Imagine a boulder larger than the state of Texas crashing into the Earth. Engineering Animation, Inc., an Ames-based visualization technology company, has made visualizing that impact far easier.

Tonight at 7 p.m. a National Geographic Special, “Asteroids: Deadly Impact,” will air on NBC, thanks in part to EAI.

The television special will provide viewers with a realistic depiction of what would happen if a large asteroid hit the Earth. The show features images made with the use of high-end animation produced at EAI.

“The animation that EAI produced for us is by far the most sophisticated, ambitious animation ever created for a television documentary,” said Eitan Weinrich, a producer for National Geographic Television and director of the program.

“Traditionally, documentaries have incorporated photography or illustration to explain scientific principles and theories,” Weinrich said in a press release. “Now, advanced animation technology helps us visualize strange or amazing scenarios — those which cannot be filmed or photographed — to truly understand our world and its complexities.”

The collaboration was not only beneficial to the producers of the National Geographic Special, but also to the technology experts at EAI, said Julie Weitzell, EAI’s executive director of business development for entertainment, in a press release.

“EAI is proud to have worked with such a well-respected television production company as National Geographic Television,” Weitzell said. “Whether it be for television, commercials or feature films — we at EAI are dedicated to providing our clients with unrivaled service and the highest quality of animation.”

Weinrich said in the release that National Geographic’s reputation rests on showing people amazing things that people have never seen before. “We needed a way to create extremely photo-realistic representation of objects and actions that occur outside of normal human observation,” he said.

Weinrich said he was pleased with the application of animation technology and he plans to rely on it when other media do not offer suitable results.

“I was particularly impressed with the responsiveness that animation allows,” Weinrich said in the release. “A few changes here and there always led to instantaneous, tangible results. With painstaking detail, effective communication and a sensible production schedule — there’s no limit to what you can achieve through computer animation.”