History Main / NoFlowInCGI

* The ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'' adaptation has a fair amount of this, but the most obvious is King K. Rool, who had an ankle-length cape in the game. In the series, it was shortened to the point that it seems to be about the size of a placemat.

* Films, TV episodes, or entire ''series'' would take place in settings whose inhabitants naturally lacked loose garments and billowing hair. For example, being [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory plastic toys]], [[WesternAnimation/ReBoot computer programs]], [[WesternAnimation/VeggieTales vegetables]], [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars robots that turn into animals]], or [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife ants]].

* One of the reasons Creator/{{Pixar}} stuck to making movies about plastic toys and bugs in the early days was because it avoided problems like this. Observe the difference in how dogs are modeled in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (static, plastic-looking) compared to ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'' (appropriately fuzzy). And even the characters that were ''supposed'' to look like plastic in the first ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' film had noticeably limited facial animation compared to the next two films.

* The [[WhatCouldHaveBeen cancelled]] ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham by Gaslight]]'' video game had some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65IsSRMi4i0 surprisingly great cape physics]].

* When Pixar produced ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', they'd developed software models that could make Sully's fur look fluffy, stiff, or windswept where necessary. However, a bit of toilet paper stuck to Mike's foot took the longest time to get right. Even the fur came with a price; to fully render Sully's 2.3 million individual hairs, it took the software 11-12 hours per frame. That means that every second that Sully is on screen took up to ''twelve days'' to render.

** ''Tangled'' [[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fit-for-a-princess avoiding this trope well enough to attract scientific attention]], although the models involved are still being improved. Averting this trope is the reason why this movie is the second most expensive film ever made. They did very well with the hair, clothes, and water... but the fire not so much.

* Girls and women would have short hair and wear skintight gear. When they did have long hair, it would be done up in buns or heavily "moussed", becoming an immobile block. Now, there are some low-priced and freely available feminine hair props for use in Poser or DAZ Studio can be realistically animated with wind and gravity effects: for example, [[https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?ViewProduct=33204 Egypt Hair by 3Dream.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' has it both ways. The characters have sections of hair that move with the wind and action, but the rest is solid even when it shouldn't be. They avoid loose clothing, but it sometimes moves lightly anyway. Averted completely with Darth Vader's cape, which eats up a considerable amount of the clothing budget every episode it's in. The hard plastic armor that the clones and storm troopers are famed for are also too flexible, making it too obvious that they were simply painted onto the very flexible human model underneath, rather than being made of its composite parts.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' however has a problem with flowing clothes. This is most noticable on the Nightingale Armor, where the cape seems to be anchored at the hip, causing it to unnaturally bend with the PC's body movements rather than actual flow. Similarly any dress or robe in the game will cling onto the legs of the wearer as they walk, rather than realistically wave. When switching to 3rd person displays this trope is entirely in effect for most of your character's gear, especially any cloaks, which sit motionlessly upon your back even while moving.

* All loose fabrics will be inert, either by being drawn taut or by never having a breeze/character move them. This can lead to images like, say, never showing a character sitting in bed with the covers up, and if they do get out of bed, then simply cutting away while they move the covers.

* ''Anime/DigimonXEvolution'': Though they did give Omegamon and Dukemon their signature badass capes, they're awkwardly animated to a fairly visible extent. Similarly, [=DORUmon=]'s fur.

* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'' wardrobe made sure that Ariadne had her hair up for the level in the hotel. As her character floats in zero gravity for that level, it would have been a nightmare for the SFX crew to animate Ellen Page's hair if it had been down.

* Girls and women would have short hair and wear skintight gear. When they did have long hair, it would be done up in buns or heavily "moussed", becoming an immobile block. Now, there are some low-priced and freely available feminine hair props for use in Poser or DAZ Studio can be realistically animated with wind and gravity effects: for example, [[https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?ViewProduct=33204 Egypt Hair by 3Dream]].

* This can apply to traditional animation in a similar manner; before the days of CGI, elaborate flowing objects tended to be avoided for ease of animation, since every frame had to be hand-drawn. The flying carpet in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' was considered a technical breakthrough, being a traditionally-animated character with CGI used to overlay a flexible and detailed surface pattern, which would otherwise be time-consuming and difficult to hand-animate. In the direct-to-video sequels and the TV series, the carpet's elaborate design was downgraded so it could be drawn without CGI. Compare the [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YtQFcCXNo6k/TAANptMk7fI/AAAAAAAAFMw/NeOwtWQC06Y/s1600/carpet11.jpg carpet as seen in the feature]] with the [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfjJYRc-WlY/T7_FusFjayI/AAAAAAAADQs/MpAj6mp6ktQ/s400/Aladdin_cartoon_magic_carpet_4.jpg direct-to-video/television version]].

* This is why Belle's hair was usually in a ponytail in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (though her dress twirls during the song "Beauty and the Beast").
* This is why flexible objects with elaborate surface patterns like the flying carpet in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'') were generally avoided by Disney before CGI. In the direct-to-video sequels and the TV series, the carpet's elaborate design was downgraded so it could be drawn without CGI. Compare the [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YtQFcCXNo6k/TAANptMk7fI/AAAAAAAAFMw/NeOwtWQC06Y/s1600/carpet11.jpg carpet as seen in the feature]] with the [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfjJYRc-WlY/T7_FusFjayI/AAAAAAAADQs/MpAj6mp6ktQ/s400/Aladdin_cartoon_magic_carpet_4.jpg direct-to-video/television version]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' seems hell-bent on [[http://www.nerdsraging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/brave-merida-with-bow.jpg defying this trope.]] What's also noticeable is that the heroine has long, ''curly'' hair, which is animated realistically (rather than being a block with lines in it). Curly hair is very difficult to animate as not only does it sway, it bounces, unlike straight hair.

* All loose fabrics will be inert, either by being drawn taut or by never having a breeze/character move them.

* ''Anime/DigimonXEvolution'': Though they did give Omegamon and Dukemon their signature badass capes, they're awkwardly animated to a fairly visible extent. Similarly, DORUmon's fur.

** The hair technology was made so that its movement was simulated and animators didn't have to position it themselves, which is great for normal shots, but then there are times when the director wants it to move a specific way (like how Mr. Incredible's hair falls when [[spoiler:he thinks his family's been killed]]) and the simulation team start talking about "a half-second of force 5 gale wind in Mars gravity..."

** Speaking of Edna, this trope is the real reason for her "no capes" rule, although the in-universe [[CapeSnag explanation]] worked very well.

* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsRapunzel'''s braid looks okay, but when she wears her hair ''loose'', it looks like it's made of rubber. Semi-justifiable because, not only was the film released two years before [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Pixar perfected hair]], but when Creator/{{Disney}} did their [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} telling of the story]], it took [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell years and years]] to perfect the technology for the hair.

* Any video game based on ComicBook/{{Spawn}} tends to hide his iconic cape unless it's in a cutscene. His chains are also absent most of the time due to this trope.

This is because accurately simulating flowing hair and fabric requires two extremely computationally expensive things: a very high polygon count that can translate into smoothly curved surfaces and individual strands of hair, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics computational fluid dynamics]] to accurately simulate the material's motion as well as the air itself. As a result, early CGI software and hardware limitations made anything other than clunky, UncannyValley inspiring graphics impossible (and these limitations still apply to modern entry-level hardware and software). Even when technical limits and costs are slowly being pushed back, it's still hard and costly to simulate nowadays, especially in videogames where maintaining 60 FPS means there's only 16 miliseconds to calculate all that.

This is because accurately simulating flowing hair and fabric requires two extremely computationally expensive things: a very high polygon count that can translate into smoothly curved surfaces and individual strands of hair, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics computational fluid dynamics]] to simulate the flow of air and the material moved by it. As a result, early CGI software and hardware limitations made anything other than clunky, UncannyValley inspiring graphics impossible (and these limitations still apply to modern entry-level hardware and software). Even when technical limits and costs are slowly being pushed back, it's still hard and costly to simulate nowadays, especially in videogames where maintaining 60 FPS means there's only 16 miliseconds to calculate all that.

In old or low-budget CGI, the characters will never wear loose garments, have long hair or include anything that might flow or rustle in wind or when moving. This is because accurately simulating flowing hair and fabric requires two extremely computationally expensive things: a very high polygon count that can translate into smoothly curved surfaces and individual strands of hair, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics computational fluid dynamics]] to simulate the flow of air and the material moved by it. As a result, early CGI software and hardware limitations made anything other than clunky, UncannyValley inspiring graphics impossible. Even when technical limits and costs are slowly being pushed back, it's still hard and costly to simulate nowadays, especially in videogames where maintaining 60 FPS means there's only 16 miliseconds to calculate all that.

In old or low-budget CGI, the characters will never wear loose garments, have long hair or include anything that might flow or rustle in wind or when moving. This was the case because early CGI software and hardware limitations made anything other than clunky, UncannyValley inspiring graphics impossible. These technical limits and costs are slowly being pushed back, but it's still hard and costly to simulate; to this day, one of the harshest PC graphics card benchmarks is basically [[https://geeks3d.com/furmark/ just simulating a furry structure]]

In old or low-budget CGI, the characters will never wear loose garments, have long hair or include anything that might flow or rustle in wind or when moving. This was the case because early CGI software and hardware limitations made anything other than clunky, UncannyValley inspiring graphics impossible. These technical limits and costs are slowly being pushed back, but it's still hard and costly to simulate.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted to a seriously impressive degree]] with the various CGI [[AnimalisticAbomination interdimensional animal creatures]] of ''WebVideo/SatelliteCity'', all the more impressive because the animation is primarily done by one guy working alone. The vast majority of the characters, with only a few exceptions, are seriously fluffy demon-creatures who all have either a thick coating of fur, long human-like hair, some form of flowing human clothing, or all of the above. They can even be seen [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome breathing subtly, and getting visibly soaked through in places when there's a light rain.]] There's still not a whole lot of movement in the fur, but it's well-justified since they [[JustifiedTrope spend most of their time inside where there's no wind.]]

* Creator/{{Laika}} seems to make a point of averting this trope [[DoingItForTheArt just for the hell of it]], despite the fact that they operate primarily in stop motion, which is, if anything, even ''harder'' to animate realistic flow than in CGI. The animators seem to love incorporate lots of heavily mobile flowing elements like flowing hair or moving fur and feathers. Their movies tend to look ''[[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome really]]'' good as a result.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' averts this. Even Sazh, the most heavily-dressed character in the party and sporting a tight afro, has elements of his clothes and hair that blow in the breeze. This is because most of the many years it took to make the game were spent making the graphics engine deliver as realistic graphics as possible, at all times, without slowing down. [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome It]] [[CostumePorn certainly]] [[SceneryPorn shows]].

* This is why Belle's hair was usually in a ponytail in ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (though her dress twirls during the song "Beauty and the Beast"), and why flexible objects with elaborate surface patterns (like the flying carpet in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'') were generally avoided before CGI. In the direct-to-video sequels and the TV series, the carpet's elaborate design was downgraded so it could be drawn without CGI. Compare the [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YtQFcCXNo6k/TAANptMk7fI/AAAAAAAAFMw/NeOwtWQC06Y/s1600/carpet11.jpg carpet as seen in the feature]] with the [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfjJYRc-WlY/T7_FusFjayI/AAAAAAAADQs/MpAj6mp6ktQ/s400/Aladdin_cartoon_magic_carpet_4.jpg direct-to-video/television version]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsRapunzel'''s braid looks okay, but when she wears her hair ''loose'', it looks like it's made of rubber. Semi-justifiable because, not only was the film released two years before [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Pixar perfected hair]], but when Creator/{{Disney}} did their [[Disney/{{Tangled}} telling of the story]], it took [[DevelopmentHell years and years]] to perfect the technology for the hair.

* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'':

** In ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', their main flow-related challenge was rendering heavy cloths such as velvet and wool in such a way that they still billow and swirl with appropriate grace. Elsa's glorious dress of ice flows quite well, especially with the giant trailing translucent snowflake cape behind her. Both Elsa and Anna wear their hair in braids, which also required some new programs on the part of the animators -- namely, making braids that were clearly composed of three interwoven strands, instead of braids that are just lengthened, tactile blocks of hair (like Fiona or [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon Astrid.]]) However, one short scene proved to be nearly impossible to animate: during the song "Let It Go," [[http://media.tumblr.com/e6db9d915972a04d592baca3e6730884/tumblr_mxeikjElqh1s3s22so3_250.gif where Elsa takes down her hair and pulls her braid over her shoulder]]. The only way they could do the scene without having the model break was to cheat and have the braid phase ''through'' Elsa's arm instead of over it. The animators did a good job of making it barely noticeable, and those that did notice seemed to agree it was WorthIt.
** In ''Disney/OlafsFrozenAdventure'', the {{Happy Holidays Dress}}es Elsa and Anna wear have more natural movement than the previous installments. This applies even to the fur on Elsa's [[PrettyInMink white fox collar]].

** Several of the trainer classes in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' are shown with curly or wavy hair in their artwork however -- their overworld models show them with straight hair.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' tends to avoid this however -- it's still noticeable that most background characters all have straight hair. Even with named characters, curls are not that common.