Ron Gress Ronald " Ron " Albert Gress was a who has specialized in studio model painting , matte painting , and digital painting , eventually becoming visual effects art director / supervisor . Gress has contributed to the production of two . A 1972 Fine Arts graduate from the University of California , Berkeley , Gress got his first professional motion picture industry employment at Douglas Trumbull ' s Entertainment Effects Group ( EEG ) in 1979 , where he was hired as model painter , after the studio models moved there from Magicam . There he worked on the various studio models used in the production of , among others the air tram , as well as applying the large Klingon symbol on the bottom of the K ' t ' inga class model . Though not having received official credit for the production , he has made a significant contribution , when he was appointed assistant to lead painter Paul Olsen of the refit - " Enterprise " model , and was responsible for the application of the paint job on the secondary hull . In 1996 , while employed at Digital Domain , Gress came full circle when he was appointed as Visual Effects Art Director to oversee the visual effects for the last " Star Trek " feature that took place in the prime universe , , directing among others the crash scene of the and the " Scimitar " . Career outside " Star Trek " . After EEG became Boss Film Studios in 1984 , Ron Gress continued on in the same capacity for two more years , working on productions like " The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension " ( 1984 , with several other " Trek " alumni including Gregory Jein , Mark Stetson , Christopher Lloyd , and Robert Ito , among others ) , and " 2010 " ( 1984 ) . In 1985 he joined former EEG co - worker Mark Stetson ' s company , Stetson Visual Services , and has worked on productions like " Die Hard " ( 1988 , with Bruce MacRae ) , " The Hunt for Red October " ( 1990 , again with Jein and MacRae , as well as with Alan McFarland and future " Star Trek " illustrator John Eaves ) , " Batman Returns " ( 1992 ) and " True Lies " ( 1994 ) . After a three - year stint as independent contractor , Gress joined Digital Domain in 1996 , working among others on " Nemesis " . Gress stayed in the employment of Digital Domain for ten years , and it was there that Gress made the transition from creating visual effects the traditional was to creating visual effects digitally . Apart from " Nemesis " , Gress has worked on big productions like " The Fifth Element " ( 1997 , reuniting him with Mark Stetson ) , " Armageddon " ( 1998 ) , " The Time Machine " ( 2002 ) , and " Flags of Our Fathers " ( 2006 ) In 2009 , Gress moved to Beijing , China , where he was lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy for two years ( 2009 - 2011 ) , and has worked on various Chinese movie projects . Presently , he is dividing his time between Beijing and Hollywood as he also works on the television show " Boardwalk Empire " , that , as of 2012 , was still in production . Gress was prominently featured in the 2011 documentary " Sense of Scale " ( mentioning his involvement with " The Motion Picture " ) , in which several fellow model makers discussed their craft , also featuring Mark Stetson , Greg Jein , Pat McClung , Bruce MacRae and Gene Rizzardi .