Lucasfilm will use Qt from Oslo-based Trolltech to develop its digital entertainment software. The arrangement covers Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm Animation.
Qt is Trolltech's main product and provides a development platform for creating applications that run on all major operating systems (Windows, Linux and Mac). Qt is designed to help companies streamline their application development, enable software differentiation and increase productivity.
This new relationship with Lucasfilm further reinforces Qt's presence within the market for vfx and entertainment. Other major studios using Qt include Walt Disney Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Duboi. Most companies who standardize on Qt as their application development platform typically find a savings of 30-50% in development time, particularly in the area of rich GUI (graphical user interface) development. Qt provides businesses with a low risk approach to cross-platform development and ensures that their application's look and feel is current with the latest operating system features.
"We used Qt for a few small projects and were impressed with its ease-of-use and support for cross-platform development," said Steve Sullivan director of R&D at Lucasfilm Ltd. "We were convinced our company could leverage this on a larger scale in our mainstream artist tools.
"Our previous UI framework was already stretched to a point that could no longer meet our growing needs, and signing on with Trolltech was the smart move for us. Using Qt will not only save us time and money, but also let us focus more on innovation."
"Qt eliminates the drudgery that most software projects in this industry face by solving a lot of the low-level issues. This allows the customer to concentrate on what they do best -- innovation, creativity, and creating software that brings animated features to life," said Trolltech CTO Benoit Schillings.
Trolltech (www.trolltech.com) creates application development platforms for desktop and mobile device innovation.
Lucasfilm Ltd., located at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio, is one of the world's leading film and entertainment companies. Founded by George Lucas in 1971, it is a privately held, fully integrated entertainment company.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
