VisionArt Design & Animation Vision Art Design & Animation , Inc . , often referred to as VisionArt Design & Animation or simply VisionArt , was a , founded on 10 September 1985 by business partners David L . Rose and Todd Hess , which has created computer - generated imagery ( CGI ) for use in s season run one through four , s pilot episode , and . The company was initially located in Santa Ana , California , before moving to their own property ( acquired by the founders as part of a real estate investment ) , 3025 W . Olympic Blvd . , Santa Monica , California , in 1992 , were it remained until its closure . Prior to 1992 , the company predominantly worked on commission base on commercials and other promotion materials for manufacturers of consumer products , before being contracted for " Deep Space Nine " , which was their first major effects work , in the motion picture industry , and which necessitated their move to larger accommodations in Santa Monica . They worked on the Changeling morph effect , constructed by Dennis Blakey first seen in , winning him an Emmy Award . They also worked on Odo ' s transformation into a spinning top in , the Changeling sea in and , Odo ' s morph in , the morphs in , Odo ' s " melting " in and several Changeling effects in , including the popular neck breaking scene involving Dennis Madalone . The Changeling morphs , were predominantly worked upon by Carl Hooper , after original designer and creator Blakey left VisionArt , halfway through the first season of " Deep Space Nine " . For the new DS9 title sequence which first appeared in the fourth season episode , VisionArt had built and rendered the and the , such as the ( both by Daniel Kramer and Carl Hooper ) , which both appear before the " Deep Space Nine " title as computer - generated models , proving to be also convenient , production - wise , for when it was necessary to see those ships go to warp . The CGI shot of the " Defiant " going to warp was already for the first time used in the previous season episode . The episode earned Executive Vice - President Joshua Rose ( son of founder David ) an Emmy Award nomination . Other effects Vision Art worked on in that season included the artificial wormhole in and the gas giant scenes in , where the " Defiant " , the Jem ' Hadar fighter , the atmospheric probe and the cloud effects were all computer - generated . ( " " ) . A further major contribution was the fifth season first CGI version of the Jem ' Hadar battle cruiser built by Tony Sansalone . For " First Contact " , VisionArt constructed the " T ' Plana - Hath " - type CGI model . The company specifically petitioned the studio to be involved with the production , coming hot on the heels of their very first major movie project , " Independence Day " . Taking a chance , their wish was granted , but not before a guarantee was wrestled from the company as Josh Rose recalled , " " Peter Lauritson made us promise that this would be the best - looking ship we ' d ever done . He told us this sequence would depict the beginning of the " Star Trek " franchise ; and so it would be among the most important moments in the film . " " ( " Cinefex " , issue 69 , p . 118 ) . Using as reference John Eaves ' study model , painted by Robert Tom and photographed by Rose for texture mapping , the model was built by Kramer and Hooper . The company also helped out with some of the computer animation for " Voyager " s pilot episode " Caretaker " , this time earning Josh Rose an Emmy Award in the category " Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects " . VisionArt entered into a joint venture with newly formed Digital Muse in 1996 , in order to serve their main client , " Star Trek " , more efficiently and operated both companies under the new name . ( ) During " Deep Space Nine " s fourth and " Voyager " s second season run , the new combination was effectively the sole regular supplier of CGI for the franchise , until the advent of Foundation Imaging the following year . However , both companies closed their doors in 2000 as Digital Muse fell prey to a hostile take - over . While most of Muse ' s employees moved over to , again , newly formed Eden FX to continue working on " Star Trek " , none of VisionArt did . The most likely explanation for this was , that by this time the television franchise had streamlined and enhanced production efficiency , by continuing with software using CGI vendors only . Throughout its existence , the software platform of choice for VisionArt had been the , non - interchangeable , " Prisms " and " Ice " software packages , from SideFx Software . Aside from " Star Trek " , VisionArt has also worked on popular films such as " Independence Day " ( 1996 ) , " Men in Black " , " Godzilla " ( 1998 ) , " Doctor Dolittle " ( 1998 ) , and " Deep Blue Sea " ( 1999 ) . Upon the closure of VisionArt , an effort was made by the original founders to restart the company on the same location as Santa Monica Studios , LLC . ( not to be confused with the successful computer games company of the same name owned by Sony ) , with Josh Rose again slated to serve as Executive Vice - President , but that company never got off the ground , currently only renting out the real estate on the property .