Okay...in brief, the way standard space EFX are done is that they create
a plate of a starfield; over this, they put a plate of a planet, then finally
overlay a plate of, say, a ship going by. Nothing is really to size or in
perspective.

What Ron has done is to create, in the computer, a sector of space about
as big as a solar system. He's put the star *here*, Babylon 5 there, the
bookend planet and moon over there, and anything that enters that system _
ships or anything else _ are sized to scale. It's ALL created to the actual
scale involved. So that when an object moves through that sector of space,
it's moving through "real space," with everything in its proper perspective.
Consequently, the eye accepts it as more real, more 3-dimensional. Things
moving away recede into the proper size and distance, and approach growing in
correct size and perspective. It's really a stunning effect.

jms