Entrepreneur Marc Adler takes technology to its limits

By his sophomore year, Marc Adler, who earned his BBA degree from the Goizueta Business School this year, had solved an age-old problem: finding his first job out of college. He simply started his own business. Today the 22-year-old Adler is president of Macquarium Multimedia Production, which has 12 full-time employees, a production facility in Atlanta and an office in Houston, Adler's hometown. The second largest company of its kind in Georgia and one of the largest in the Southeast, Macquarium specializes in producing highly advanced computer-generated graphics, special effects and animation.

Macquarium was incorporated in January 1993 after Adler, between semesters, filmed a training video for a Houston barbecue company. With his earnings he bought a $20,000 computer-based editing system that uses digitized images in place of tape decks. Drawing on his lifelong fascination with computers, he spent the rest of his holiday learning to use his new system and producing and editing more videos for several Houston businesses.

After a year of working on his own, Adler subleased a production space from a Buckhead company and hired an art director, who worked full time while Adler was in school. At the end of his junior year, Adler hired another artist and a marketing director. One semester later, the company moved into offices in Mid-town, and Adler, who has applied to Emory's MBA program, hired an office manager, a technical director, two more artists and a programmer.

No longer shooting and editing videos, Adler and his Macquarium staff now meet a growing demand for high-end graphics and effects. Much of the company's business comes from other production companies lacking adequate computer facilities. They also work with architectural and advertising firms. Their equipment is the same as that used to create the special effects in films like "Jurassic Park," "Terminator II," "The Abyss" and "The Mask."

The company recently created a "virtual reality walk-through" of the Goizueta Business School building, now under construction. Before ground had been broken on the building, the animated video enabled viewers to tour finished classrooms, offices, an auditorium and a courtyard. The presentation will be used as a fundraising tool for the new structure.

"We used entertainment software to create the walk-through," Adler said. "That's something that has never been done in architecture. Instead of a static image, you look out a window and you actually see what's outside in motion. We can put birds flying in the sky, people walking around, fountains and smoke. We're taking the technology to its limits, and technology today almost has no limits."

--Elaine Justice