GenArts, Inc. was a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

-based developer of

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

software for the

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

and

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industries. A majority of traditional video content such as

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

television shows A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

, newscasts and

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

included at least some special effects created in a GenArts product.By Mike Seymour, fxguide. �
GenArts’ Katherine Hays - the First 100 Days
” December 23, 2008. GenArts created visual effects software and plugins that integrate visual effects such as glows, lightning, fire and fluids into post-production

video editing software Video editing software, or a video editor is software used performing the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a non-linear editing system. It has replaced traditional flatbed celluloid film editing tools and analog video ta ...

from companies like

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered ...

and The Foundry. GenArts was best known for its traditional role in high-end production environments, where high budget and broadly distributed video content is being created by a large corporation. In 2008, product development and a series of acquisitions broadened GenArts' focus, product portfolio and customer base, and GenArts created plugins developed for smaller budget video editing tools typically used by smaller studios, the videographer market, or creators of content distributed online on websites like

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

.By Geoff Poister, DV.com. �
In Review: Effective Asset
” March 2010.By John Dickinson, MotionWorks. �
Unplugged 26: Steve Bannerman - GenArts
” June 12, 2010. Many

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

productions like Little Krishna and Aladin have used software from GenArts. GenArts has been used in feature films like ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

'', the ''

Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' Trilogy, several

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

movies and the

Matrix Trilogy ''The Matrix'' is an American media franchise consisting of four feature films, beginning with '' The Matrix'' (1999) and continuing with three sequels, '' The Matrix Reloaded'', ''The Matrix Revolutions'' (both 2003), and '' The Matrix Resurre ...

. It's also used in newscasts, music videos by

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

and

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

and television shows like ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' and '' CSI'' The company has 29,000 customers including

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

and

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

.By Jay Rizoli, Mass High Tech. �
Hays brings massive media skills to GenArts
” October 31, 2008.

History

Karl Sims Karl Sims (born 1962) is a computer graphics artist and researcher, who is best known for using particle systems and artificial life in computer animation. Biography Sims received a B.S. from MIT in 1984, and a M.S. from the MIT Media Lab in 1987. ...

founded GenArts, Inc. as Genetic Arts in 1996 in Cambridge, MA as a developer of Discreet Spark Plugins. In 1997 Gary Oberbrunner joined GenArts as its second employee. The company name was changed to GenArts in June, 1999. GenArts' first office space was in Karl's barn. By 1999, three years after the company was founded, GenArts had achieved significant commercial success, a pace of growth founder Karl Sims says he did not expect. Karl won the MacArthur "genius grant" in the '90s for his work on artificial evolution. Between 2000 and 2004 GenArts released Sapphire Plug-ins for Autodesk, Avid, After Effects, Shake, Final Cut Pro, Combustion, Premiere, Digital Fusion, Quantel with Synapse and 844/x.GenArts Our Company
/ref> The company had 220

image processing An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

and synthesis effects by 2008. Prices of the software was also reduced. After creating plugins for the video editing software, GenArts has made the shift to supporting applications such as Avid, Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects that support a broader market of video creators. In 2019, Karl Sims and Gary Oberbrunner each won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, recognizing their "outstanding achievement in engineering development" of Sapphire Plug-ins.

Leadership and corporate strategy

In 2008, GenArts received funding from

Insight Venture Partners Insight Partners (previously Insight Venture Partners) is an American venture capital and private equity firm based in New York City. The firm invests in growth-stage technology, software and Internet businesses. History Insight Partners was fo ...

and appointed a new CEO, Katherine Hays, to execute on a new growth strategy. That strategy involves consolidating a highly fragmented visual effects market into a standards-based, single vendor, off-the-shelf approach Katherine believes will simplify visual effects for customers. The company has also focused their own R&D on

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

, often acquiring popular plugins for a specific video editing software and developing it for other systems. After being a single product company (Sapphire) for over a decade, the new CEO appointment and growth strategy kicked off a series of acquisitions and new partner relationships.By Walter Schoenknecht, NAB Show Daily. �
The Storyteller’s Secret: Visual Effects
” April 12, 2011.By Galen Moore, Mass High Tech. �

” February 16, 2010.By David Cohen, Variety. �
GenArts Deal Steps up its Software Use
” November 3, 2009.By Wade Roush, Xconomy. �
In Wondertouch Acquisition, GenArts Adds Fizz to its FX
” November 3, 2009.By Beth Marchant, Studio Daily. �

” January 30, 2009. * June 2008: Katherine Hays took office as CEO and founder Karl Sims moved to a new role on the company's board of directors. * January 2009: GenArts acquired UK-based SpeedSix, which brought GenArts the Monsters and Raptors brand plugins. GenArts planned to extend those plugins to Avid and After Effects users. * May 2009: The Open Effects Association was formed with GenArts as one of seven founding members striving to create open industry standards across the visual effects community.By Annemarie Moody, AWN. �
Open Effects Associations Formed at NAB 2009
” May 20, 2009. GenArts’ Chief Scientist Gary Oberbrunner is a Director of the Association.Gary Oberbrunner on LinkedIn
/ref> * June 2009: GenArts partnered with

to make digital effects for video games that are more consistent with the effects in the movies the games are based on.By Lewis Wallace, WIRED. �
GenArts Team up to Bring Hollywood-Style VFX to Games
” June 8, 2009. * November 2009: GenArts acquired wondertouch, producers of a sprite-based particle emitter visual effect product called particleIllusion used to create fire, water, explosions, comets, clouds, pixie dust, fog and other natural phenomena. wondertouch had 10,000 customers.By A.J. Wedding, Microfilmmaker Magazine. �

” January 1, 2011 * Early 2010: GenArts acquired the Tinder plugins from The Foundry, leaving The Foundry with their remaining Furnace, Keylight and Ocula plugins. The brand had a 90% market penetration of Autodesk users. GenArts intended to expand Tinder to Adobe After Effects and other platforms.By Mike Seymour, fxguide. �
GenArts Buys Tinder Plugins from the Foundry
” February 16, 2010. * 2010: GenArts expanded the availability of different plugins on various editing software systems. Monsters became available on Adobe After Effects, Autodesk, Nuke and OFX. Sapphire 5 became available on Adobe After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Nuke, Avid, Smoke and OFX. particleIllusion is released for Adobe After Effects on PC and Macintosh computers.Multiple Press Release
hereherehere
an

/ref> * March 2011: Former

Artisan Entertainment Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...

CEO Amir Malin was appointed to the board of directors.By Carolyn Giardina, Hollywood Reporter. �
Amir Malin Named to GenArts Board of Directors
” March 23, 2011. * April 2011: GenArts partnered with

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

to provide their plugins to video arts students.By Audrey Doyle, Digital Content Producer. �
Motion Graphics for the Masses
” June 1, 2004. * January 2013: Genarts partnered with Vimeo to create Vivoom, allowing Vimeo users to apply Sapphire-type filters to their videos. * April 2016: Katherine Hays departed GenArts to spin off Vivoom, and was replaced by George Naspo as CEO. * September 2016: Genarts was sold to Boris FX.

Software

GenArts supported

Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Eff ...

Adobe Premiere Pro Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based and non-linear video editing software application (NLE) developed by Adobe Inc. and published as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud licensing program. First launched in 2003, Adobe Premiere Pro is a succes ...

Apple Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear editing, non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia, Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Macintosh, Mac computers power ...

, Avid Systems,

systems, Nuke, OFX platforms and

Sony Vegas Pro Vegas Pro (stylized as VEGAS Pro, colloquially called ''Sony Vegas'') is a video editing software package for non-linear editing (NLE). The first release of Vegas Beta was on June 11, 1999. The software runs on Windows operating systems. Origin ...

. GenArts’ product lines included the Sapphire, Sapphire Edge and Sapphire Accents brands. The acquired particleIllusion and Monsters GT brands were consolidated under Sapphire Accents:Supported host platforms and some of the product details are collected from various product pages a
genarts.com
/ref> * Sapphire - This product line had 220 effects in nine categories: Adjust, Blur & Sharpen, Composite, Distort, Lighting, Render, Stylize, Time, and Transitions.By David Basulto, Post Magazine. �
Genarts Monsters GT for AE
” September 1, 2010. * Sapphire Accents - A package of extra visual effects from the Monsters GT and particleIllusion products. The Monsters GT product had 50 effects that were similar to Sapphire, like fire, fluids, lightning and blurs, but with specific, unique looks to those effects. particleIllusion was designed for particle effects and used standalone or as an After Effects plugin. Effects in particleIllusion were created through parameters in such a way that there are an infinite number of particle-based effects that were possible.By Michael Burns, Macworld. �
Monsters GT V6 review
” October 8, 2010.
/ref>FlashValley.
Wondertouch particleIllusion 3.0 Part 1
" * Sapphire Edge - Used the same visual effects engine as the Sapphire product, but was designed for ease-of-use and only available for Sony Vegas Pro and Final Cut Pro. * FX Central - An online library of pre-built, pre-configured looks that was updated each month.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Genarts, Inc. Software companies established in 1996 Software companies disestablished in 2016 Defunct technology companies of the United States Visual effects companies Film and video technology Special effects companies Software companies based in Massachusetts Software companies of the United States 2016 mergers and acquisitions