The project also resulted in other early computer animations such as 3DV, Sunstone, Inside a Quark and segments of the short film The Magic Egg from 1984.
T-Square, who works and lives in a nearby asteroid belt, vows to journey to Earth and fight[s] to make it safe to return to for her fellow space-faring humans.
Upon recognizing its potential, the Lab's focus shifted to 3D computer graphics, and when Lance Williams presented his story, "The Works", the idea was to attempt to make it as a 3D computer-animated feature.
Aside from personal and professional motivation, the practical reason behind the project was to continue to develop patentable tools while demonstrating what computer animation could accomplish for the entertainment industry.
Interested representatives from movie studios and television networks regularly toured the lab as did musicians Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel, puppeteer Jim Henson and animation legends Chuck Jones and Shamus Culhane.
Going into the project Schure had been aware of the challenges and potential for success and consistently provided extensive resources to aid the research and development of the necessary technologies.
However, this meant that his staff would regularly have to upgrade their systems, convert existing programs, and rework familiar tools for use on new machines, delaying production significantly.
While progress on The Works did manage to significantly advance the field of computer animation, the film itself was in development hell for nearly a decade and eventually abandoned for several reasons.
George Lucas also recognized the potential of computer animation, and in 1979, created a new department of Lucasfilm which had the same goals as CGL, but ensured that movie industry professionals had a hand in the production.
For instance, Edwin Catmull and other CGL team members were hired by Pixar and helped create Toy Story, the first computer-animated feature film, released in 1995.