CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - February 25, 2009) - GenArts, the leading provider of visual effects software for the film, television and video industries, today announced significant gains in artist productivity with its new version of GenArts Sapphire for Avid® systems. GenArts conducted two surveys to quantify productivity gains of its Avid customers who have upgraded from version 1 to version 2 and version 3. The first survey compared an artist's time spent applying transitions with footage before and after upgrading to Sapphire version 3, while the second compared an artist's time spent applying an effect to a complex Avid title before and after upgrading from Sapphire version 1. Beyond productivity gains, the survey also highlights the dramatic return on investment delivered by the new version of Sapphire.

The studies' key findings include:

--  Artists upgrading from Sapphire version 2 have, on average, achieved
    an 87 percent improvement in productivity while building transitions.
    
--  Artists upgrading from Sapphire version 1 have, on average, achieved
    an 85 percent improvement in productivity when applying effects to titles.
    

Since these are common tasks performed many times each week by nearly every Avid artist, such productivity gains can save organizations thousands of dollars per year for each artist. In fact, our study indicates that the average Sapphire customer can pay back their version 3 upgrade licenses in less than two months.

"Sapphire is absolutely essential to our workflow. The time-saving new transitions in version 3 give us the freedom to worry less about budget and more time to create stunning, unique effects that never fail to impress our clients," said Rob Feiner of Net One, Inc., an Emmy Award-winning post-production facility in New York.

"Visual effects have become mission-critical for nearly every project in the film and television industries," said Steve Bannerman, CMO of GenArts. "The challenge to deliver compelling content with shrinking budgets is a relentless one, and GenArts is dedicated to building the tools that offer both the superior creativity and productivity that consistently advance the state of the art. GenArts Sapphire version 3 for Avid systems lives up to that promise by combining highly sought-after new effects such as TVDamage, with the incredible productivity enhancements provided by our new transitions."

Survey Methodology

As part of an ongoing effort to improve the value of its software, GenArts surveyed customers from around the world who have upgraded from Sapphire version 1 to version 2 and to version 3. The studies were administered via a combination of online and telephone questionnaires from February 9 through February 13, 2009. To view the complete surveys, please visit www.genarts.com/upgrade-sapphire-avx.html

About GenArts

GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider of digital visual effects for the film, broadcast and video industries. The GenArts Sapphire, Monsters and Raptors family equip digital artists with a collection of mission critical image processing and synthesis effects such as: glows, light rays, lens flares, lightning, film damage, fire and fluid effects. The effects seamlessly integrate as software plug-ins into leading editing and compositing systems from Adobe, Apple, Avid, Autodesk, Assimilate, Eyeon, FilmLight, The Foundry, Quantel and SGO. The company was founded in 1996 in Cambridge, Mass. www.genarts.com.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Michael Lindenberger BOCA Communications for GenArts 415-738-7718 x 2