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Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution | 
| Author: Michael Rubin
Publisher: Triad Publishing Company (FL)
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy Used: $17.45
You Save: $17.50 (50%)
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Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 131774
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 518
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.4
ISBN: 0937404675
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.430233092
EAN: 9780937404676
ASIN: 0937404675
Publication Date: October 24, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: EX-LIBRARY; used item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned for refund. Buy with confidence - your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics!
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Product Description
The inside story of George Lucas, his intensely private company, and their work to revolutionize filmmaking. In the process, they made computer history. Discover the birth of Pixar, digital video editing, videogame avitars, THX sound, and a host of other icons of the media age. Lucas played a central role in the universe of entertainment technologies we see everyday.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
Tells the story of the revolution in digital audio that came from Lucas September 19, 2008
Dana C. Massie (Santa Cruz, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book, entertaining and intricate, which tells an important story. The guys a DroidWorks pioneered the digital audio industry that exists today. In 1981, I desperately wanted to break into computer music, having studied electronic music and electrical engineering. I visited Andy Moorer at DroidWorks in 1982, who gave me an incredibly generous hour long tour of the headquarters, and showed me the prototypes of their Audio Signal Processor.
I eventually did break into computer music when I went to work at E-mu Systems in 1983, where I implemented a computer audio editing system. I certainly wanted to have my own system like the astounding machines I saw at DroidWorks, and designing my own was the only way that I would ever get my hands on one. I invented the concept for the program "Sound Designer" and worked closely with Evan Brooks of Digidesign to implement this program on the brand new Macintosh computer.
Moorer and his friends blazed the trail for the whole audio industry, publishing and lecturing extensively on what they had done. Today, tape recorders exist only in museums. All movies, sound effects, and music are produced using digital systems, and DroidWorks showed the way. There were many other people working in digital audio, but few published as much, or were as bold, or had such a broad vision of how far the technology could go to replace the existing technology, or how dramatic the new technology could be.
It was as vivid as a Lucas Film movie, and as futuristic, but it became real.
Finally, A Book On The Digital Revolution That Non-Computer Geeks Can Understand! July 22, 2008
William S. Bailey (Seattle, WA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a borderline technophobe whose mind goes blank whenever I am forced to read any computer product user's manual. The brains of the people that write these things are obviously wired very differently than mine. The leaden, sterile word choices and phrases used by this engineering culture make the sense of disconnect even worse.
The good news is that I finally have found an Electronic Moses to lead me to the promised land. His name is Michael Rubin. "Droidmaker" is a remarkable book, bringing the story of computer animation to life, allowing non-technical people like me to understand how this process evolved. The photographs of the people and events involved in the story are particularly well chosen.
This book is required reading for anyone with a basic level of curiosity on how the digital revolution came to be. There isn't another one out there like it
Terrific read May 30, 2008
Brian Brown
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. If you have a passing interest in modern movie making, the history of Pixar, or are a fan of Star Wars/George Lucas, you really have to read Droidmaker. The first half, dealing more with Lucas and the history of Star Wars is probably a little more accessible, but the back half, with its detailed telling of the evolution of Pixar and other Lucas-driven technical innovations, is equally fascinating. Oh, did I mention all the stuff about video games? Seriously, this is among the best books I've read in the past five years.
Made me smile! April 24, 2008
Michael (Manhattan)
I was one of many young kids in 1977 who was overwhelmed by Star Wars and who spent the next several years writing letters to ILM and John Dykstra trying to get a job! The whole thing just seemed like the ultimate description of fun.
I never got any responses but this book has made me smile allot. I'm learning so much about what was really going on while me and other slobbering, special effects wannabes grabbed our super8 cameras and made our little FX films.
I ended up as a cinematographer and know several others who now have impressive credits in the area of filmmaking...all due to our new found young love of filmmaking started by a little space opera in 1977. I have always wondered if George knows how responsible he is for the start of numerous film careers.
I really have enjoyed this book. Worth the read!
Great Read! April 6, 2008
Justin Davis (San Jose, CA. USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
For anyone who is inspired by the use of technology for creation of art, this book is wonderful. I enjoyed learning the connections between computer, film, and sound pioneers, and how they inspired each other.
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