Lost Universe]]'' used CG for ''some'' of the scenes involving the spaceships, with fairly good results (though sometimes the frame rate of the CG sequences was very low giving quite a jarring effect. Other times they were smooth as silk). What was unusual is that the ships were just as often rendered with normal cel-animation which was... just not as cool-looking.
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* ''[[Sakura Taisen]] IV'' and ''V'', as well as the ''ST'' movie, all have CG ''kohbu'' and some CG backgrounds.
* The CG blends in very well in ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex|Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex]]'', notably the robotic Tachikoma. However, the [[Title Sequence]] of season 1 is 100% CGI, and looks very different than the rest of the series.
** On the other hand, the theatrical film ''Ghost in the Shell Two: Innocence'', which is in an [[Alternate Continuity]] from the series, uses almost 100% CGI backgrounds. The CGI is quite breathtakingly gorgeous in places, to the extent that it's a shame they had to obscure it with all that crummy cel animation.
*** It's also an interesting, probably unintentional metaphor for some of the elements of the series, the blending of the new and old.
* An episode of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' had the realistic guns on one of Bandit Keith's monsters replaced with [[Family-Friendly Firearms|futuristic lasers]] for the [[Bowdlerise|dub... In America]]. However, the lasers were done in CGI, which jarred dramatically with the monster's hand-drawn body.
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** Not to mention the CGI swimsuits put on Alexis/Asuka and her friends in the 4Kids version of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'' to give the impression they're not in a onsen but in a pool. A pool with steam all around, apparently...
** Without forgetting the crappy CGI shirt that was used to cover Yami's collar bone and shoulders.
* ''[[Duel Masters]]'' features CGI effects for the monsters. This, [[Affectionate Parody|being Duel Masters]], is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] [[No Fourth Wall|by the characters]] quite often.
* While later episodes use cel-shading, the cars in early episodes of ''[[Initial D]]'' stand out extremely oddly from the background, especially as the frame rate used for the CG is much higher than that of the animation. This gimmick is so well-known, parodies of it often reproduce this exactly, even if the show is otherwise traditionally animated.
** The image at the top is from ''[[Lucky Star]]'', and comes from part of a parody of Initial D, both in animation style and dramatic racing action.
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* ''[[Dennou Coil]]'' has an inversion -- we're able to accept the CG Satchiis because they're computer programs. The weirding out happens when, in one of the final episodes, a Satchii is inexplicably hand-drawn.
* Many of the battle scenes in ''[[Utawarerumono]]''.
* In ''[[Baccano]]'', a good percent of scenes in the halls of the Flying Pussyfoot have incredibly conspicuous CG'd backgrounds.
* [[Keroro Gunsou|Keroro's]] ceiling fan. That's all.
* Very prominent in ''[[Puni Puni Poemy]]''; the [[Star Wars|Death Star-ripoff]] spaceship comes to mind, but given that they [[Medium Blending|mix live-action along with this and traditional animation]], and the OVA itself is a [[Widget Series]], this is probably intentional.
* Some of the scenes involving giant or many warships in ''[[Last Exile]]'' are CG-animated and, while they look pretty good, it's a noticeable change in style.
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* Unfortunately ''[[Darker Than Black]]'''s cars have a nasty habit of sticking out like a bruised pinky.
* The leaves of the willow tree in episode 2 of ''[[Requiem from the Darkness]]'' look obviously computer generated.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' has a lot of this throughout, mostly for the hyperspace gates.
** The "Pierrot le Fou" episode.
* ''[[Clannad]]'' uses CG for the alternative world. It looks convincingly classic but still sticks out. One of the few cases were the CG looks like the rest of the anime, only smoother.
* The film ''[[Arashi no Yoru ni]]'' uses CGI for the rocky territory in the gorges. It stands out a bit, since the rest of the movie is otherwise animated in a very soft, watercolor-esquev storybook style.
* The 2008 film ''[[The Sky Crawlers]]'' featured CGI airplanes and other items, to the point where it is absolutely distracting and makes you wonder why these bits where not traditionally animated.
* The monsters appearing in the film adaptation of ''[[King of Thorn]]'' were almost always CG-modeled, whilst the main characters were mostly hand-drawn (with some CG added for the action scenes). It's forgivable for the first half hour but it eventually gets in the way of the drawn animation as the film drags on.
* [[Bakugan]] uses CG to animate the titular spheres, ''flocks of pigeons and a pudding falling down''.
* ''[[Slayers]]'': The second opening sequence onward had some computer-generated effects, but they were subliminal (as in, they lasted between one to three seconds), so the explosion from ''Next'' and the map of the world from ''Try'' are often overlooked. The fourth and fifth season openings, on the other hand, don't even hide them.
** Also the last [[Non-Serial Movie]], ''Slayers Premium'', was the first in the franchise to utilize CG in the feature itself; the jars that the octopi carry stick out, as do giant ocean waves and some of the spells.
* The floating castle {{spoiler|projection}} from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''.
* [[Bamboo Blade]]: The first sequence where the kendo teacher is driving his car is CG'd to the point where it came out of something else entirely.
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* A racing genre ''[[wikipedia:Capeta|Capeta]]'' bluntly uses CG on ''go-kart racing'' of all things. It's quite jarring when the animation switch between a 3D models of karts and racers to anime and back whenever there's any character interaction, ''even grunt and sigh.''
* The audience in the last episode of ''[[The Idolmaster (anime)|THE iDOLM@STER]]''
* The real forms of the dragons and some of the mecha of ''[[Dragonaut: The Resonance]]''. They don't blend in at all with the rest of the 2D environments and characters.
* [[Hellsing Ultimate]] has this issue with many things, from Alucard's various forms, to basic guns and other weaponry.
* The teacups in the Love Theme Park in episode 18 of ''[[Shuffle]]'' stand out quite notably.
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** Speaking of ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)|Beauty and The Beast]],'' there was another example in the direct-to-video sequel, ''The Enchanted Christmas.'' The movie is drawn and animated traditionally, but when we see our [http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.8/2.8images/jacksonvideos04.JPG villain]...yikes.
** ''[[The Black Cauldron]]'' is actually not only the first animated Disney movie to get a PG rating, but also the first to use CGI props.
*** And in actuality; right now you can spot where they used the CG-I. Justifiable in that this was at the time new.
** Rare CGI film example: While ''[[Dinosaur]]'' primarily used CGI only for the characters with live action for the backgrounds, if you look very closely at some of the scenes in the film, you can easily tell that some of the background objects are CG animated like all of the characters.
** The Hun attack scene from ''[[Mulan]]''. Adding to this was the fact that it was also partially based on the wildebeest stampede scene from ''[[The Lion King]]''.
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* ''[[The Fearless Four]]'' starts as a typical traditionally animated movie for its time, but as the movie goes on it becomes basically a CGI movie with traditionally animated characters.
* ''[[Titan A.E.]]'' mostly used 3D for ships and environments and 2D for characters, playing to the strengths of both mediums without (for the most part) trying to disguise either as the other. Unfortunately, this made the few times it broke with this rule all the more jarring.
* [[Batman and Mister Freeze Sub Zero]] occasionally used CGI for the Batplane (and cars on the freeway during a chase scene).
* ''[[The Thief and the Cobbler]]:'' Subverted. There are elaborately shaded roses, scenes moving in 3D and way too many details in the climax which all look like they required computer animation - but were all entirely drawn by hand!
* In ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]'', the {{spoiler|volcano monster}} is the only thing made with CGI.
* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' sequels after [[Wang Film Productions]] took over the animation production from AKOM exhibit this '''IN SPADES!''' (Starting with film VII, the sixth entry is not exempt either, but there was no interaction between the CG and Hand-drawn characters.)
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* 1997 point-and-click adventure game ''[[Jack Orlando]]'' has everything hand-drawn except for few CGI cars. When they are parked, they blend in pretty well, but they often stick out in motion.
* For that matter, a lot of video games can fall into this trope. Primarily prevalent around the Playstation era where it became pretty obvious what [[Full Motion Videoes]] were pre-rendered ahead of time. Some of the most prevalent examples were:
** ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'': The Great Magics.
** ''[[Dragon Quest VII]]'': The game normally looks like a slightly upgraded ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]'' with the enemies animating when taking an action. However; many of the backgrounds look out of place, and several of the spells resemble this, Ultra Hit especially. This becomes a bit style-breaking. This is part of the reason that the game looks rather, well, [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|dated]].
* The anime sequences of the [[Sega Saturn]] and [[PlayStation]] remakes of ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete|Lunar: The Silver Star]]'' and ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete|Lunar: Eternal Blue]]'' have this. The standouts are the boat from the famous "Wind's Nocturne" song sequence (which is jarring because it's hand drawn in the shots before the song starts) in ''The Silver Star'', and the hall leading to {{spoiler|Lucia's sleeping chamber on the Blue Star}} in ''Eternal Blue.''
* Newer games that stick to a [[Sprite Polygon Mix]] tend to have considerably lower polygon counts and much more simplistic models for their 3D special effects and terrain. This is evident with the recent higher definition offerings from 2D specialists like St!ng, Nippon Ichi and Vanillaware.
* 1998 PC game ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' uses 3D models for the characters, and 2D backgrounds designed to look 3D. It might not have been quite obvious back then, but it's clearly obvious in today's age.
* ''[[Alone in The Dark]]'' and its sequels managed to mostly [[Subverted Trope|subvert this trope]] by using pre-rendered 3D scenes as backgrounds combined with real-time polygonal foreground characters and an intelligent masking system that made sure they integrated with the environment more or less seamlessly. The often creative use of camera angles helped the illusion.
== Web Comics ==
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* The French animated series ''[[Space Strikers]]'' uses CGI for spaceships.
* The 1994 ''[[Iron Man (animation)|Iron Man]]'' animated series had this for the eponymous character's transformation sequence in the first season, [[Stock Footage|with the same background regardless of where Tony currently was]]. The second season replaced it with a better-animated 2D sequence.
* In the otherwise excellent episode "Doomsday" of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', there was a much reviled [[Special Effects Failure]] of the Batplane racing to intercept a Nuke over the ocean -- all in low-grade CG, causing some [[Narm]] in what was otherwise a tense scene.
** There was also all the CG Javelin planes they used, which all looked bad.
** "Dark Heart" contained some ''truly'' terrible CGI helicopters.
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* Galactus, in the 1990s ''[[Fantastic Four (animation)|Fantastic Four]]'' series. Hungorto, his [[Captain Ersatz]] in ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' was also [[Conspicuous CG]], possibly as a reference to this.
** And while we're on the subject, many elements in the ''[[Silver Surfer]]'' series, but ''especially'' Galactus.
* The little-known banned British program ''[[Pope Town]]'' has static backgrounds that are obviously CG, in stark contrast to the flat, low-tech character designs (which are a notch below ''[[The Simpsons]]''). Also features [[Idiosyncratic Wipes]] that aren't really wipes (think ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' or ''[[That '70s Show]]''), consisting of a helicopter shot jumping from one building to another.
* The ''[[Attack of the Killer Tomatoes]]!'' cartoon has painfully, glaringly obvious, conspicuous CG. But then, given the inspiring material... that is probably intentional.
* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'': An early season one episode had a ''[[Matrix]]'' parody. The season six finale, and the original [[Grand Finale]], had a ''[[The Matrix|Matrix]]'' parody. Both times the CGI is so blatant [[Rule of Funny|it had to have been intentional]].
* The airships in ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' are this, but it somehow seems to fit with the show.
* Sector V's treehouse when it turns into a rampaging tree monster chasing Nigel and Lizzie in the episode "Operation: G.I.R.L.F.R.I.E.N.D." of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''.
* ''[[Metajets]]'' has racing planes that are quite blantantly CG compared to the rest of the [[Animesque]] style.
* Any Direct-To-Video ''[[Western Animation/Scooby-Doo|Scooby-Doo]]'' will have ''[[Conspicuous CG]]''. In Goblin King, a 2D Scooby and Shaggy fly in a completely CG background.
** The intro to ''Aloha,'' where there's CGI dolphins swimming amongst hand-drawn fish looks almost painful.
* Pops up every now and again in some Henry and June shorts on ''[[Ka Blam!]]!''.
* In ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures|The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest]]'', he backgrounds of some of their outdoor adventures (especially cloudy skies or northern lights) tended to stand out from the regular 2D animation, mostly in season 1.
* Some characters in ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' have been modeled with CG, and their designs are mostly [[Nightmare Fuel]].
** The best known example is the [[Courage the Cowardly Dog/Nightmare Fuel|"Blue Fetus Thing" from "Perfect"]] (considered the scariest thing on the show and is the page picture of the Courage the Cowardly Dog Nightmare Fuel page).
* A small handful of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episodes use CG scenery, usually blending it with the 2-D pretty well. At times, it sticks out:
** "No Free Rides"; several times through the entire boat-stealing sequence, the ground below is CG, most notably when the street signs are shown moving towards the screen.
** "The Sponge Who Could Fly"; the "lost episode" begins with SpongeBob walking in place while [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OdoJA1kQDs CG ground scrolls beneath him], passing an occasional 2-D rock or coral.
** "The Best Day Ever"; during the opening number, SpongeBob is running along the sides of his pineapple house. Not only is it 3-D, [[Special Effect Failure|it appears to be a perfect sphere]].
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