Trailer of Star Wars: The Clone Wars CGI series

[RussSchultz]

All of the space shots were entirely CGI. The quality of them improved over the multi-year run of the series.

Even that excretable Final Fantasy movie had varying degrees of quality in it, depending on when it was produced.

 

[vazel]

I know the special fx shots in those series were CG but we're talking about entirely 100% CGI series. I'd imagine a few special fx shots and an entirely CGI series are different to produce from a logistical/economic perspective(that's not to say I think the budget for the CGI of these children's series is higher than the special fx shots for something like BSG which is part of why these CGI series don't see a jump in quality). I'm a big fan of CGI series and from what I've seen there is no big jump in CGI quality in them. At most only subtle touches are added like Reboot got shadows added to it in the third season. Beast Wars looked pretty much the same throughout its three season run. I'd say these production houses don't have the luxury to spend the time and money to improve mid-way the CGI on these children's series. Imagine all the stuff they would have to redo with higher complexity, look how different the Reboot series looks from the two Reboot TV movies made three years later.

Final Fantasy: Spirits Within had some aspects of the movie where more effort put into them but that was dependent on budgetary constraints. I remember when it was in production they would release preview clips on their website and some of the more impressive shots were done early in its production.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Hmm, I've never seen a CGI series noticeably improve in CG quality over its run.

Watch Beast Wars and you'll notice an increase in quality as the show continues. One of the best examples is Dinobot. In the early episodes, his beast mode's running animation just looks terrible and unnatural, but by the end of the third season with Trans-Metal 2 Dinobot, his beast mode's animation was much better.

You'll also notice other improvements too like water looking better, or the jungle environment looking more realistic, etc.

 

[AlNom]

I thought there was a significant jump in the graphics in Reboot after Bob was ejected into the Web (Season 2 to 3). The lighting and material interaction was more dramatic; early on, the lighting was pretty flat in the open world and everything seemed to be lit the same way. Objects looked more solid, and the shadowing/self-shadowing just added a lot of depth to the world. The characters were given more detail. Animations all around were improved.

 

[vazel]

Maybe I was thinking in too dramatic terms because I did note that it does improve in subtle changes. Look at the dramatic difference between Beast Wars season 3 and the first season of Beast Machines, they came out the same year. From what I'm saying is that the assets that are produced when a new CGI series starts is usually how it's going to look like throughout its run with maybe subtle improvements here and there.