Innovation: Magic goes to market: Movie wizardry of computer imaging is about to revolutionise industry

DIGITAL imaging, the revolutionary technology that allows the creation by computer of three-dimensional manipulable images or characters, has gone far beyond movie magic to change the way we approach product design and even surgical operations.

Now two masters of the art have announced the birth of the JEDI - not a son of Luke Skywalker but a Joint Environment for Digital Imaging. One of the parents is, indeed, the film creator George Lucas, or at least his visual effects facility, Industrial Light and Magic.

It was ILM that created the special effects for Star Wars, ET, Indiana Jones and Terminator 2, winning a dozen Oscars from 80 movies.

JEDI's other parent is Silicon Graphics, the leading manufacturer of visual computing systems - including 'reality engines' that allow users to interact with computer-generated 3-D graphics and models in life-like situations. The JEDI joint venture is being described as a technology exchange, with ILM providing the film production technology and Silicon Graphics the computer systems.

The combination will allow spectacular 3-D characters to be invented and manipulated on a computer screen, then integrated on to a film carrying live action shots. The characters will then look as if they are interacting, while performing feats that could never be 'real'. Such special effects will be used for films, television commercials, simulator rides, and any other market that needs high- quality digital imagery.

Lucas himself has said: 'This alliance allows ILM's ground-breaking imagery to become more affordable to the entertainment community. It is the dawning of a new entertainment age.' And while the effects produced at JEDI should help keep movie audiences on the edge of their seats, the technology will also allow films to be made more efficiently.

For example, Steven Spielberg, JEDI's biggest client, is filming a new movie in Poland. At the same time, however, he is able to edit his forthcoming dinosaur extravaganza, Jurassic Park, because he is linked to JEDI by satellite. This allows the special effects to be added to the already-filmed material and then beamed to him daily for comment or revision.

For Silicon Graphics, though, the entertainment industry, while important, is only a small part of the vision. It sees JEDI as a test-bed for its new products. For example, texture or reflection mapping, used for the special effects throughout Terminator 2, enables the computer user to reflect light and background images off a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

The same technology is now gaining acceptance in the car industry, and Volvo and BMW, among others, are using it to cut design costs. They can 'build' a new 3-D car on the computer and then rotate and manipulate it, reflecting light off it as if viewing the real thing. Modifications are easily made and there is no longer any need for hand-crafted models.

Another well-established use of digital imaging is in the 'virtual reality' visualisation of aerial or satellite images. For example, aerial pictures of a city are matched with information on the height of the buildings and the undulation of the land, to create a computer image that users can 'walk through'.

The US Defense Department is a Silicon Graphics customer and used virtual reality simulations for training before Operation Desert Storm. But the technology can also be used to iron out the details of a new property development prior to building work starting, or for oil exploration and production problems.

Sounding almost like a Lucas movie plot, a further application still being researched is medical imaging. If a patient is diagnosed as having a brain tumour, the information gathered by a conventional scan can be converted to a digital image. 'Virtual surgery' then allows surgeons to attempt to remove the tumour in different ways. In other words, they can practise before they operate.

Finally, there are rumours that digital imaging computers may soon be available for home entertainment, enabling viewers to interact with TV and video programmes. Silicon Graphics will not comment on such speculation. But before long you may be able to add special effects to your own video movies. Well, it could make those shots of the kids on the beach more interesting.

(Photographs omitted)