Lucasfilm has signed up to use Trolltech's Qt to develop software.

The agreement covers use of the Qt tool, which provides a platform for creating applications that run on multiple operating systems, by Lucas' ILM, LucasArts, Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm Animation division.

Qt says its cross-platform tool can help drop as much as half of the development time of a product.

 “We used Qt for a few small projects and were impressed with its ease-of-use and support for cross-platform development. We were convinced our company could leverage this on a larger scale in our mainstream artist tools,” said Steve Sullivan Director of R&D at Lucasfilm.

“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.”

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Added Benoit Schillings, CTO at Trolltech: "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."