This procedure was regularly used in the making of The Mandalorian and scenes with Baby Yoda – but apparently it was something that Werner Herzog didn’t appreciate all that much.
On Disney+’s Disney Gallery series, Deborah Chow laughs while saying that Herzog actually called the filmmakers “cowards” for using plate shots, as he saw them using VFX as a safety net for the limitations of the animatronic.
When it comes to shooting for visual effects in modern filmmaking, it’s typical for a production to first do takes with a practical model, and then follow those with plate shots where the practical model is removed, providing the post-production teams with all the material they need.