Eugene P. Rizzardi

Eugene "Gene" Paul Rizzardi, Jr. is a model maker and visual effects (VFX) artist who oversaw the build of the Borg cube model as well as building the forced perspective Enterprise-D dorsal saucer section for the second season episode , while hired as sub-contractor by Starlight Effects. As subcontractor, Rizzardi did not gain official recognition for his contributions.
In addition to the television franchise, Rizzardi has made two contributions to the . He has constructed the transparent display model of the , seen in , albeit uncredited again. Around the same time, he was also contracted by the franchise for the built of Jonathan Archer's remote controlled model spaceship, featured in , and which he co-built with model making colleague Bruce MacRae, still remaining uncredited. More recently, he also worked in the prop shop for , earning his first official Star Trek credit.
==Career outside Star Trek==
Hailing from the East Coast, and educated at the New York School of Visual Arts, Rizzardi started his work in the VFX department and as miniature and model maker in the early 1980s when he worked on projects such as (1980, with Carey Howe), (1982, with Persis Khambatta), the science fiction television movie V (1983 for David Stipes Productions, with Gregory Jein, Scott Squires, and Hoyt Yeatman) and its following television mini series V: The Final Battle (1984), and (1985) for which he won a prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 1985.
Further credits include (1986), (1987), (1988), (1988), (1988), (1992), (1993), for Digital Domain (1995) and (1997), (1997), (1998), (1999), (2003) and (2006).
More recently he worked as special effects technician on (2007), (2007), the romance Lie To Me (2008), (2008), and (2009), as prop shop foreman on (2010), and as special effects foreman on (2011).
Rizzardi is operating his own model, and prop company, Modelwerkes Models, founded in 1979 and located in Canyon Country, California, providing services for motion pictures, television, architectural industry, theme parks, and corporate clients. He is a member of the Visual Effect Society (responsible for the VES Awards), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Visual Effects branch (responsible for the VFX Academy Awards), and the Association of Professional Model Makers. 
Gene Rizzardi is featured in the 2011 documentary Sense of Scale, in which several model makers discuss their craft, and which also features Ron Gress, Greg Jein, Pat McClung, and the aforementioned Bruce MacRea.
== External links ==
* – official site
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Category:Art department