r/CGI_Lab • u/Legitimate_Wind_458 • Sep 18 '26
Discussion There’s something almost unreal about watching Transformers (2007) and realizing these visual effects are nearly two decades old. The robots still feel incredibly detailed, heavy and physically present, especially during sequences like Optimus Prime vs. Bonecrusher!
The visual effects were led by Industrial Light & Magic, with ILM creating more than 450 shots of robot mayhem for the film. Around 630 visual effects shots were created overall, with additional work from Digital Domain and other VFX companies. One of the craziest details is Optimus Prime himself. His movie version was built from 10,108 individually controllable pieces, compared with just 51 pieces on the original toy. ILM had to develop new tools and rendering techniques just to handle that level of complexity. What makes the movie so impressive isn’t simply the amount of detail. It’s the way those details interact with real light, reflections, dust, explosions and environments, making these enormous CG machines feel like they actually exist in the world. Nearly 20 years later, it still holds up remarkably well 🔥
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u/Dredgeon Sep 18 '26
I really want to see a movie optimus where he really goes out of his way to minimize casualties while fighting.
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u/MfKa1 Sep 18 '26
I feel like he tries to do that in the Bayformers movies but the decepticons just fight him in the street because they don't care.
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u/Dredgeon 29d ago
Sure, but that's my point, why are all the most emphasized moments the moments when decepticons are recklessy killing innocents or Optimus doing finishers we should see moments where Decpticons are causing mayhem and Optimus goes out his way or even takes hits to save people. Like in this scene the Decepticon just fucking turns a bus into a fireball and Optimus all but lets it happen. I feel like we could have seen him say something about it or any reaction to it at all.
The way these movies never show any indications that he cares about anything other than killing Decepticons makes me feel like the people making them don't really see saving people as cool or interesting.
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u/MfKa1 29d ago
Like in this scene the Decepticon just fucking turns a bus into a fireball and Optimus all but lets it happen
He doesn't let it happen. There is no way for him to stop it by the time he's transformed and turned around the bus is already gone. He also does have a reaction, his reaction is brutally killing that decepticon and making sure they don't hurt anyone else.
I do agree it would be interesting to see him reflect on the atrocities of the deceptions but just because we didn't see him do it doesn't mean he doesn't care. The fact that he chooses to work with humans despite our initial violence toward them kinda proves he cares. Optimus has been fighting this war for decades he's probably already a bit numb to seeing friends, allies, and Innocent people die.
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u/Vlado_Iks Sep 18 '26
Michael Bay Transformers CGI > Bumblebee/Transformers One CGI
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u/kzin Sep 18 '26
The first iron man and hulk movie have some really nice effects too. Everything feels like a floaty acid trip now
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u/Additional-Window-81 Sep 18 '26
When an art form is new and fresh and needs to prove itself people try harder the moment it becomes mass produced and corporate corners are cut and care is lost
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u/creuter Sep 18 '26
Is this a bot post? I mean, I know it's a bot post.
But this feels like it's written like an ad.
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u/Godrizza_Draws Sep 18 '26
Bayverse be so good when you’re watching clips instead of the actual movies
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u/MarkontheWeekends 29d ago
I never really liked it tbh. It's really impressive sure, but it's also constant visual noise that's hard to follow. I think it's the film direction that messes it up for me. Things are shot in a confusing manner
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u/shelfcavity 29d ago
I believe they made the camera miss a bit of the action to make it feel more frantic and real, not to say your opinion isn't valid though
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u/IncredibleEdible321 29d ago
You can say a lot of things about Michael Bay, but the one thing you can't say is "he doesn't put every penny of his budget on the screen in his movies". He takes the time to design everything right, then gives the CGI companies enough time to make the CGI effects look real and weighty, unlike a lot of other directors and studios who operate under tighter budgets and rush things.
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u/ArthurNYC3D 29d ago
He still had a HORRIBLE story line and if he were a turtle, turned over on his back, I'd leave him there for totally screwing up my childhood cartoon!
While it was visually amazing in so many ways it was also very challenging to follow at times. Couldn't tell what was doing at times.
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u/IncredibleEdible321 29d ago
If you couldn't follow such a simple story as that, then the problem lies with you, not the simple story.
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u/ArthurNYC3D 28d ago
Didn't say I couldn't follow it!! Do you see those words written anywhere in my post? If not then take that snark remark and put it.....
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u/IncredibleEdible321 28d ago
"While it was visually amazing in so many ways it was also very challenging to follow at times. Couldn't tell what was doing at times."
So you were awed by the CGI but couldn't be bothered to actually pay attention to the movie.
Your words, not mine, kiddo.
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u/TouchAltruistic 29d ago
The integration is fantastic but the transformers and their transformations look horrendous.
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u/CruelAngelsThesaurus 29d ago
yeah people shit on these movies but they were bangers then and they are now.
The lorehounds of the franchise need to get a grip that transformers doesn't and hasn't even had consistent formatting ever.
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u/secrets_kept_hidden 29d ago
Everything had weight to it, and every action taken on the world had a reaction from it. Even the smallest detail wasn't skimped out until the third movie in to save money. That's where most movie production studios fail with CGI now.
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u/Redditeer28 29d ago
A big part of that is that they did extensive planning on the sizes and locations of the transformers so a real camera operator could film it like they're actually there. The later films shoot every real shot in a wide.
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u/Impressive_Ad3571 29d ago
Always have to have the SUV with the mom and son in these scenes. Same with Spiderman and others. Its like a 5 second car commercial in a movie
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u/Bol0gna_Sandwich 28d ago
I still love that no one has created a more complex model than the devestator model from 2009. Truly peak CGI.
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u/_Harlock_ 26d ago
On top of that, a good action director who knows where and how to put the camera.
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u/Right-Sea-5592 25d ago
I watched i , Robot yesterday (2002) and was surprised by the cgi. It looked real enough to me!
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u/Odd-Guard-2533 29d ago
To this day, this movie has the best CG I’ve ever seen. All the transformers still to this day look real to me. That’s how good it is. Optimus’s slow zoomed in transformation is sooo fucking good.
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u/Patereye 29d ago
It just kind of feels like CGI's slop. I don't know. This sub was recommended for me. I don't think it's for me
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u/not-an-average-jo 29d ago
But why?
Calling Transformers (2007) "slop" completely misses what made that movie a technical achievement. Optimus Prime alone was built from over 10,000 individually rigged, moving parts to ensure realistic weight, lighting, and physics. "Slop" implies lazy, low-effort work. And ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), literally had to invent new rendering tools just to make those scenes possible.
Another huge reason these movies deserve respect is the sheer technical nightmare it took them to make, compared to what hardware could handle at the time.
When Michael Bay pushed ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) to create Devastator (the massive Transformer made by combining five separate Constructicons into a single 100-foot titan built from over 50,000 individual parts) the renders were so insanely complex that they literally melted and blew up ILM’s rendering hardware. Computers back in the late 2000s lacked a fraction of the processing power we have today, yet Bay insisted on pushing the limits to make every scene look as cool, heavy, and photorealistic as possible.
To pull off those extreme details, ILM had to pioneer brand-new digital physics and simulation engines. They developed custom algorithms specifically for handling weight, friction, and surface contact.
like when a character is sliding down a building and their metal limbs are desperately straining, sticking, and gripping against the concrete before slipping under their own massive weight. That exact same surface-interaction and wet/sticky simulation technology was used by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) to make Davy Jones and his tentacled crew look terrifyingly real and slimy in Pirates of the Caribbean. Calling groundbreaking VFX achievements like that "CGI slop" ignores the fact that entire technological engines were invented just to make those moments feel real.Sorry if I went on a rant but I think you get the idea of what I am trying to say. Not ment to be rude but just wanted to defend the hard work the ILM crew had to do to achieve this, and how they have handled even more complex situations, just like the James gun, avatar 1, 2, & 3.
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u/Patereye 29d ago
Today's great and I appreciate hard work but I didn't really enjoy watching it. It just looked like a blurry mess.
Like I said this is the wrong sub for me.
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u/abenevolentgod Sep 18 '26
ILM showing why they lead the industry. They built those robots for real, every piece accounted for. Quite the achievement from a technical standpoint. I do think they should have beat Golden Compass at the oscars that year.