John F. Gross (born 2 December 1961; age 62) is a visual effects and post-production artist and supervisor who has contributed to various Star Trek series as a member of three different companies. He is the co-founder of both Digital Muse and Eden FX, companies responsible for many digital visual effects on Star Trek: Enterprise and the seventh season of Star Trek: Voyager, along with Foundation Imaging.
Gross was working at computer animation studio Amblin Imaging, which he helped co-found, creating effects for the series SeaQuest DSV, when his association with the Star Trek franchise began. Amblin was hired by Dan Curry and David Stipes to create the emergent lifeform for the Star Trek: The Next Generation seventh season episode "Emergence". A short time later, Amblin was brought in to work on computer generated effects for the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Caretaker". Gross was Amblin's CG supervisor at this time and oversaw the creation of the computer-generated model of USS Voyager.
In 1996, Gross formed Digital Muse with John Parenteau, taking over much of the inventory of Amblin. This company picked up where Amblin left off, having been closed by its parent company, continuing to create computer-generated starships for Voyager. In addition, they created numerous ships for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and worked on Star Trek: Insurrection. In 2000, when a decision to sell a portion of Digital Muse resulted in a complete takeover, Gross opted to start over. He left the company and formed Eden FX with Mark F. Miller, formerly of Digital Magic. Digital Muse closed down shortly thereafter.
Gross has shared Emmy Award nominations for his work as CG supervisor on three Star Trek episodes: Voyager's "Life Line" and "The Haunting of Deck Twelve" and Enterprise's episode "Breaking the Ice". In total, Gross has supervised the creation of well over one hundred computer-generated starship models.
Career outside Star Trek[]
After Eden Fx's involvement with Star Trek, Gross as "President, Creative Director" and "Lead Visual Effects Supervisor" of the company, has been involved in virtually every production the company has contributed to since. John Gross is currently still serving as CEO of Eden FX, which he and Miller sold in 2007 to the larger Point.360 company, with Eden FX initially keeping its identity as a separate entity within the group. [1].
Emmy Award Nominations[]
Nominations in the category "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series ",
- 2000 Emmy Award nomination for the episode VOY: "Life Line", shared with Les Bernstein, Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Jeremy Hunt, Fred Pienkos, and Ronald B. Moore
- 2000 Emmy Award nomination for the episode VOY: "The Haunting of Deck Twelve", shared with Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Jeremy Hunt, Fred Pienkos, Ronald B. Moore, and Greg Rainoff
- 2002 Emmy Award nomination for the episode ENT: "Breaking the Ice", shared with Adam Buckner, Steven Rogers, Paul Hill, Adam Howard, Greg Rainoff, Fred Pienkos, Eddie Robison, and David Stipes