Great shots there.  I'm impressed w/the look as well.  Is there something about CGI that makes it harder to do fur?  I also think its cool that they are doing a good range of bipedal and quadruped movement.

Yeah same here - I loved that creepy moment when the alpha stood upright down the end of the hall just in view, then dropped down to all fours and slinked away. Also the long shot down the hall with Allison. Good stuff!

As for CGI and fur. I think alot of folks want to do their own 'unique' take on werewolves. I think some folks reckon that since a human is relatively hairless, why not carry that over to some degree to the werewolf side. A blend of a hairy wolf and hairless human. Personally it just ticks me off, as all I can think is the poor beastie has mange.

I haven't minded too much with this alpha though - particularly with that shot of him holding Derek up.

Anyhoo, regarding fur - in basic application (as I understand it) each strand of fur is rendered as an individual object. This consumes more system resources on render, meaning a longer rendering time, which costs more money. That might be a factor, though I also understand that there are many ways to tackle modeling/shading fur to save on rendering time.

The Twilight werewolves had very well animated fur. Crap movies... but I liked those big wolves   The Doctor Who Tooth & Claw werewolf was completely CGI, and looked very good. Van Helsing was a bit earlier, but still pulled it off.

Trying to think of my favorite CGI furred werewolf...  oooh, bipedal definitely the tooth & claw dude.
Quadraped - the wolf from Red Riding Hood, now THAT was awesomely animated, and the fur was great.

Oh, and then there's this guy   He's pretty old though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VNzA9za5E0

Last edited by WolfMontana (2011-07-13 19:46:06)

Nice screencaps!
I wish we saw more of the practical effects and less cgi. The model isn't bad, but the animation is very stiff and awkward-looking, especially the way the arms are spread - try crawling in that pose, it's nearly impossible to move - and it doesn't mesh well with the background plate.

Viergacht wrote:

Nice screencaps!
I wish we saw more of the practical effects and less cgi. The model isn't bad, but the animation is very stiff and awkward-looking, especially the way the arms are spread - try crawling in that pose, it's nearly impossible to move - and it doesn't mesh well with the background plate.

Yeah, definitely room for improvement. But I really don't mind the CGI when it lets you do things with the character you wouldn't be able to do with a practical effect. Yeah, the alphas animation is AWKWARD, and I wish he'd stop acting like a chimp climbing over everything, but he's had a couple of really good moments

They actually melded him pretty well with the two 'down the hallway' scenes. He still moved funny, but looked like he belonged there. Climbing up the building in the Derek-gets-shot eppy, not so much.

Ha! Nice nod to the movie!!

SPOILER:

Hmm. This might just be where the show turns to suck. Scott's clearly a whiny dick, and not just because of the alpha. Derek shows up to save the day (again).

Expected reaction from Scott: Dude! We thought you were dead! Thanks for stopping me from killing people!
Expected response from Derek: W.T.F. did you blame all that shite on me for!? Ass! Btw, I left my spine back at the school, can you pick it up for me?

Scott's actual reaction: Allison! Waaaah! Cure?
Derek's actual response: Sure, I'll help you again! I live for that! And die too!

Derek's proper response to Scott's actual reaction should have been: *facepalm* *mercy killing*

Ahem. Anyhoo. Dumbest moment of the show: Jackson somehow making the ridiculous link between a bloody stumpy thing and McCalls gloves. Irrational. Sure, it was a claw, but heck, it could have been a tooth. It could have been almost anything. Derp. And now apparently he knows Scott's a werewolf, just cause of that.

Best line: Give me the bottle... of Jack. Teehee.

Best moment: Probably Derek coming out of nowhere to stop Scott, which then quickly turned to suck.

I'll still tune in next week, sounds like they'll reveal the alpha next week. Meybe.

Since the alpha seems to have some sort of influence over Scott, maybe it somehow "psychically suggested" he incriminate Derek?

I dunno.

I have a prediction of the current season. Scott kills alpha, he doesn't get cured, Allison becomes a full fledged hunter by season 2.

mrRW wrote:

I did enjoy the scene where the Alpha is looking out over the city and, from what I could tell, stands and reverts back to his human form.  Bit annoyed at the anticlimactic way in which the hunters talked up the full moon and then never really appeared.

Yeah, I guess you can't tell if the alpha's a female or male. What if Scott's mom's the alpha? I still think it's Scott's exes daddy.

mrRW wrote:

I did enjoy the scene where the Alpha is looking out over the city and, from what I could tell, stands and reverts back to his human form.  Bit annoyed at the anticlimactic way in which the hunters talked up the full moon and then never really appeared.

Yeah - the TF back was kinda cool. The little suggestion of form you get when he's done makes me think of the Chemistry teacher.
I was really confused about WHY the hunters would be spending their time watching Stiles when Allison mentioned Scott, and when they made such a fuss on how werewolves couldn't resist the pull of the moon, that they'd be running around as their bad wolf selves. Stiles was not exactly wolfy. In any way.

Had another theory about the marks on Jackson's neck. Could be that the Alpha noticed the wolfsbane 'contamination' in Jackson's wound (ie, the weird glowy effect) and ran off because of this. Meybe.

Btw, more Teen Wolf goodness:

Sneak Peek for next week (eppy 9)
Web episode 5 of The Search for the Cure

Write up for the next episode:

"Wolf's Bane"
Jackson puts Scott in danger; Allison starts to question her family's strange behavior.

I agree they are hyping the full moon a lot, but so far I really don't see it as being a driving force in this WEREWOLF tv show lol...

Thumbs up to that

Aaaand, there've been alot of little suggestions that he is the alpha. When he first appeared, splitting Scott and Stiles up, he made a comment on Stiles whisper being loud (forget his exact choice of words), then in the eppy when Stiles is highlighting his book, the way the dude acted, he could still hear Stiles' pen moving across the page and commented on it.

So here's hopin'. I'm thinking the vet and the teacher are in cahoots. I've never been able to use that word before, sweet.