in the now...

Peter Kuran, having just completed work on the iPAD version of his succesful book entitled "How To Photograph an Atomic Bomb" talks with Molly Bentley for NPR radio on "You've Got Sol" and discusses his book on Atomic Bomb Photography. Listen to Molly as she speaks with Stuart Bale of NASA and Pete about the sun and nuclear energy. Check out the blog for photos and discussion. "You've Got Sol" is a segment of Are We Alone, a one-hour science program produced at the SETI Institute's radio studio in Mountain View, California.

AtomCentral, a division of Visual Concept Entertainment (VCE) began in 1982 after founder Peter Kuran finished work as animation supervisor for Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) on George Lucas' The Empire Strikes Back.

Kuran started his career in 1976 working as an animator on the original Star Wars. As an animator on Star Wars, Kuran introduced the concept of animating shadows and interactive light to objects to make them appear more interactive.

Since then, Peter and VCE have worked on over 250 theatrical motion pictures including both "Addams Family" films and all three "Robocop" features. VCE work was seen in "Men In Black", "The 6th Day", "Thirteen Days", "A Beautiful Mind," "League of Extraodinary Gentlemen," "X-Men 2" and "The Last Samurai." In 2002,

As a filmmaker, Peter has produced five documentaries on the subject of Atomic history, weapons and testing. Beginning in 1995, Peter produced and directed the award winning film "Trinity and Beyond (the Atomic Bomb Movie)" and has since produced "Atomic Filmmakers", "Atomic Journeys" , "Nukes in Space" and "Nuclear 911."

Award winning Process developed for "Trinity and Beyond"!

In 2002, Peter Kuran won a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award® for inventing a photo chemical color restoration process for faded color negative which he created during the making of "Trinity and Beyond." Read more about the RCI Process...

Star Wars 101

In August 1977, a crowd observes C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) immortalize his footprints at Grauman's (now Mann's) Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. To lend a helping hand, Pete (left) and Charlie Lippincott (Star Wars Promotional director, Right) hold C-3PO steady.

Besides contributing to the film's Oscar winning special effects at the age of 20 (the youngest person on the visual effects crew), Pete was thin enough to fit into the C-3PO costume which gave him the ability to fill in for appearances to help promote Star Wars when Anthony Daniels was unavailable.