HI Folks! I was looking for the 100th time the Pixar animation called "For the birds" and was thinking that, according to me, this is the best CG movie ever done. Which is , according to you, the best one ever done?

That would have to be either Shrek or Monsters Inc.

For the birds Im sure was pretty daunting, considering ALL those feathers. My head was hurting just thinking about it while I watched it, lol. Maybe thats why it was so short? But I think the Matrix movies have the best, and most realistic CG, as most of the stuff you couldn't tell it was CG (unless its outrageous, making it obvious).

Monsters inc is a winner in my opinion however this fella looks pretty cool Yeah the movie Stash ;0)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I saw Pirates of the Carribean the other day, and was amazed that they kept the movement of the pirates (in their CG skeleton forms) realistic to their overall movement. Meaning that they moved like actual people would, and it looked so much more believable. So many cartoons and CG things make people act too...perfect when they move, this looked like they filmed it ahead of time, then sort of went over their movements with the CG (which they most likely did, lol). Anyway, it had great CG too.

for the birds is absolutely awesome, i laugh everytime i see it :)

I agree, the scene when they were dueling in the cavern and kept moving in and out of the rays of light (showing their undead forms) in my eyes was done flawlessly. Plus, for disney, it was one of their best movies. imho.

'Lord of the rings' has some great CG stuff & so does the 'Matrix'. The Anubis warriors & the Pygmy mummies in 'The Mummy Returns' were very well done too. I also like the little CG snippets used in 'Fight Club', (there are a few, blink & you'll miss them) the way they are slotted in with the live action is flawless in my opinion & sometimes thats really whats important.

for the birds was quite awesome, every pixar movie is great, but the best cg movie ive ever seen was a 5 minute short called 50% grey. I cant find it anywhere to view, ive only seen it twice. it was also nominated for a oscar a couple of years ago for best short film. as far as just special effects, lotr has my vote cuz that opening battle scene in fellowship knocked the wind out of me when i first saw it. and of course, helms deep! oh yeah---the massive engine, the plug-in thingy they used to make those huge battle scenes is now beta and open to the public for ppl who use maya. thought that was pretty cool.

Maybe i misread the question but are we not looking for the best PURE CG movie? I agree the Matrix and LOTR etc all use CG v well but they are not only CG they also involve 'organic material' Stash ;0)

You can download Fifty Percent Grey here; http://www.pocketmovies.net/detail_232.html One of Fave CG shorts is "Cathedral", nominated for Oscar, although absolutely amazing!, full movie is not available online yet, just the trailer; http://www.platige.com/katedra/eng_/strona_glowna.html Best CG Movie? Oh, maybe "Final Fantasy". Yes, I know the story sucked eggs, but just look at it...(and, yes, basically everything Pixar does, lol) "For The Birds" FYI; each bird "weighed in" at 45 Mb's, which is tiny compared to their original size of about 450Mb each. Also; Look for Shrek 2 at Thanksgiving 2004. Pirates Of The Carribean 2, already in the plannig stage. Pixar's next movie; "The Incredibles" (super heroes) AgentSmith

This probably doesnt qualify as a movie, but Victor Navones "Singing Alien" is my favourite. Those "Diva"- movements and facial/eye expressions, along with the humor just rocks. :)

I think they did a pretty good job of Jimmy Neutron : Bog genius too - Done in Lightwave I think ;0) Stash

Rochr: Was that the short I saw a while back where the character sings "I will survive" until squashed by a disco ball?

Tjohn, Thats the one. Never could resist dark humor. :)

SINGING ALIEN rocks!!! another milestone in CG!!

I still love Shrek. The story is great and stands on its own, but all the satiric touches and industry inside humor plus the great CG work make it for me. I think Shrek will be a classic that stands the test of time.

:-) I love Shrek too. I have a sick sense of humor sometimes. I loved the scene where she was whistling to the bird and then the what happened with the eggs! LMAO at that. Monsters Inc was great too.

"Monsters Inc." is a big favorite of mine, but I agree..."For the Birds" was outstanding! I laff and laff every time. Diane

hey thanks AS!! ive been looking for it forever, all i ever got was broken links and stuff. thanks again!

I wonder why no one mentioned Final Fantasy "The Spirits Within", not for the story but just the movie itself, a very brave attempt trying to move GCI-movies out of the humor-department. And then there is (Japanese) anime wich was already using CGI to speed the process and work more efficiently, but they are also mixing 2d-cels with 3d backgrounds (put still painting the textures as where it 2d), that is achieving some stunning results. Impossable to with the traditional methods. But that's something like Bryce with postwork :)

I'll go for Shrek. I can't help killing myself with laughter whenever I watch it. Josselin

OMG, did u say that thing they used in lotr is available as beta?? WHERE??? oh yes, Shrek and Monsters inc rules. FF spirits within has nice fx, but I think cg should stay in humour for the moment.

i think, its a program almost identical to massive, its called project mayhem--go to cgtalk.com they have some info somewhere on there--of course its for high-end app users.

Not a big fan of the new Starwars movies... but anyone who's seen the episode II must agree that the whole battle scene at the end was pretty intense with CG. considering everything except some of the jedi's (and most of them were computer generated too), was all CG. yep. every storm trooper was CG too. I checked out the special features... anyway. that's my fav

The first rule of Project Mayhem : YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT PROJECT MAYHEM!!!! Although Massive was a really cool breakthrough, methinks that Robert J is right about Final Fantasy. I hate the games, but hate the plot or not, it's technically the most ridiculous piece of film ever made with machines. Anyone who hasn't seen it should definitely check it out... And right behind FF, in my opinion, would be the Animatrix. I'm not sure anyone mentioned it, but although it's not ALL CG, the first scene is, and it is a work of wonder! All those Sentinels, more even than in the regular movies! It's grand... But I love those kiddie movies, too, my son's way into them...

'FINAL FANTASY' did it for me. After 5 minutes you forget that everything is CG........

Final Fantasy, Shrek, Monsters Inc, and my fav, Ice Age. Also the CG work done on films like The Matrix and LOTR are stunning and I'm looking forward to seeing The Terminator v3 to see what they have used CG on in that one. Catlin

Final Fantasy Shrek

Best CG movie as far as technical prowess is Final Fantasy, I was speaking in terms of sheer entertainment, where I think Shrek surpassed it. Don't get me wrong, I think Final Fantasy is awe-inspiring as a technical achievment, and I enjoyed watching it. One moment that truly made my jaw drop was what I call "the glass scene".The Head bad-guy, I think it was the Colonel poured some booze into a glass and the sunlight shines through the glass as the liquid moves perfectly, and the caustics reflecting on the glossy tabletop perfectly follow the liquid as it sloshes back and forth! I had an ornlu moment!

They did that scene just to make all us 3D'ers jaws drop, lol. The milk pouring scene in "Shrek" was instrumental in leading to the Sub-Surface Scattering abilities of high end programs and plugins today. (Final Render & Brazil plugins) AS

if you mention perfect liquid and caustics, i think it is only fair to mention Finding Nemo (even though I think the movie wasnt all that good). From a technical standpoint it may be the best ever, but that is just my opinion

Lol '... I had an Ornlu Moment' nice one danamo :-) Final Fantasy was technically awesome, but there's some great CG around, LOTR, Matrix, even Spiderman had some tecnically great CG. I thought monsters was better then Shrek, but that's partly because I spent like 3 months listening to how good it was before I got round to watching it, I expected it to be so awesome I had a phantom mence moment (ie Oh is that it?)

I thought SHREK was going to be a so-so kids movie and figured I would quit watching after 5 minutes....boy was I wrong...I was so stunned by it my kids bought me a copy for Christmas!

Anything Pixar. (I've got 'em all on DVD, except for "Nemo") Not that the CG in them will knock you on your can, but I find them the most entertaining, and with the most repeat watching value. Other honorable mentions: "Ice Age", "Shrek", and "Dinosaur".

TJohn said in regards to Pixar movies, "not that the CG in them will knock you on your can." Whoa dude, you are hard to impress. If the best CG artist in the world can't excite you, who can?? :-)

my fave cg.... modelling :: final fantasy realism :: LOTR story :: SHREK or whatever but nobody mentioned the realism of the crow of the opening credits of warcraft 3... DANG! the realsim is stunning...

Innovator: I just meant that the CG in those movies is designed to look cartoonish, not realistic. As a total package, story and animation, Pixar is untouchable. As a total package, Pixar DOES knock me on my can. By contrast, the visual aspect of Final Fantasy has not yet been topped (by anything I've seen in an all-CG feature film), but the story was weak, weakening the film as a whole. When someone can match the visual design of Final Fantasy with the quality stories you find in Pixar films...look out!

well look out for Pixar then, cause they are breaking from disney. So you will likely see less cartoonish and more adult oriented animations from them (I cant wait for that)!

That singing alien animation was great, those head movements were well done. No one mentioned Treasure planet or Titan Ae, both of those had some great CG scenes. FF had better graphics but Shrek had more heart. Chars in Shrek were easier to empathize with. If you can't make chars that the audience can bond with, your movie is dead meat no matter how big your renderfarm is. > but nobody mentioned the realism of the crow of the opening credits of warcraft 3... DANG! the realsim is stunning... < Blizzard has had some wonderful intro movies and cut scenes, remember the opening movie for diablo. Had a crow in that one too. Check out the cut scenes for Diablo 2 and the addon. The scene with the lone barbarian defying Baal is well done. Warcraft 3's cut scenes look good, the Arthas's slaying of his father was a well done cut scene.

The Warcraft 3 in game cinematics are amazing. I have the DVD that came with the warcraft 3 special edition & it contains all the clips together digitally remastered, they are breathtaking.

The city chase scenes in "The Fifth Element", overall "Shrek" and because it was straight and to the point "Bambi verses Godzilla".

Annnddd.... Three older ones "Fritz the cat", "Wizards" and "Heavy Traffic". All done in the seventy's they were entertaining and pretty good for their time and none of them as far as I know had anything to do with that silly mouse Mickey.

bikermouse: Fritz, Wizards and Heavy Traffic were CG?

What about Tron? Or is that just the nostalga buff in me?

Tron was great for it's time, and I just bought the DVD of Tron recently.

Coming out with a game called "Tron 2.0".