I don't think "all CGI looks the same" has been any more true for games/movies/tv than "all [things] look the same" style-wise was before (consider sci-fi aesthetics by decade, say - how many Star Trek copycats, how many Alien copycats, etc). And obviously the limitations of practical effects are HUGE - Star Wars broke a lot of ground here, and yet looking at a movie from 5 years later, Wrath of Khan, we see very limited model movement and "action". Or compare TNG space action with even the primitive CGI of Babylon 5.
Wind Waker was one of the first obvious examples in the 3d-rendered-game world; the Spiderverse movies are probably the most widely-seen cultural example of breaking with existing styles. The "feathering" effect of some of the surfaces/fur and such in the commercials for The Wild Robot is another that I remember seen recently.
There's a lot of copy-catting, but not really in a "limits of the process of making CGI" way anymore.
Back in the 90s in the post-Jurassic Park TV/film landscape, it wasn’t common for similar CGI models to appear in waves, e.g., multiple shows with the same variations of janky CGI dinosaurs. My guess was that a VFX shop, having created a model did the hard sell to multiple sci-fi producers to try to get as much profit out of the initial work as possible.
My guess was that a VFX shop, having created a model did the hard sell to multiple sci-fi producers to try to get as much profit out of the initial work as possible.
This or anything like it never happened and never came close to being considered for multiple reasons, including that the vfx studio wouldn't technically own that asset and that the model itself wouldn't be the most difficult part of the process.
What actually happened was that after a huge success like jurassic park, dinosaurs were hot and more dinosaur projects were made.
Reuse of starship models certainly happened in SF shows and movies. There’s a big fleet battle in Serenity with IIRC some Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek models in the background, and I think the Serenity and one or two Star Trek ships found their way into fleet shots in Battlestar Galactica.
What you're talking about is the same studio reusing assets that they made and have saved to fill in the background.
This is common, but that isn't the same as selling your hero assets to someone else and having them use them as a hero asset, which is what the other person was guessing happened.
Wind Waker was one of the first obvious examples in the 3d-rendered-game world; the Spiderverse movies are probably the most widely-seen cultural example of breaking with existing styles. The "feathering" effect of some of the surfaces/fur and such in the commercials for The Wild Robot is another that I remember seen recently.
There's a lot of copy-catting, but not really in a "limits of the process of making CGI" way anymore.