They actually also used CGI in the episode, where Percy crashes into the chocolate factory. After Percy comes out of the factory, you can see the steam is actually CGI.
A really early example of a CGi Thomas is in a German advert for Thomas Wooden Railway from 1996. It takes place in a child's bedroom, and CGi is used for both the bedroom and the toys in it, including the Thomas Wooden Railway trains.
When the CGI series came out, it had never occurred to me the numerous times that CGI had been used prior. I don't think anybody even brought it up back then. I am generally surprised.
You forgot to mention the US Hit Era DVD menus. I always found it fascinating that some of the seasons 8 - 9 releases had CGI animated DVD menus and games, like the Calling All Engines one.
I still find it interesting that the us dvds cgi style ended up switching for tales from the tracks & come ride the rails to be more colorful compared to the darker 60th anniversary dvds (and track stars)
Same here those DVD's are my childhood and there one of the many reasons why the HiT Era meant so much to me on a nostalgic level and why I thought it was good (I still own these DVD's Btw) I miss the old days where DVD Menus had personality instead of just being a bland image with text as well as having more then just a few episodes of a show They had games, Read along, Web Fun and other cool stuff (Sorry I'm late for this comment)
@@PeterSamFan4 I mean yeah it's weird but as a kid I never questioned it. Btw I have ALL these DVD's as a kid and still own as a 24 year old in 2025 and I loved all their menu's. Track Stars is the one that had the most impact on me cause of the "A Better view for Gordon & Other TTTE Stories" Read Along cause afterwards I got the Cranky Bugs DVD which had the following two classic Series 5 stories and I instantly fell in love with. Also Tales From The Tracks is one of THE VERY FIRST Thomas DVD's I had and grew up with (and had some banger HiT era episodes that I still love today like The Magic Lamp and Flour Power)
Ngl I love the editing style man!!! The script writing is great, the description is great too! This concept is also extremely creative, never noticed how much the TV show used CGi before the CGI series Hope to see more from yah man!!
Nah it just looks way too uncanny there and I prefer just stylizing it differently, even if it was a lower budget test, like it tried so hard to look like the model series that it just felt unnatural
Quick correction here, Gizmo Animation did NOT do work on Thomas & Friends learning segments, despite what the wiki said for many years. The actual animation studio was known as id3tv. Gizmo Animation being behind the learning segments is a common piece of misinformation, and I'm honestly not sure where it came from.
Maybe Mattel should go back to doing the GCI Thomas and Friends Series but perhap doing the reboot version from Season One - Ten because I always wanted to see what the original Thomas and Friends Series would look like in CGI with the characters speaking instead of the narrator doing it all.
Nice Video, i didn't know some of this stuff existed, thank! Just one suggestion, maybe make the music a little more in the background because i can't really hear you talk in some parts.
Also, there is one more instance of CGI in Thomas before 2009, which was in the DVD menus of DVDs like Thomas' Sodor Celebration, Songs From the Station and Calling All Engines. I believe they were also animated by Gizmo, but the renders and overall style are a bit different than in the learning segments. Many of these DVDs also have interactive video-based games which use the CGI graphics. As a kid I was weirdly fascinated by these menus and would sometimes pop in the discs just to see them. Looking back the animation is pretty terrible compared to the actual CGI series.
"Looking back the animation is pretty terrible compared to the actual CGI series." You do realized DVD's aren't ever going to have nearly the budget of TV shows right? Yes the models are dated but these DVD's still brought me some awesome memories, they were trying to mimic the style of the models series and I miss the old days were DVD's had some personality. Not to mention a lot of the later HiT Era and (and to some extent) Nitrogen Era DVD's had some pretty stock, bland menu's IMO with NO games, Read-Along Web Fun or ANYTHING cool like that. (TBF some Nitrogen Era DVD's had some games but it was very bare bones IMO)
@@angryjadengamerreviews2827 Bruh chill I'm with you, I like the menus, I'm just saying that the animation quality itself isn't great, which really makes it funnier 🤣
@wishbonefan OK Sorry about that. I've seen some memes and comments about how the DVD menu models look "cursed" plus on a more personal and biased note I'm just sick and tired of the HiT Era hate. Don't get me wrong I'll always have the classic series but it's NOTHING compared to HiT Era in terms of nostalgia and influence when I was young. Plus I'm just trying to make a point that Thomas DVD's (and frankly DVD's in general) started losing they're magic after the 2000's IMO
Nitrogen didn’t make that test footage I think it was actually stardust studios a company that was also trying to get the rights to do cgi Thomas so they made that footage but they still went with nitrogen
I think the charm of the series died when they started using animation rather than physical models. It's what made the show unique compared to every other show it was competing with.
Question: why not include the video games? (The PC ones at least, since them were more 3D like. The one made for the SNES was more of a comic looking) In theory, those were the first CGI I believe.
@northys_stuff the only connection between the two companies for Thomas was that Stardust suggested Nitrogen animate the show. However stardust made the stinky cheese as a proof of concept test for hit.
You know what’s sad, Britt Allcroft the original creator of the Thomas TV show recently passed away
R.I.P
@@hyvantruong98 its a shame
They actually also used CGI in the episode, where Percy crashes into the chocolate factory.
After Percy comes out of the factory, you can see the steam is actually CGI.
i dont think thats cgi thats just digital effects, they did things like that a lot in season 7 and none of it is cgi
@northys_stuff
Oh...
@northys_stuffthey were doing this as early as season 5
A really early example of a CGi Thomas is in a German advert for Thomas Wooden Railway from 1996. It takes place in a child's bedroom, and CGi is used for both the bedroom and the toys in it, including the Thomas Wooden Railway trains.
Finally someone correctly says that Nitrogen animated the Stinky Cheese test and not Stardust. Stardust only storyboarded the test.
Really?
@@TroublesomeBrakeVan yes
The hero of the rails opening theme is such a banger, i replay it sometimes
When the CGI series came out, it had never occurred to me the numerous times that CGI had been used prior. I don't think anybody even brought it up back then. I am generally surprised.
Me too
i can feel this being an unlucky tug pick of the week
it's not THAT good
You forgot to mention the US Hit Era DVD menus. I always found it fascinating that some of the seasons 8 - 9 releases had CGI animated DVD menus and games, like the Calling All Engines one.
I still find it interesting that the us dvds cgi style ended up switching for tales from the tracks & come ride the rails to be more colorful compared to the darker 60th anniversary dvds (and track stars)
Same here those DVD's are my childhood and there one of the many reasons why the HiT Era meant so much to me on a nostalgic level and why I thought it was good (I still own these DVD's Btw) I miss the old days where DVD Menus had personality instead of just being a bland image with text as well as having more then just a few episodes of a show They had games, Read along, Web Fun and other cool stuff (Sorry I'm late for this comment)
@@PeterSamFan4 I mean yeah it's weird but as a kid I never questioned it. Btw I have ALL these DVD's as a kid and still own as a 24 year old in 2025 and I loved all their menu's. Track Stars is the one that had the most impact on me cause of the "A Better view for Gordon & Other TTTE Stories" Read Along cause afterwards I got the Cranky Bugs DVD which had the following two classic Series 5 stories and I instantly fell in love with. Also Tales From The Tracks is one of THE VERY FIRST Thomas DVD's I had and grew up with (and had some banger HiT era episodes that I still love today like The Magic Lamp and Flour Power)
Ngl I love the editing style man!!!
The script writing is great, the description is great too! This concept is also extremely creative, never noticed how much the TV show used CGi before the CGI series
Hope to see more from yah man!!
Btw in dunkin duncan when duncan crashes into the mud pond theres this sign thats inside the pond that is actually animated with cgi
It’s crazy how HOTR came out almost 20 years ago
You mean 16 years ago… wow really?
Unpopular opinion but I prefer Thomas and sticky cheese animation because it looks similar to the model series
I agree tbh
If I made Thomas cgi would look like this
Tbh I agree but if it had the TATMR CGI faces
Nah it just looks way too uncanny there and I prefer just stylizing it differently, even if it was a lower budget test, like it tried so hard to look like the model series that it just felt unnatural
I agree
Quick correction here, Gizmo Animation did NOT do work on Thomas & Friends learning segments, despite what the wiki said for many years. The actual animation studio was known as id3tv. Gizmo Animation being behind the learning segments is a common piece of misinformation, and I'm honestly not sure where it came from.
Maybe Mattel should go back to doing the GCI Thomas and Friends Series but perhap doing the reboot version from Season One - Ten because I always wanted to see what the original Thomas and Friends Series would look like in CGI with the characters speaking instead of the narrator doing it all.
Great video! (and pfp)
the learning segments are so nostalgic for me yet i sort of dont know why
Love this dude
Nice Video, i didn't know some of this stuff existed, thank! Just one suggestion, maybe make the music a little more in the background because i can't really hear you talk in some parts.
The early stages of Computer Generated Thomas
Also, there is one more instance of CGI in Thomas before 2009, which was in the DVD menus of DVDs like Thomas' Sodor Celebration, Songs From the Station and Calling All Engines. I believe they were also animated by Gizmo, but the renders and overall style are a bit different than in the learning segments. Many of these DVDs also have interactive video-based games which use the CGI graphics. As a kid I was weirdly fascinated by these menus and would sometimes pop in the discs just to see them. Looking back the animation is pretty terrible compared to the actual CGI series.
"Looking back the animation is pretty terrible compared to the actual CGI series."
You do realized DVD's aren't ever going to have nearly the budget of TV shows right? Yes the models are dated but these DVD's still brought me some awesome memories, they were trying to mimic the style of the models series and I miss the old days were DVD's had some personality. Not to mention a lot of the later HiT Era and (and to some extent) Nitrogen Era DVD's had some pretty stock, bland menu's IMO with NO games, Read-Along Web Fun or ANYTHING cool like that. (TBF some Nitrogen Era DVD's had some games but it was very bare bones IMO)
@@angryjadengamerreviews2827 Bruh chill I'm with you, I like the menus, I'm just saying that the animation quality itself isn't great, which really makes it funnier 🤣
@wishbonefan OK Sorry about that. I've seen some memes and comments about how the DVD menu models look "cursed" plus on a more personal and biased note I'm just sick and tired of the HiT Era hate. Don't get me wrong I'll always have the classic series but it's NOTHING compared to HiT Era in terms of nostalgia and influence when I was young. Plus I'm just trying to make a point that Thomas DVD's (and frankly DVD's in general) started losing they're magic after the 2000's IMO
Good short vid but please balance the audio mixing, the music doesn’t need to be that loud to where your voice is hard to make out
@@Nic_2751 noted
You just got a sub
3:23 what is this animation called?
Nitrogen didn’t make that test footage I think it was actually stardust studios a company that was also trying to get the rights to do cgi Thomas so they made that footage but they still went with nitrogen
2:34 what is that music? I was searching for it for two years
Dire dire docks
Dire Dire Docks from Super Mario 64
Now this is an underrated youtuber
Real
The music is too loud, I can’t hear what you’re saying.
Jesus- what do you use to edit? I NEED TO GET MY HANDS ON THAT JUICY FONT🗣️🔥🔥🔥
From the research, I did the company core was also responsible for the 2006 movie, The Wild, the movie similar to Madagascar
to be fair
they seemed to use bouncing more sparingly in the cgi test
@@teaoftraffic It's definitely not as bad as it is in bwba
nice pfp
I think the charm of the series died when they started using animation rather than physical models. It's what made the show unique compared to every other show it was competing with.
I agree
Actually the charm was long gone after TATMR
Question: why not include the video games? (The PC ones at least, since them were more 3D like. The one made for the SNES was more of a comic looking) In theory, those were the first CGI I believe.
forgor
I grew up watching Thomas the tank engine but when it changed from model to cgi that’s when I stopped watching Thomas the tank engine
Core digital animated planet sheen which came out in 2010
Um, actually Starz Animation (now called Arc Productions) did the animation.
Actually nitrogen studios did not do the CGI test for Thomas and the Stinky Cheese it was sawdust pictures
I hope their is footage of the don't be silly billy test season 12
I wonder where tatmr thomas cgi model is?
deleted probably
I know that in don’t be silly Billy was plan to be cgi
it wasn't planned, it exists, we have just never seen it (besides storyboards)
wait why did i think this had 100k views
@@mrjaman3752 that would be epic
thomas and friends arthur cgi Hiro
Small correction but Stardust Pictures did the CGI for the Thomas & the stinky cheese animation, not Nitrogen.
Really? I thought they just did the storyboards.
@northys_stuff the only connection between the two companies for Thomas was that Stardust suggested Nitrogen animate the show. However stardust made the stinky cheese as a proof of concept test for hit.
This is false. Stardust only storyboarded the test. Nitrogen did the actual animation. Stardust isn't even an animation company.
Classic Thomas = Chad
CGI Thomas = Virgin
AEG Thomas = Incel
Had to be said, as dumb as that Reddit meme is.
Your voice is hard to hear over the background music.
And now the series is completely 2D and it sucks.
Well well well, this video is very HOUSING, some say HORRIFIC.
@@punchyfilms punchy what
@northys_stuff lalala
@@punchyfilms well well well
Omg