| Industry | CGI visual effects studio |
|---|---|
| Defunct | December 28, 2002 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
Key people | Paul Beigle-Bryant andRon Thornton (founders) |
Foundation Imaging, Inc. was aCGI visual effects studio,computer animation studio, andpost-production editing facility that existed from 1992 until 2002. The studio won Emmys for its work onBabylon 5 andStar Trek: Voyager.
The company was founded by Paul Beigle-Bryant andRon Thornton. It pioneered digital imaging for television programming usingNewtek'sLightWave 3D, originally onCommodoreAmiga basedVideo Toaster workstations.
The company was dissolved after work on season one ofStar Trek: Enterprise[1] had been completed and the company assets were sold off in apublic auction on December 17, 2002 by Brian Testo Associates, LLC.
The company's pioneering work on Babylon 5 popularized using the software packageLightwave 3D on US TV shows for CGI visual effects, which led to it becoming an industry standard throughout the 1990s.
Key animators from the company and Emmy Award-winners Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz and John Teska remain major figures in the visual effects field for their work on shows such as the rebootedBattlestar Galactica andLost.
Foundation Imaging is best known for their work on the science fiction seriesBabylon 5, winning anEmmy Award for the pilot episode.
After completing the third season of Babylon 5,[2] they worked on Paramount'sStar Trek: Voyager andStar Trek: Deep Space Nine (ultimately winning two more Emmy Awards for their work on Voyager).
Foundation Imaging made the exterior views rendered by computer graphics for theDelta Flyershuttlecraft, from drawings byRick Sternbach, debuting on Voyager in the "Extreme Risk".[3] They also did the CGI views of the Varro generation ship in the episode "The Disease" for example.[4]
The company also worked onRobert Wise's director's cut ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture. This was one of Foundation Imaging's last projects before they shut down. Lebowitz also worked withParamount Plus on the film's 2022 restoration.
While working on Star Trek, the company provided CG visuals for the Warner Brothers direct-to-video animated movies based on theBatman: The Animated Series TV series.
During the show's first season, Ronald B. Moore worked with CG effects houses Eden FX and Foundation Imaging
