Foundation Imaging
Encyclopedia
Foundation Imaging was a CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 visual effects studio, computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....

 studio, and post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...

 editing facility that pioneered digital imaging for television programming using Newtek
NewTek
NewTek, Inc. is a San Antonio, Texas-based hardware and software company that produces live and post-production video tools and visual imaging software for personal computers...

's LightWave 3D on Commodore
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...

 Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

 based Video Toaster
Video Toaster
The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition and high-definition video in NTSC, PAL, and resolution independent formats on Commodore Amiga computers and subsequently on computers running the Windows operating system...

 workstations. Founded by Paul Beigle-Bryant and Ron Thornton, they are best known for their work on the science fiction series Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...

. Their Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 winning work on the pilot episode of Babylon 5 popularised the usage of Lightwave 3D on US TV shows for CGI visual effects, leading to it becoming an industry standard. After they were replaced by Netter Digital
Netter Digital
'Netter Digital Entertainment was a company created by Douglas Netter in 1995. The company produced the show Hypernauts before moving to digital EFX work and replacing Foundation Imaging in the final two seasons of Babylon 5 as the sole producer of CGI special effects for that series as well as...

 on the series after its third season, the company was primarily contracted to work with Paramount's Star Trek television properties (winning two more Emmys for their work on Voyager), as well as providing CG visuals for the Warner Brothers direct-to-video animated movies based on Batman:The Animated Series.

The company was dissolved after work on season one of Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...

had been completed and the company assets were sold off in a public auction
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....

 on December 17, 2002 by Brian Testo Associates, LLC. Key animators from the company, Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz and John Teska remain major figures in the visual effects field for their work on shows such as the rebooted Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

 and Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

.

Movies

  • The Jackal (1997)
  • Batman: Sub Zero
    Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
    Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero is a 1998 direct-to-video animated feature film based on Batman: The Animated Series and is a sequel to the episode Deep Freeze. It won the Annie Award for Best Home Video Animation. It was produced by Warner Bros...

    (1998)
  • Today's Life (2000)
  • The Legend of Zu
    The Legend of Zu
    The Legend of Zu, also known as Zu Warriors in the United States, is a 2001 Hong Kong film produced and directed by Tsui Hark. The film starred Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung, Patrick Tam, Zhang Ziyi and Sammo Hung...

    (2001) (Blood Sea sequence)
  • They Crawl (2001)
  • Project Viper
    Project Viper
    Project Viper is a 2002 movie starring Patrick Muldoon, Theresa Russell, Curtis Armstrong, Tamara Davies. The movie was directed by Jim Wynorski under the pseudonym "Jay Andrews."-Plot:...

    (2002)
  • The Extreme Team (2003)
  • Chrome (2005)

Live action series

  • Babylon 5
    Babylon 5
    Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...

    (1993 - 1996) (seasons 1-3)
  • Hypernauts
    Hypernauts
    Hypernauts was a proof of concept show produced by Foundation Imaging and Netter Digital Entertainment. To further prove that the computer-generated imagery and visual effects created in Babylon 5 were easily applied to other venues, the Hypernauts were born...

    (1995 - 1996) (season 1)
  • Star Trek: Voyager
    Star Trek: Voyager
    Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

    (1996 - 2001) (seasons 3-7)
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...

    (1997 - 1999) (the season 5 finale, seasons 6-7)
  • Dawson's Creek
    Dawson's Creek
    Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...

    (2000) (single episode water effects)
  • Star Trek: Enterprise
    Star Trek: Enterprise
    Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...

    (2001 - 2002) (season 1)

Animated series

  • Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
    Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
    Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles was a CGI animated television series based on both the novel by Robert A. Heinlein and the 1997 film adaptation directed by Paul Verhoeven...

    (1999)
  • Max Steel
    Max Steel
    Max Steel is a science fiction–action, CGI, animated series which originally aired from February 25, 2000 to January 15, 2002, based on the Mattel action-figure of the same name. Max Steel ran for three seasons, totaling thirty-five episodes with a predicted audience of young males from the ages of...

    (2001)
  • Dan Dare
    Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future (TV Series)
    Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future is a computer-generated TV series produced first by Netter Digital then by Foundation Imaging, running to 26, 22-minute episodes. The series drew on several different incarnations of the Dan Dare comic strip....

    (2002)

External links

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