Cambridge, MA – June 30, 2010 – GenArts Inc., the premier provider of specialized visual effects software for the film, television and video industries, announced today that it has released GenArts Sapphire™ 5 for Autodesk® Smoke® For Mac OS® X. Based on industry-standard Sapphire 5 visual effects suite, Sapphire for Smoke for Mac OS X offers Macintosh editorial artists 130 Sparks featuring the image quality, speed and compatibility so essential to conforming and finishing their shots.
Sapphire for Smoke for Mac OS X was unveiled at NAB in April to much anticipation. Sapphire’s image quality is unmatched in the industry, and enhances the quality of your Smoke. Its real-time interactivity (even at HD resolutions) and lightning-fast render speeds buy artists more time to finesse their shots -- even under tight on-air deadlines. Sapphire is available on every major host platform, so artists can confidently conform and finish shots from Nuke, Avid, Final Cut and After Effects.
“Smoke for Mac OS X has been a great innovation, but it has really come to life with the addition of GenArts Sparks,” said Roy Trosh, technical director at The Mill. “Now that Sapphire is available, we can integrate our Smoke for Mac OS X workstations seamlessly with the rest of our facility and workflow.”
GenArts Sapphire for Smoke for Mac OS X features:
- 130 Sparks, including glows, edge rays, lens flares, lightning and warps, offer the ultimate in creativity.
- Compatibility across all the major host platforms allows artists to seamlessly finish shots from Nuke, Avid, Final Cut or After Effects systems.
- Blinding-fast renders and full interactivity buy artists more time for finessing shots.
- Stunning image quality, including full floating point support, raises the bar over Smoke for Mac’s built-in effects.
- It is offered at an attractive $3,999 price point.
“GenArts Sapphire has built a reputation over the last 13 years as the go-to tool for Autodesk Systems,” said Steve Bannerman, CMO of GenArts. “Our new release of Sapphire 5 for Smoke for Mac OS X delivers the same industry-standard Sparks that are indispensible to Linux Smoke artists, with the cost advantages of Smoke for Mac OS X. We’re excited about the potential of this next-generation platform, and committed to delivering the GenArts-quality user experience to the Mac.”
Since the company's founding in 1996, GenArts software has been utilized in thousands of films, television broadcasts and commercials, including more than 20 Oscar-nominated pieces such as Titanic; I, Robot; Armageddon; Star Wars Episode I, II and III; The Matrix trilogy; The Lord of the Rings trilogy; Pearl Harbor; Spider Man; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Transformers; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Avatar and many more.
