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yeah, i am going to have to agree with ccapel on this one. the fact that people have problems with is that we already KNOW none of the backgrounds are real (unless you know of some floating islands no one is aware of). we KNOW that the aliens are not real. and the fact that it contrasts heavily with things we normally see, it is very hard to immerse yourself in the visuals in just still shots are short trailers. but ccapel is right, all of the CGI in the film is as 'realistic' as any person can expect. they are not digitally recreating an actual city, they are not digitally recreating a human, they are creating things we have no visual reference for so we will always know what is CG and what is not, but the job of the film makers is, in the process of watching the film, to get us to somehow believe that these CG scenes and characters look like they are physically and realistically interacting with what he think/know is 'real', and from what i have seen, they did a fantastic fucking job.

I understand the difference between fact and opinion. But we're talking about something visible. We're talking about polygon count, cloth simulation, digital lighting and rendering, animation, etc.



It is fact that gollum looks and acts more realistic than Jar Jar Binks. It's fact that the compositing in 2012 looks better than the compositing in Independence Day. Some guy can come along and say, "NU-UH!" but the vast majority is going hear that and assume he's either got some kind of chip on his shoulder regarding the subject matter, or he's just plain stupid.



If there were no giant blue aliens in those jungle shots, and it was just the camera pointing at the backgrounds, there's not a doubt in my mind that you and anyone else would not be able to tell that it was CG. They couldn't possibly look any more real.



Have you seen the 4 minute clip where Jake jumps into the waterfall? That water could not possibly look any more real. The layman is going to assume that the only digital thing in the frame is the alien. This is an incredible achievement that you, for some inane reason, seem determined to ignore.



At 1:40 in the very first teaser for the movie there's a closeup of Ney'tiri that just absolutely cannot look any more real. Even if this were the only shot in the film that was this good, it's still easily the most convincing, realistic CG character ever created. Hands down.



It's not a matter of opinion when you can go back and grab footage of every other digital character ever made and compare them side by side. Although if you have to do that to be convinced, you may need to get your eyes checked.

I asked him if he was retarded. It's an honest question.



And it seems we're just on completely different sides of the fence with this one. The best effects in Jurassic Park were the animatronics? I think the opposite is true. It was always glaringly obvious when it was an animatronic. The movement was terrible and totally destroyed the illusion.



But I digress.



When we're talking about the most realistic CG characters ever created there isn't much room for opinion. Up until now it would be Gollum or King Kong, but Avatar pushes the envelope further than ever before. The vast majority of industry artists will agree with that statement and anyone with a pair of eyeballs that is capable of getting past the fact that "They look like space smurfs! LOL!" will as well.



You do realize that every shot in the jungle is all computer generated, right? For you to compare that to the crappy matte paintings and horrible CG backgrounds in Phantom Menace renders your opinion practically useless.