Industrial Light & Magic revolutionized special effects with Star Wars. The film marked the first use of a motion control camera.

George Lucas set up the Computer Division to explore new uses of computers for digital imaging, electronic editing, and interactivity.

Industrial Light & Magic, working with the Computer Division, created the "Genesis sequence" for Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, which marked the first completely computer-generated sequence.

After four years of development, Lucasfilm pioneered disc-based computerized electronic nonlinear editing for picture and sound and premiered EditDroid and SoundDroid at the National Association of Broadcasters conference.

Industrial Light & Magic made further breakthroughs in computer graphics with the first completely computer-generated character with the "stained glass man" in Young Sherlock Holmes.

George Lucas sells off the portion of the Computer Division that specializes in rendering software. This group becomes the basis of Pixar Animation.

Industrial Light & Magic created the first morphing sequence for motion pictures in the film Willow. ILM subsequently won a Technical Achievement Award for its development of Morf, a computer-graphics program allowing the fluid, onscreen transformation of one object to another.

Industrial Light & Magic created the first computer generated three-dimensional character with the "pseudopod" in The Abyss.

Industrial Light & Magic created the first computer graphics main character with the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Skywalker Sound introduced the first utilization of T-1 tie-lines for real-time digital audio transmission to distant locations. The projection of film at Skywalker Sound is synchronized, through patented technology, with the screening room projector at a filmmaker's office or home. With the combination of synchronized projection and real-time digital audio transmission, it is no longer necessary for the filmmaker to leave his home or office.

Industrial Light & Magic won its 12th Academy Award for computer graphics work on Death Becomes Her and its fifth Academy Technical Achievement Award. This marked the first time human skin texture was computer generated.

Avid Technology acquired the EditDroid and SoundDroid technologies and joined forces with Lucasfilm to develop and produce the next generation of digital picture and sound editing systems.

Lucas Digital Ltd. and Silicon Graphics formed an exclusive alliance to create JEDI, a unique networked environment for digital production. JEDI is a beta test sight for Silicon Graphics equipment and allows the artists and technicians at ILM to advise SGI on future developments.

Industrial Light & Magic won its 13th Academy Award for work on the computer-generated dinosaurs for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and its sixth Academy Technical Achievement Award for pioneering work on film digitization. For the first time, digital technology was used to create a living, breathing character with skin, muscles, texture, and attitude. This breakthrough expanded the filmmaker's canvas and changed the cinematic art of storytelling.

Industrial Light & Magic won its 14th Academy Award for its breakthrough work on Forrest Gump. Although the most obvious accomplishment is the manipulation of archival footage allowing seamless interaction with historical figures, a variety of "invisible" effects, such as the character who becomes a double amputee, computer-generated jets, helicopters, birds, crowds, and ping-pong balls, subtly help the filmmaker tell the story.

Industrial Light & Magic's computer animation work on The Mask garnered an Academy Award nomination. For the first time, the ILM team created a photo-real cartoon character. The artists and technicians turned a human being into a cartoon character.

Industrial Light & Magic created the first fully synthetic speaking characters with distinct personalities and emotions for Casper. Whereas Jurassic Park had six minutes of digitally animated dinosaurs on the screen, the ghosts in Casper are on the screen for more than 40 minutes.

Industrial Light & Magic created the first computer-generated photo-realistic hair and fur for the digital lion and monkeys in Jumanji. This movie also featured a stampede scene with dozens of elephants, rhinos, zebras and pelicans, all computer-generated.

Industrial Light & Magic was awarded a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy for its pioneering work in digital film compositing.

With Mission: Impossible, ILM created a fully virtual set for the climactic action sequence, requiring a computer-generated train speeding through a computer-generated tunnel followed by a computer-generated helicopter; actors were digitally composited into the virtual set to complete the scene.

Twister's digital tornadoes were the stars of the box-office sensation of the summer movie season. These stunning images of one of nature's fiercest weather events were wholly computer-generated via particle systems animation software.

Industrial Light & Magic's proprietary facial animation software brought the 3D digital character of Draco, the star of Dragonheart, to life. With the voice and facial physique of Sean Connery as their guide, ILM's team of animators redefined what can be successfully shown on screen.

Industrial Light & Magic's software team was awarded two Technical Achievement Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: for the creation and development of the Direct Input Device, which allows stop-motion animators to bring their skill and artistry to computer animation; and for the development of a system to create and control computer-generated hair and fur in motion pictures. The Academy also awarded the ILM software team a Scientific and Engineering Award for the development of the Viewpaint 3D Paint System, which allows artists to color and texture details to computer-generated effects. ILM and its team of innovators and pioneers have won a total of twelve "sci-tech" awards from the Academy.

Skywalker Sound installed the largest digital audio console at any audio post-production facility worldwide. The Capricorn, manufactured by AMS Neve, can technologically match the artistry of the sound designers and mixers. Two of the first projects to be mixed on the Capricorn, Contact and Titanic, earned Academy Award nominations for best sound.

Utilizing more sound elements (including dialogue loops and sound effects) than any feature film in history, Titanic won best sound awards from the Academy, Motion Picture Sound Editors, and Cinema Audio Society.

ILM's research and development team was awarded two patents for proprietary techniques. One was for "hair, fur and feathers," as illustrated by the groundbreaking images of the computer-generated gorilla in Mighty Joe Young. The other patent, for facial animation software initially developed for the 1995 release Casper, was further enhanced and refined over the next several years on projects such as Dragonheart and Men in Black.

The sound created for Saving Private Ryan earned Skywalker Sound two Academy Awards for best sound and sound effects editing. With the most realistic soundtrack ever to accompany a battle scene, the first twenty-four minutes of the film became the most stellar example of sound design in film history.

"Caricature," the facial animation system awarded a patent, also earned a Technical Achievement Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for ILM's software developers. The award states: By integrating existing tools into a powerful interactive system, and adding an expressive multi-target shape interpolation-based freeform animation system, the "Caricature" system provided a degree of subtlety and refinement not possible with other systems.

ILM's camera department received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for their pioneering work in motion-controlled, silent dollies.

The Mummy starred the most realistic digital human character ever seen in film. Featuring totally computer-generated layers of muscles, sinew and tissue, the ILM team again elevated its artistic and technical skill level in bringing a digital character to life.

With over 90% of George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I "The Phantom Menace" featuring digital effects shots, a new method of filmmaking was achieved. Scenes that are fully computer-generated, featuring synthetic environments and digital terrain generation, computer graphic lead characters and thousands of digital extras are but some of the accomplishments, which were rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for best achievement in visual effects.

The digital waves and weather created at ILM were the stars of The Perfect Storm, one of the summer's most anticipated film events, earning a BAFTA Award for best special visual effects, and a nomination for an Academy Award for best achievement in visual effects.

ILM creates the first real-time interactive on-set visualization process allowing filmmakers to place actors in virtual sets providing complete freedom with camera moves. Steven Spielberg uses this process in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, earning the ILM team another Academy Award nomination for best achievement in visual effects.

For Pearl Harbor, ILM recreates the infamous attack scenes digitally creating with total realism hundreds of World War II era airplanes, ships and vehicles, along with the fire and smoke from dozens of explosions. This work is also honored with an Oscar nomination.

ILM Research and Development department received its fifteenth and sixteenth Technical Achievement Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of the ILM Motion and Structure Recovery System (MARS) and the ILM Creature Dynamics System.

The release of Star Wars: Episode II "Attack of the Clones" marks the first major motion picture to be shot completely on digital HD video. Over 2200 visual effects shots completed at ILM feature digital environments, synthetic human characters and a computer graphics Yoda, still beloved by audiences worldwide.