Viewpoint Creative Catches Viewers with Sapphire Plug-ins

VIEWPOINT CREATIVE CATCHES VIEWERS WITH SAPPHIRE PLUG-INS

Whether it's highlighting a crime solved with a piece of chewing gum or capturing the essence of the perfect Hawaiian beach, advertising and promotional agency Viewpoint Creative has a reputation for developing just the right concept and look to get viewers to tune in to its clients' programs. Viewpoint Creative, which maintains offices in Boston and Los Angeles, is the creative force behind many of the television, print and radio branding, and promotional campaigns for HBO, Discovery Channel, ESPN, the Travel Channel, TLC and other networks and programs. The company lives by its reputation for "not having a house style" - building its success on its ability to continually create looks as fresh as their creative concepts.
Examples of Viewpoint's work include promos for Forensic Files, Junkyard Wars, A Beautiful Mind, and branding for the SciFi Channel, ESPN and HGTV - looks and concepts that vary dramatically from client to client. According to Viewpoint Creative flame artist Dave DiNisco, one of the reasons the agency is able to be so flexible in its execution of visual concepts is because of the extensive set of effects in their GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins toolkit integrated with their SGI-based flame and smoke systems.
"There are so many options in the Sapphire package. Nothing else offers such a depth of essential tools," explains DiNisco. "It's like this: other packages might give you that one specific tool, like motion re-timing, 2D post motion blur, or Primatte. Sapphire Plug-ins from GenArts is the only package that gives you the complete toolbox. It's so fundamental to our workflow - we don't just use Sapphire Plug-ins on every job, we use them on almost every single composite."
One of the earliest adopters of Sapphire Plug-ins, Viewpoint Creative has been using the GenArts package for nearly seven years. "It's absolutely an integral part of the pipeline," DiNisco says. "Both of the in-house artists use it along with every freelancer. Everyone in the flame community knows how to use it, which is a real bonus, since they all bring different styles to the work, and they can all find the effects that suit their approach."
In addition to their creative capabilities, DiNisco notes that Sapphire Plug-ins have added speed to his process. "They're so well designed that I can typically use the default settings in any of the effects without making any adjustments to achieve the look I want. The multiple effects, like glow comp and glow mask, make it quick and easy to do a comp right in the effect." He adds, "I would have a difficult time working without them. I use the multi-res rendering and crop options constantly, saving tons of rendering time and UI interaction." DiNisco concludes, "Overall, Sapphire is simply one of the best designed and well-executed products on the market for digital compositing. And since we're continually challenged to create looks that do justice to the incredibly creative concepts at Viewpoint, confidence in our toolset is everything."

About Sapphire Plug-ins
Sapphire Plug-ins provide digital artists with a collection of over 200 state-of-the-art image processing and synthesis effects. They fully and seamlessly integrate into a number of editing and compositing systems including: Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere; Apple Final Cut Pro and Shake; Avid's DNA family of products, Media Composer, Xpress, Xpress DV, Symphony and Avid DS; Discreet combustion, flint, flame, inferno, fire, smoke, and burn. Sapphire Plug-ins offer a comprehensive suite of tools and effects that can transform any film or video clip. They are resolution-independent, include multi-processor support for faster rendering, and run on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Irix. Effects in the package range from everyday tools such as Glows, EdgeRays, LensFlare, Glint, Blurs and RackDefocus, to more exotic effects like Lightning Zaps, FlysEye, JpegDamage, HalfTone and Textures.
About GenArts, Inc.
Based in Cambridge, Mass., GenArts, Inc. is a premier provider of digital visual effects plug-ins for the film and video industry. Introduced in 1996, Sapphire Plug-ins have become an industry standard for high-end visual effects creation at leading studios, broadcast and post production facilities around the world. They are widely recognized for their unrivaled quality and ease-of-use, and have been used extensively to create an array of feature films such as Terminator 3, The Matrix Reloaded, The Lord of the Rings, X-Men II, Daredevil, Star Wars-Episode I and II, Spider-Man, Ice Age, Pearl Harbor, Final Fantasy, Dinosaur, Titanic, Armageddon, Planet of the Apes, Contact, Star Trek and Godzilla. Additional GenArts product information can be found at http://www.genarts.com.
Contact:
Nicole Panas
GenArts, Inc.
1-617-492-2888
info@genarts.com

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