Looking at some of the materials, they seem to have been doing CGI work, too, in later years.

I do mourn the lack of physical special effects, models, and puppets, though. The studios try to convince us that we couldn't tell the difference, but it's pretty obvious.

I already liked Project Hail Mary a lot after having seen it, but my respect for it went through the roof when I saw the role names in the closing credits: model makers, metal workers, puppeteers, animatronics...