The company's ball-tracking technology and graphics package was called on to help review an umpire's decision for the first time.
Mark Benson gave Malinda Warnapura not out after Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh app-ealed for an lbw decision.
Third umpire Rudi Koertzen reviewed the information supplied by Animation Research and relayed it back to Benson to make a final decision.
Replays showed the ball pitched and struck the batsman in line but looked to be sliding down leg.
Benson stuck with his decision of not out.
Once the review was out of the way the broadcaster used the ball-tracking technology to show the projected path of the ball.
According to Virtual Eye the ball would have passed leg stump harmlessly, vindicating Benson's decision.
Animation Research cricket operations manager Troy McNeill was in Colombo for the first three days of the test and on hand when history was created.
It was a nerve-wracking time, he said.
"It was a bit bloody scary, to be perfectly honest," he said. "But I'd say it was a success."
The ICC is trialling the umpire review system for the test series after both teams agreed to the trial.
The experimental rule allows players to request a review of an on-field umpire's decision for the first time.
Each team is allowed three unsuccessful review requests per innings.
The third umpire is allowed to use slow-motion replays, the mat, sound from the stump microphone and approved ball-tracking technology to help make decisions.
McNeill said the pitch map was accurate to within 1.9mm but he had some reservations about Virtual Eye's ability to predict the path of the ball.
"It is a gimmick in TV now and I'm kind of with Ian [Taylor, the managing director of Animation Research] on this. You can't replace umpires - you only supply a prediction based on a mathematical model.
"As you and I know a cricket ball is not [perfectly] round and there are a number of variables which can go into the prediction."
His view was the man in the middle was still in the best position to made a decision on whether the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps.
