davis.anthony
Veteran
He's looks good but still definitely looks CGI.
Definition of 'CGI' *spawn
- Thread starter davis.anthony
- Start date
Well its all images generated on a computer so.....
Well its all images generated on a computer so.....
Lol yeah games are just real time CGI.
davis.anthony
Veteran
Are real time graphics not computer generated imagery?
cheapchips
Veteran
I resisted writing "not wanting to be pedantic but..." and glad it didn't leave a vacuum of unrealised pedantry.
'CGI' is used as an industry adopted term to mean non-realtime. However, the lines are of course blurring with Unreal engine providing visuals for The Mandalorian in realtime. It'll stay as a computer graphics term to mean non-realtime as a necessary distinction, until all graphics are realtime!
davis.anthony
Veteran
I would disagree with that and when Googling the meaning of 'CGI' not once did I find it labelled to mean 'non-real-time graphics' only.
CGI simply mean computer generated imagery, so any image that's generated by/on a computer (such as computer games) does fall within it's official deffinition.
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Google results probably aren't factoring in the history. eg: 2003 - https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/cg-vs-real-time-cutscenes.5901/
2002: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3001/better_game_design_through_.php
Another term used is 'offline rendering'. Alongside 'pre-rendered', CGI is clearly the easier, quicker way to differentiate between realtime and non-realtime graphics which is why we've been using it as such, even if not a textbook standard definition, for 20+ years.
2002: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3001/better_game_design_through_.php
Another term used is 'offline rendering'. Alongside 'pre-rendered', CGI is clearly the easier, quicker way to differentiate between realtime and non-realtime graphics which is why we've been using it as such, even if not a textbook standard definition, for 20+ years.
This is news to me. All these years I just thought it meant "computer generated" to distinguish from videos/pictures of real people & things.
My experiences are similar to those of @Shifty Geezer with this.
Even at uni about 20 years ago there was a kind of unspoken table of what "CG" and "CGI" meant. This was in the early days of 3D accelerators, with lecturers who had started out in the 80's (or earlier).
CG vs "hand animated" mean what it sounds like - both being offline. CGI vs "live action" meant offline too. CGI vs rendered also meant offline. I think it was adopted from the Visualisation side of old school computer graphics, where "computer vs real" came from a largely movie driven background. It was always offline.
It seems to have moved from the movies guys (who were in their own right rendering big brain experts writing all kinds of peer reviewed papers) across into pre-rendered cutscenes for game, and CGI stuck to mean offline there too.
"CG" without the context of anything else just meant "Computer Graphics" and meant neither offline or online. I guess there was a lot of context that was never explicitly stated. You just kind of got that people were using things this way.s
Or it did. Things change though, and Unreal 5 is the proof of that. What was once only offline is now moving into realtime, and so AFAIKS what "CGI" means is naturally adapting as definitions are inclined to.
I'm looking forward to CG augmentation of Zoom chat's, where it looks like the other person is pleased to see me.
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People, consoles are not computers, geez! Case closed.
Now, seriously, I know in the minds of many people CGI implies non-realtime, but technically it shouldn't be that way, since the strict information of an image being generated by a computer does not imply a measure of time. At first I used CGI that way too, but once I really understood the concept, I started considering all computer graphics CGI, no matter if those were real-time or not, and now it's totally natural for me.
Now, seriously, I know in the minds of many people CGI implies non-realtime, but technically it shouldn't be that way, since the strict information of an image being generated by a computer does not imply a measure of time. At first I used CGI that way too, but once I really understood the concept, I started considering all computer graphics CGI, no matter if those were real-time or not, and now it's totally natural for me.
davis.anthony
Veteran
Just because members of this forum modified their understanding of what CGI means does not mean the real and actual meaning of it has changed.
It means computer generated images, so anything image that's generated on a computer.
If you want to think of it as being something different that's fine, but that still doesn't change it's actual meaning.
It means computer generated images, so anything image that's generated on a computer.
If you want to think of it as being something different that's fine, but that still doesn't change it's actual meaning.
You mean like the word gay and the word gay?
Does that include the Nintendo Family Computer or the Atari Video Computer System? Because technically....
I get that there is an offline/prerendered/non-realtime connotation for "CGI", but haven't we moved past that? What if we underclock the system running this Unreal Engine demo and it take 3 minutes to render each frame. Would that make it CGI? What about the video we just watched? It's not realtime, it prerendered. Is it CGI but not when you run the released demo in realtime? What is realtime? I mean, what realtime is now, and I think most people would put that in the minimum 30ish fps range, that was once much lower in the past. There were games in the past that boasted about having realtime 3d graphics that were in the 10-15fps range.
I'm with @davis.anthony on this. It's an image generated by a computer. Doesn't matter how long it takes to generate it.
Console Generated ImageryPeople, consoles are not computers, geez! Case closed.
Now, seriously, I know in the minds of many people CGI implies non-realtime, but technically it shouldn't be that way, since the strict information of an image being generated by a computer does not imply a measure of time. At first I used CGI that way too, but once I really understood the concept, I started considering all computer graphics CGI, no matter if those were real-time or not, and now it's totally natural for me.
There
