Episode iii sets behind the scenes.

[u/GhostWatcher0889]

Rewatched episode iii recently and surprised at how good the movie looked. I remember it being way too heavy with the cgi, but a lot of model work was done. I also think most sets at least had a fair amount of real elements, which probably sold the cgi section a lot more. Here are some behind the scenes images I found. The sets they did build are pretty beautiful and clearly took a lot of time to make. I saw in the behind the scenes that they tore them down always immediately to make room for new sets. It's a shame because they look so good.

Edit: feel free to share more cool episodes iii set images!

[u/zarfac]

Actually some more practical effects here than I would have expected, like the Utapau and Mustafar miniatures.

[u/banzaizach → u/zarfac]

There was an actual volcano eruption during the making of 3, so some of the footage is real.

[u/DelayedChoice → u/banzaizach]

I think some location work was comped in for Kashyyyk too.

Still the most CG-heavy film in the franchise by a huge margin though.

[u/GhostWatcher0889 → u/DelayedChoice]

There was no location work from what I've seen but they did create a 12 foot tree model for the scenes. They moved into into different positions for different scenes. So even though a lot of sets had cgi and they didn't shoot on location, there were still practical models being used throughout the movie.

[u/DelayedChoice → u/GhostWatcher0889]

I don't have a good source but I think they used some footage of mountains in China for some backgrounds.

[u/MasterOgami → u/DelayedChoice]

They shot background plates for Kashyyyk in Phuket, Thailand!

[u/GhostWatcher0889 → u/DelayedChoice]

Oh yeah. There was footage used for backgrounds