With Ed Catmull, Smith was a founding member of the Lucasfilm Computer Division, which developed computer graphics software, including early renderer technology.[6] As director of the Computer Graphics Project, Smith created and directed the "Genesis Demo" in The Wrath of Khan, and conceived and directed the short animated film The Adventures of André & Wally B., animated by John Lasseter.[7] At some point in the 1980s, a designer suggested naming a new digital compositing computer the "Picture Maker". Smith thought that the laser-based device have a catchier name, and came up with "Pixer", which after a meeting was changed to "Pixar".[8] During this time, Smith popularized the use of L-systems in the realistic rendering of plants in computer graphics.[9]