CG Ponies?

[Jangocoolguy 433]

I've been wondering lately--apologize if this has been asked before--but do you think they'll do a computer animated MLP???

 

Like, oh, hoe Ben 10, The Winx Club, and a couple of others have had CG specials/"movies". Or if the next show will be CG. Or, heck, if FiM evolves (or devolves, depending on who you ask) in full blown CGI (especially considering how almost everything else on the Hub is CG these days).

 

I realize CGI isn't THE future of animation. In fact, it seems have scaled back a bit in recent years (thank goodness). But one has to wonder.

 

Even more interesting: how good or bad to you think our gals would look CG? I know there are CG fan labor out there (both comics and some short animations), but how do you think Hasbro/DHX could do it?

 

Thouhts?

[Scootalove 10,692]

I think they can pull it off, it's not like they can mess this first attempt up.

[Castle Bleck 19,453]

I've seen show-accurate 3D ponies on DeviantART.

 

It can be done.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Anti-Villain

[Katana 298]

As someone who works in SFM often, my bet is no. The SFM models are great for people who can animate in 3D, but not 2D - but trying to get a number of those expressions to translate well into a 3D image is extraordinarily difficult.

Did you ever notice how their hair tends to mirror-reflect depending on which direction they're facing? Or how their noses kind of look smaller when their heads face forward? Or how there's no slant to their faces when looking head-on, even though only one eye shows from the side?

 

There's a lot of stylistic looks to them in 2D that have a great effect, and you lose a lot of that in 3D.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

I'd say if there's a good creative reason to do it, I think they can pull it off if they do it right, but ONLY for a movie. The Flash animation style serves TV series well, the lower budgets and reduced quality of series CGI vs a movie would render it pointless (no pun intended).

 

I could imagine that a movie could use it if they wanted to go for a more epic/realistic look and make it work, as visuals are emphasized more in manestream movies these days. I wouldn't be against it if it was done right.

 

I could also think of 3D/2D hybrids working out as well, fitting within the established style.

[Jammo 986]

CG Cell-shading would be good.  Or a sort of polished plastacine look like Transformers Prime.

 

Keep the color though.  Also make sure the ponies style maintain that bubbly, smooth cuteness to them.  It would be VERY easy to take FiM style and make them look like creepy big-eyed dolls.  Uncanny valley would be the biggest hurdle.  Creating the world could be amazing.

 

Might be a good direction for Gen5 or maybe a gimmick episode of MLP where the animators try something new.

[Candela 18]

Not at all, many aspects of the 2-dimensional styling will be lost, as Katana pointed out.

[Adorkable 2,737]

I've seen show-accurate 3D ponies on DeviantART.

 

It can be done.

 

Oh, could I get a link or two, please? ^^

 

I wouldn't mind seeing the ponies in CG either. ^^

[Castle Bleck 19,453]

Oh, could I get a link or two, please? ^^

 

I wouldn't mind seeing the ponies in CG either. ^^

 

Two of the best MLP 3D artists: http://deathpwny.deviantart.com/ & http://viistar.deviantart.com/

[Adorkable 2,737]

Two of the best MLP 3D artists: http://deathpwny.deviantart.com/ & http://viistar.deviantart.com/

 

Wow, those do look really well. ^^

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Denim&Venöm 20,484]

I think it could be done well if they tried to go a different route than the whole pixar/ dreamworks style, as there's an over saturation of CGI movies trying to copy that style. And honestly, I don't think the styles of CGI animal movies like Over the hedge, Bolt, Alpha & Omega or Madagascar would do MLP justice.

 

What would be a cool way to go is the route of the CGI anime movies, as they work to bring a 3D look to the shows animation style, rather than trying to make it look more realistic.

 

Good examples of these would be the 2004 remake of Shirrow Matsume's Appleseed

 

Or more recently, Rooster Teeth's latest project, RWBY

 

Imagine MLP looking like that

[Jangocoolguy 433]

An interesting video on the subject...

 

 

...yeah, we should probably stick to 2D (though DHX would use actual CGI instead of video game graphics)

 

And to the person who bought up Appleseed: a problem there is that Appleseed sucked xp

Edited March 27, 2014 by Jangobadass

[FlutterDash4072 190]

I'd rather just play it safe and stick to the 2D we know and love. It would be way to easy for CG MLP to be hurdled into uncanny valley.

[Shanks 10,817]

I just don't see CGI style animation being well suited for MLP as it is right now, with that said CGI has made a lot of advancements over the years and by time G5 rolls around CGI might advance enough to where this is feasable but I don't it is right now. I think CGI is a good tool but I think it is seriously overused, I may be a tad bias with this as I tend to prefer traditional animation over CGI because it has a much natural/fluid style while CGI even if it is done right can look very mechanical and artificial in a lot of situations. This sort of mechanical quality just dosen't work for the kind of show MLP is, but worked quite well for Star Wars The Clone Wars and also worked for Green Lantern The Animated Series but my question is what did CGI do in those respective series that couldn't be done with traditional animation?