Industrial Light & Magic Working on Star Wars-Themed Virtual/Augmented Reality Experiences.

Virtual RealityThe Galaxy Far, Far Away is about to get a whole lot closer – ILM is working on technology that will bring iPad and Oculus Rift owners closer to the various environments seen in the films. George Lucas also had a statement prepared regarding this very announcement.

 

From USA Today:

 

The special-effects company, which was founded 40 years ago this summer by George Lucas to create the illusions for Star Wars, will announce Friday a new team dedicated to bringing virtual- and augmented-reality experiences to the movies.

 

ILM’s Experience Lab, or ILMxLab, will combine the technical assets of ILM, Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm to create immersive experiences that allow fans to participate in their favorite movie worlds.

 

Although video games pegged to movies have promised a similar experience, this new tech will be different: non-competitive and using photo-realism rather than animation.

 

“ILMxLab is all about us leveraging our skills across all platforms,” says Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. “It’s the Wild West out there with new frontiers, and we’re all figuring out these new tools. Today, technology is in search of content. But we can bring an emotional experience to that technology.”

 

Look, Sir, Droids!

 

Aside from Star Wars, the technology is apparently being tested using the Jurassic Park franchise as a basis, with other film franchises getting similar treatments afterward. George Lucas also supported ILM’s decision to capitalize on this technology, adding the following to the discussion:

 

“The period of American technological superiority in the movie business is gone,” Lucas told USA TODAY in an interview. “You can get the same technology and people anywhere in the world now.”

 

I personally hope that we can (eventually) get the most immersive lightsaber dueling simulator out of ILM’s efforts. While we won’t be seeing what they come up with for a while, the sky is the limit with this kind of technology.

 

One more thing: ILM just posted a cool video about this very technology. It shows off the tech in question, and it’s definitely worth watching!

 

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

17 thoughts on “Industrial Light & Magic Working on Star Wars-Themed Virtual/Augmented Reality Experiences.

  • June 12, 2015 at 10:17 pm
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    Sounds cooler than Battlefront

    • June 12, 2015 at 10:54 pm
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      Maybe if you’ve never heard of augmented reality, the tech has potential but the ability to create true immersive experiences depends on new (wearable) hardware built for augmented reality becoming the new norm.

      Right now it’s very limited, like you point your tablet at a picture in a magazine with a barcode and the otherwise useless software you have installed shows some kind of 3d image on your screen in place of the flat photograph.

  • June 12, 2015 at 10:35 pm
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    This is well and good, but will it be better than The Empire Strikes Back on the Atari 2600? Only time will tell.

  • June 12, 2015 at 10:38 pm
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    I’m guessing Battlefront won’t get rift support?

  • June 12, 2015 at 10:42 pm
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    There are lots of people working on augmented reality tech, it’s cool for sure, but here is the issue: No one has found a way to truly monetize it yet.

    Right now it’s just a cool toy for the kids. The tech has a very long way to come before it’s commonplace.

    To put it lightly, augmented reality will not be a real thing until headsets like the failed google glass pretty much replace cell phones and tablets, because without that it’s really not an immersive experience, it’s you pointing the camera from your iPad at a target and seeing something different appear on the screen.

    It’s just a cool extra feature, the tech isn’t strong enough yet to be a platform of it’s own and that’s the issue.

  • June 13, 2015 at 12:31 am
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    YESSSSSSS

  • June 13, 2015 at 12:56 am
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    I don’t understand the relevance of Lucas’s statement to this.

    • June 13, 2015 at 1:25 am
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      I mainly threw it in there because it’s one of the few times he’s talked about his company since his semi-retirement.

      I also included it because he’s right – other media, domestically and abroad, are becoming more visually-impressive.

      • June 13, 2015 at 3:22 am
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        I would have to concur. They have really upped their game in the past 20 years.

    • June 13, 2015 at 11:48 am
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      I thought he retired in 1999-2005, like his true fans retired his ILM character immersions everywhere (even in Las Vegas) – Notice how we dress up (including those grown up kids back then) at Star Wars parties: hooded green face emperor Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi does not count like older Anakin, classic trilogy stormtroopers, Darth Vader, tie fighter or X-Wing, more Boba Fetts than Jengo Fetts, etc. I give credit to Darth Maul or maybe an arena white Padme only other non-Leia choice for girls other than Oolas. My point is: With $4 billion from Disney get out there George and see the real world on what ILM experience we want and not what we don’t!

  • June 13, 2015 at 1:26 am
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    Star Wars VR experiences straight from Lucasfilm. Whatever they do please do not go exclusive with any one VR device, please! I want this stuff on my Morpheus on PS4 or even on my android phone.

    YES! This is fantastic!

  • June 13, 2015 at 1:42 am
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    Not interested at all. Come on, we are getting 4k and autostereoscopic 3D. I am getting a headache… Wait thirty years for hologram film instead…

    • June 13, 2015 at 4:42 am
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      Screw hologram. A mere two years later, we’ll get holomind. I’ve been itching to use all that empty space.

  • June 13, 2015 at 4:24 am
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    Well, well, well ….
    Whaddaya know: there IS a God.

  • June 13, 2015 at 12:43 pm
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    The famous Trench Run is begging to become an Oculus Rift game. The scene is so well fitted to that platform that it is almost prescient.

    Taking out the Death Star II would also make a great game, where you have to maneuver your ship through the labyrinth of the half-finished structure and make your way to the central generator.

  • June 14, 2015 at 3:12 pm
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    I look forward to experiencing this though the sculpts of the stormtrooper and c-3po look different from in the films. I wonder why they didn’t scan the original props.

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