GenArts Inc., the premier provider of specialized visual effects software for the film, television and video industries, announced today a floating licensing option for institutional users of GenArts Sapphire™ on After Effects and Final Cut Pro host systems. The eagerly awaited floating license option offers significant flexibility, along with reduced support costs and more efficient resource allocation.

The new floating license option – supported via the Reprise License Manager (RLM) – allows customers to maintain licenses on a centralized server and “check them in and out” to users on a local area network as they are needed. This new Sapphire licensing option provides the following benefits:

• Lower support costs. Since licenses can be seamlessly moved from one machine to another, managing licenses is far easier and machine downtime is minimized.

• Greater flexibility. Customers can now easily support the dynamic requirements of freelance and temporary artists.

• Efficient resource allocation. Customers can gain visibility into artist usage patterns and budget license purchases as their concurrency needs grow.

“GenArts Sapphire’s new floating license option is essential in helping us keep our artist productivity high and our support costs low,” said Saker Klippsten, Head of Engineering, Zoic Studios. “If a machine fails, we can have another one up and licensed immediately, keeping our artists working. In addition, floating licenses allow us to easily configure temporary workstations for freelance artists as they come and go. This new licensing option really saves us money while giving us much more freedom.”

“Post-production houses rely on GenArts Sapphire every single day to ensure stellar visual effects results in feature films, commercials and television shows”, said Steve Bannerman, CMO of GenArts. “Our new floating license option comes as a result of our continuing efforts to listen to our customers and deliver Sapphire in all the ways that meet their needs. We realize that our customers’ businesses have changed and larger facilities need flexible options for keeping costs low and productivity high. Whether it’s floating licenses, rentals or Web-activated serial numbers, GenArts delivers.

GenArts Sapphire’s new floating license option is available to users of After Effects and Final Cut Pro host systems for $2,499. However, existing customers may upgrade their current Web-activated licenses to floating for $800 per license. Customers may have any combination of floating, rental and serial numbers. For more information, see http://genarts.com/product/sapphire/float.

Since the company’s founding in 1996, GenArts software has been utilized in hundreds 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; and many more.

About GenArts
GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider of specialized digital visual effects for the film, broadcast and video industries. The GenArts Sapphire, Monsters and Raptors portfolio equips digital artists with a collection of state-of-the-art 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.