Editing Star Trek Generations (section)

===Effects===
''Generations''{{'}} special effects tasks were split between the television series' effects vendors and ILM.<ref name="nemecek-2003"/>{{rp|313}} ILM CG Supervisor John Schlag recalled that it was easy to recruit staff who wanted to work on ''Star Trek''; working on the film "gave me a chance to be a part of the whole ''Trek'' thing ... ILM is practically an entire company filled with ''Trek'' geeks".<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|88}} The screenwriters filled the initial drafts with exciting—and expensive—effects. Effects supervisor [[John Knoll]]'s team then storyboarded the effects sequences, figuring out how to best service the script as cheaply as possible. When even those estimates proved too costly, ILM continued cutting shots. "[We had] nothing left to cut, and we still had to cut stuff out," Knoll recalled.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|78–79}}

Previous ''Star Trek'' films had used conventional [[Motion control photography|motion control]] techniques to record multiple passes of the starship models and miniatures. For ''Generations'', the effects artists began using [[computer-generated imagery]] (CGI) and models for certain shots.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|78}} No physical shooting models were built for the refugee ships, although George recalled that he created a quick physical miniature for CG modeler Rob Coleman to develop his ideas from, rather than try to articulate his feedback without it.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|84}} Other CG elements included the solar collapses and the Veridian III planet.<ref name="nemecek-2003"/>{{rp|319}} Knoll used a digital version of the ''Enterprise''-D for the warp effect; the limitations of the motion-control programming and [[slitscan]] effect for the original meant that the effect "barely holds up", Knoll said, whereas the CG recreation could keep consistent lighting throughout.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|88}} While digital techniques were used for many sequences and ships, a few new models were physically built; these included the observatory, built by model shop foreman John Goodson.<ref name="nemecek-2003"/>{{rp|320}}

The climactic battle between the ''Enterprise'' and the Klingons over Veridian III was accomplished using traditional motion control, but without the budget for practical explosions and special breakaway models, impacts and battle damage were simulated with practical compositing tricks and computer-generated effects. The destruction of the Bird of Prey was a reuse of footage from ''The Undiscovered Country''. Weapons fire and energy bolts were hand-animated, but Knoll had a different idea for the [[photon torpedoes]]. A fan of the impressive, arcing look of the torpedoes from ''The Motion Picture'', Knoll scanned in footage from the film and turned to computer-generated effects. A simulator program created a similar look that could be animated from any point the effects artists wanted, without the expense and tedium required—shining lasers through a crystal in a smoky environment—to recreate the look optically.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|80–81}}

[[File:Startrek generationshd0192 nexusribbon.png|thumb|The ribbon and the ''Enterprise'' in this scene are computer-generated; because the camera is following ''Enterprise'' so closely, the effects artists had to make sure the modeling held up to the scrutiny of the big screen.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|86}}|alt=A close-up view of the hull of a Starship surrounded by a ribbonlike vortex of reddish-purple electric energy.]]
Carson described the Nexus energy ribbon as the true villain of the film; ILM was responsible for conceiving what the ribbon would look like with no natural frame of reference.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|81–82}} "When creating something from scratch, it's always important to rough out the whole thing... because there are so many paths you can explore, it's easy to get bogged down," recalled effects co-supervisor Alex Seiden, who had worked as a technical director on the [[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country#Effects|planetary explosion of Praxis]] from ''The Undiscovered Country''.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|83}} Knoll decided the ribbon was a rip through universes, filled with chaotic energy, taking inspiration from images he had seen of magnetic fields around Uranus from a [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] simulation. The airfoil-shaped core of the undulating ribbon was enhanced with electrical tendrils.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|82}} To sell the ribbon's vastness in space shots where no sense of scale would be available, Seiden and George created a debris field of embers that trailed the ribbon.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|83}} The inside of the ribbon was conceptualized as similar to a dense electrical storm, with electricity fogging the screen.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|83}} Because of the complex interplay of the ribbon elements with the ships that would be trapped within it, ILM decided the refugee ships and ''Enterprise''-B should be CG models.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|85}} To make the switch between computer-generated and motion-control passes of the physical model appear seamless, ILM created a [[wire-frame model|wireframe]] of the physical model, with the computer-generated model's textures taken from photos of the physical model, shot in flat light with a long lens.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|85}} The tendril strike that sends Kirk into the Nexus was simulated with the layering of multiple pieces of animation, including CG explosions Knoll rendered on his personal computer and a recycled explosion effect from ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''.<ref name="magid-1995"/>{{rp|86}}

The ''Enterprise''-D crash sequence was filmed in a {{convert|40|by|80|ft|adj=on}} forest floor set extended by matte paintings,<ref name="nemecek-2003"/>{{rp|320}} built outside so ILM could use natural light. A {{convert|12|ft|adj=on}} model ''Enterprise'' saucer was constructed specifically for the shots; the model's size gave it the right sense of scale for flying dirt and debris, an illusion enhanced by shooting with a high-speed camera to give the saucer the expected slow movement of a massive object.<ref name="okuda"/> ILM shot its crew members walking about their parking lot and matted the footage onto the top of the saucer to represent Starfleet personnel evacuating the saucer section.<ref name="nemecek-2003"/>{{rp|320}}