When planning a visually striking project - whether it’s a game, commercial, or digital campaign, you will likely come across terms like VFX and CGI. While both are essential tools in bringing ambitious visual ideas to life, they’re not one and the same. Understanding the difference between VFX (Visual Effects) and CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) can help you communicate your vision more clearly and choose the right creative team to execute it. In this article, we’ll break down what sets them apart, how they work together, and why both are crucial when partnering with a professional VFX and animation studio.

What is CGI?

CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) refers to any visual content created entirely through computer software. This encompasses a broad range of digital assets, including 2D and 3D models, animations, environments, and specialised effects.

The applications of CGI are extensive:

• Fully Animated Productions: In films such as Toy Story or Frozen, virtually every element – from character design and environmental details to props and dynamic effects – is meticulously crafted using CGI.
• Character and Creature Creation: CGI facilitates the development of hyper-realistic or fantastical beings that do not exist physically. This involves detailed processes of modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation.
• Environmental Design: Complex cityscapes, alien landscapes, or historical settings that are impractical or impossible to construct physically are generated and rendered using CGI.
• Digital Doubling: For demanding stunts, historical recreations, or age manipulation, CGI allows for the creation of digital counterparts for live actors.

The development of CGI assets involves a multi-stage pipeline, typically including:

• Modeling: Defining the three-dimensional form of an object or character.
• Texturing: Applying surface details, colors, and material properties.
• Rigging: Establishing a digital skeletal system to enable movement.
• Animation: Orchestrating the motion and performance of digital assets.
• Lighting and Rendering: Illuminating the scene and producing the final image.

What is VFX?

VFX, or Visual Effects, encompasses all methods used to create or manipulate imagery beyond the scope of live-action capture. It focuses on integrating real and digital elements into a compelling visual narrative that would be otherwise difficult or impossible to film.

VFX is the framework within which CGI operates. While CGI creates the digital components, VFX ensures they merge seamlessly with live-action footage.

Key methodologies within VFX include:

• Compositing: Combining multiple visual elements into one image. Green screen technology is often used here.
• Motion Tracking/Match Moving: Ensures CGI elements match the movement of live-action cameras.
• Matte Painting: Painted backdrops (traditional or digital) used to build large or imaginary environments.
• Integration with Practical Effects (SFX): Combining digital effects with physical ones like pyrotechnics or animatronics.

CGI as a Core Component of VFX

The key difference is that CGI is a subset of the broader field of VFX.

For example, a CGI creature is created digitally, but making it appear realistic within a live-action scene—complete with correct lighting, shadows, and reflections—is the job of VFX.

So, while all CGI is a type of visual effect, not all VFX is CGI. Older VFX methods included miniatures, matte paintings, and optical effects before digital technology existed.

A Historical Perspective: From Illusion to Digital Realism

Visual effects date back to early pioneers like Georges Méliès, who used techniques like multiple exposures and stop-motion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

By the mid-20th century, optical printing and practical effects became more sophisticated, as seen in King Kong (1933) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

CGI revolutionized the field in the 1970s and 80s, with early examples like Edwin Catmull's A Computer Generated Hand (1972), Tron (1982), and The Last Starfighter (1984).

Jurassic Park (1993) proved CGI could be photorealistic, and Toy Story (1995) became the first fully CGI-animated feature film, changing the industry forever.

Today, VFX and CGI

VFX and CGI are now essential to nearly every major film, TV production, and commercial. At Jumbla, we use these technologies to create powerful and memorable visual experiences.