wm (06/16/82)
The entire sequence of the planet being transformed by the Genesis device was computer generated, but you cannot give all the credit to Lucasfilm. The images with craters on the surface were done with Jim Blinn's texture mapping routines that he developed at Cal Tech's JPL. It is true that he worked for a short while for Lucasfilm. The Flight over the mountains was done using Loren Carpenter's fractile curve mountain generating routines, which he developed at Boeing for use in flight simulators. He is now working for Lucas.