LUCASARTS TOUR

First stop of the morning was at an ordinary, two level building. No exterior signs were visible to indicate that this was an office complex, so the casual passer-by might think it an apartment building. Inside we met several programmers and designers and learned that the building was home to the young computer division of Lucasfilm. Here, computer games were developed for Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, Atari's new ST, and Commodore's new Amiga personal computers.

At work on more than just games, the group was investigating how to integrate computer animation into conventional films. We received a brief demonstration of a digital short, Andre and Wally B. This animation was the first implementation of a technique known as motion blur. It literally blurred the clean lines of computer generated creations, so that they would blend more normally with conventional film elements. I was amazed to learn as a staff member zoomed into a section of the image that the realistic looking trees and blades of grass were computer generated as well. I was also given a demo of the most detailed flight simulator I had ever seen. Looking back, it must have been the first Silicon Graphics workstation I ever encountered.

Another room housed an arcade of coin-operated video games which our small group was invited to play. My favorite was a sit-down version of the vector-graphic based Star Wars. The console had been modified to include a large button labeled "THE FORCE." Pressing this button slowed the action of the game to a very manageable frame rate where I could kill every enemy almost as soon as they appeared!