A Military Precision That’s Right On Cue

It may not have been what the author of the Book of Isaiah had in mind when predicting people would one day “beat their swords into plowshares,” but some of the billions spent on defense industry research has found a new home in the civilian world--in computer games.

“Virtual Pool,” an astonishing, life-like CD-ROM from Celeris Inc. that simulates pocket billiards, would not have been possible without highly sophisticated software originally developed to track missiles.

Tracking an 8-ball is not all that much simpler.

“When you do a break at the beginning of a pool match,” said Celeris marketing head Ed Ritchie, “the cue ball goes down the table and sets 15 other balls in motion.

“To put that on a computer screen takes 500,000 calculations per second.”

Not even Minnesota Fats thinks that fast.

Celeris, located in Chatsworth, does it in part with its TacView program, created to depict fast moving objects as animated renderings on a computer screen. “It’s the kind of thing we developed for air traffic control systems and weather mapping,” Ritchie said.

Celeris was founded in 1987 to develop systems for the military and so had on hand software that could predict the trajectory of an incoming missile. “ ‘Virtual Pool’ is derivative of that. It just tracks billiard balls instead of missiles,” Ritchie said.

The opening screen of “Virtual Pool” is a graphic rendering of a pool table with a rack of balls and cue. You can choose among several games, including 8-ball or rotation, and then pick whether you want to play a human opponent or one of several computer adversaries with varying degrees of skill.

Using the mouse and designated keys, you move the cue ball into place, aim the stick and with a solid “click” send the ball down the table. Blessedly, the creators did not add digital enhancements such as music, flashy score boards or animated characters. All the scientific sophistication went into making the game as life-like as possible.

The program allows you to strike the ball from different angles to give it English and you can view the action from a variety of perspectives. You can even replay a shot, watching from high above the table as the balls travel and spin in slow motion.

To give lessons, the game creators videotaped “Machine Gun” Lou Burera, a champion player who got his nickname from his ability to run through an entire rack in a minute and a half. Not being very familiar with real-life pool, I’m not sure just how much the computer play would truly enhance a traditional game at a pool hall. But “Virtual Pool” is itself entertaining and even addictive, and you can’t help but admire the expertise that went into it.

“Virtual Pool” for the DOS platform is distributed by InterPlay, and for Mac by MacPlay. In either version, it costs about $40.

* Cyburbia’s e-mail address is david.colker@latimes.com.