Some special effects , like Motoko 's " thermo @-@ optical camouflage " , was rendered through the use of TIMA software . The process use a single illustration and manipulate the image as necessary to produce distortions for effect in combination with a background without altering the original illustration . The effect is re @-@ added back into the shot to complete the scene . While the visual displays used in the film was technically simple to create , the appearance of the displays underwent numerous revisions by the production team to best represent visual displays of the future . Another aspect of the CG use was to create images and effects that looked as if they was " perceived by the brain " and was generated in video and added to the film in its final stages .