Video Image Video Image , in later years better known and credited under its acronym VIFX ( Video Image Effects ) , and on occasion also referenced to as VIFX / Video Image , has been a first - generation digital , specialized in providing the motion picture industry with computer generated imagery ( CGI ) , which included several " Star Trek " productions . The company was , as one of the earliest of its kind , founded in 1984 by Greg McMurry , Rhonda Gunner , Richard Hollander and John Wash , and originally located in Marina Del Rey , California . It was also one of the earliest companies that provided CGI effects to the motion picture industry as a core business , and as happenstance would have it , also one of the longer - lived , unlike many other contemporary first - generation CGI companies . Prior to the early 1980s , when CGI was required , the industry had to look for them outside the industry at institutions like universities , such as UCLA ' s Computer Graphics Laboratory , or non - industry companies like Evans & Sutherland , who both provided animated computer - generated display graphics for in 1981 . At the time of the company ' s founding , the technological state of CGI software was such , that directors and producers of the time were convinced that CGI could only be used in instances where those effects were supposed to look like computer images , such as computer console displays . Nevertheless , such imagery was in high demand as the personal computer made its rapid entry for general use during the 1980s . Video Image became a market leader in providing this imagery , and their work has been seen in dozens of movie productions of the era , including many blockbuster features with heavy science fiction overtones like " Weird Science " and " Escape From LA " ( 1985 ) , " Predator " ( 1987 ) , " The Fly II " and " The Abyss " ( 1989 ) , " The Hunt for Red October " ( 1990 ) , " Terminator 2 : Judgment Day " ( 1991 ) and " Alien³ " ( 1992 ) , to name but a few . One of these also included the computer - generated " Computer Animation and Tactical Displays " , featured in the 1986 , including the visuals on Spock ' s instructional computer seen at the beginning of the movie . Incidentally , the company was credited as the misspelled Video Images for the feature . They also provided the same sort of visuals five years later , now referred to in the credits as " 24 - Frame Video Displays by " for . In 1993 , the releases of the television production " Babylon 5 " and the movie " Jurassic Park " , heralded a quantum - leap forward in the application of CGI , as it was from now on no longer restricted to computer consoles alone . VIFX , as the company was increasingly known as , managed to keep track with the new developments and started to successfully develop these more advanced CGI effects as well . While the 1993 breakthrough productions each used the pioneering software as their platform , VIFX chose one of the earliest contemporary " Autodesk " predecessor versions of , what eventually was to become the software , as theirs . It was in this software , that VIFX constructed Odo ' s transformation into a monster in s 1993 second season episode , . Visual effects supervisor Glenn Neufeld , a former VIFX employee , brought in his former employer in order to alleviate the workload on VisionArt Design & Animation , who were responsible for the normal morphing sequences of Odo . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 25 # 6 / Vol 26 # 1 , 1994 , pp . 106 - 107 ) In 1996 , the company , by then located at 5333 McConnell Avenue Los Angeles , California , was sold by its founders to . One year later Fox acquired New York City based effects house Blue Sky Studios , and decided to merge the two companies into a new entity , Blue Sky | VIFX . On both occasions , original founder Richard Hollander was retained as President . As Blue Sky | VIFX , the company was heavily involved with the production of the visual effects for . The combination did not pan out very well , as Digital Artist David Stephens later clarified , " " At the time of ST9 , 20th Century Fox had acquired both VIFX and Blue Sky . We went under the combined name “ Blue Sky | VIFX ” for about a year , but the companies were never actually integrated together in any meaningful way . Later , Fox sold off VIFX to Rhythm & Hues while opting ( rather wisely ) to keep Blue Sky and pursue the feature animation market . " " Absorbed into Rhythm & Hues , late 1999 , early 2000 , VIFX ended its existence as a separate entity . According to the International Movie Database , the company has one last 2001 " additional graphics " credit for , what should be presumed , the pilot episode of , but it has yet to be confirmed if that was so and for what the credit was given . " Star Trek " staff . The following are lists of known staff members who specifically worked on " Star Trek " productions before " Insurrection " .