News » Image Processing Software a Safe Harbor blogSafe Harbor Computers Now Providing Customers with Live Chat Shopping Experience
Milwaukee, WI – January 12, 2012 – Safe Harbor Computers, a leading supplier to video editors, 3D animators and post production professionals, has announced that they are now providing live chat support to customers around the world. Building on the highly-rated customer service that they’re known for, the new live chat feature is another simple and user-friendly option now available to customers throughout their shopping experience. The new feature integrated into Safe Harbor’s website allows post production professionals to connect one-on-one with experienced staff, both pre- and post-sale, during standard business hours. "In addition to email, phone and various social networking sites, the live chat feature is just one more way that customers can connect with us and discover the best solution for their needs," says Jeff Pulera, NLE specialist at Safe Harbor. The live chat addition is the first in a series of updates to Safe Harbor’s online experience. "With a number of updates planned throughout the year, we will soon be able to provide our customers with a completely seamless shopping experience, from general research on gear and software, to pre-sales questions, purchasing and post-sales support, all entirely possible without ever leaving our site," states Marc Leitner, Marketing Coordinator. Safe Harbor’s live chat is currently online at www.sharbor.com and is accessible via the "Chat online" icon in the upper right-hand corner of any page. About Safe Harbor Computers Celebrating 25 years of business, Safe Harbor has become one of the most trusted resellers in the multimedia industry. Founded in 1987 as a Commodore Amiga reseller, Safe Harbor helped to advance the video production industry by providing quality products and outstanding customer service to a wide range of creative artists. With a clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate website, Safe Harbor has built a reliable reputation as an industry leader. Look to Safe Harbor for quality editing and animation software and hardware, as well as for a professional and personable experience. For more information, please visit: www.sharbor.com Adobe upgrade policy to expire with the release of CS6
Whether you’re a video editor, designer, or any other form of creative professional/hobbyist, it’s probably safe to assume that you’re using at least ONE piece of Adobe software in your workflow. With what many refer to as "industry standard" applications, Adobe has always made staying up to date with their software a fairly liberal process. If you had CS3 and the new features in CS4 didn’t particularly appeal to your needs, it is entirely possible that you waited to upgrade until the release of CS5. Or, perhaps upgrading one program sets off a chain reaction causing multiple upgrades, requiring attention to budgets, planning and headaches. Whatever the case may be, if this has been your philosophy regarding Adobe upgrades, it’s time for a fresh start. Enter CS6, the highly-anticipated upcoming release of Adobe Creative Suite. While it’s rumored to be their biggest and most monumental update yet, the release comes with an entirely new upgrade policy… "In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions)." – David Wadhwani, Adobe Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media Business Unit According to Adobe, when the release of CS6 is made available, anyone using pre-CS5 software will be required to pay full price, should they choose to upgrade to the latest edition. While there is no clear answer as to when this may be, it’s also no secret that Adobe has historically planned major announcements around large industry events such as NAB. Rumored for an April 2012 release, CS6 will likely be no exception. On June 21, CEO Shantanu Narayen said during an Adobe conference call that the CS5.5 launch in April, 2011 was "the first release in our transition to an annual release cycle," adding, "We intend to ship the next milestone release of Creative Suite in 2012, and it will include an updated version of Photoshop." If you're looking to stay up to date with the latest tools from Adobe and save money in the long run, now is absolutely the time to get up and running with CS5.5. Through 3/15/12, Adobe is offering 20% off all upgrades from CS4 and earlier, with additional savings and bundles exclusively from Safe Harbor. You can see all of our Adobe sales here, or feel free to give us a call at (800) 544-6599. How do you feel about the new upgrade policy? Let us know in the comments section, or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals at Safe Harbor Computers
It's that time of year again! The time when we offer our biggest sales ever... The time when you save hundreds of dollars on the software and gear you need... and more importantly, the time when we get to extend our thanks to you, our loyal customers. For one week only, we're offering HUGE savings on our workstations, as well as a number of popular hardware and software solutions. These specials, bundles and freebies are WHILE SUPPLIES LAST and won't last long. In addition to these special markdowns, order by 11/29 and get a FREE USB flexible keyboard! Just shoot us a quick note on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ requesting one! These virtually indestructable water/dust-proof silicone keyboards are a portable and convenient solution for when you're out in the field or limited only to your smartphone. Check out all of our Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials or feel free to give us a call at (800) 544-6599. Safe Harbor Computers to Exhibit at 2011 IVA Filmmakers Expo
Waukesha, WI – June 7, 2011 – Safe Harbor Computers, a leading supplier to video and 3D animation professionals, today announced that they will be exhibiting at the 5th annual Illinois Videographers Association Midwest Expo, June 28, 2011. Demonstrating unique features of the Atomos Ninja, alongside the power of Safe Harbor’s custom-built Tsunami and Mac Pro workstations, attendees will experience hands-on benefits of the latest hardware and software. The Atomos Ninja, a rugged and portable 10-bit field recorder for video cameras and DSLRs with HDMI, will be mounted to a Sony video camera for demonstration purposes. The battery-powered unit takes the live uncompressed HDMI feed from a camcorder and saves it to a 2.5" hard drive in the 10-bit ProRes format with 4:2:2 quality, bypassing the compression cameras use when saving HD video to tape or memory card. The captured ProRes files can then be immediately edited in Final Cut Pro without Log and Transfer or any type of transcoding needed. The ProRes clips will also play in Premiere Pro CS5.5 for PC users. Functionality will be demonstrated on both platforms. Also featured will be Safe Harbor’s custom built Tsunami workstations powered by Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 and NVIDIA Quadro by PNY. The Mercury Playback Engine at the heart of Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 is NVIDIA GPU-accelerated, 64-bit native, architected for the future—enabling users to work more fluidly on projects in SD, HD, 2K, 4K, and beyond. Safe Harbor staff and experienced video editor Jeff Pulera will be available for questions as he demonstrates this powerful setup with the Atomos Ninja. An Apple Mac Pro workstation will also be on display with unique configurations tailored to specific editing needs. Literature, raffle prizes, exclusive show specials and coupons will be available to all attendees at the Safe Harbor booth. Jeff will also be discussing the various performance levels of Tsunami and how Safe Harbor can work with customers to meet specific needs and budgets. Show attendees will be able to visit the booth, talk with video professionals, and learn how the Atomos Ninja, with an optimized workstation from Safe Harbor, helps to maximize production workflows. This year's IVA Expo features:
More information and registration is available at http://www.ivaexpo.com/. About Safe Harbor Celebrating 24 years of business, Safe Harbor has become one of the most trusted resellers in the multimedia industry, providing quality products and outstanding customer service to a wide range of creative artists. With a clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate website, Safe Harbor has built a reliable reputation as an industry leader. Look to Safe Harbor for quality editing and animation software and hardware, as well as for a professional and personable experience. Safe Harbor's Ready-To-Edit Tsunami Workstations are extremely high-quality, highly reliable systems backed by renowned customer service. All components are brand-name, non-OEM products and carry full manufacturer warranties - proprietary drivers or technology are never used. System boards are certified compatible by capture card manufacturers. Each system must pass rigorous testing procedures and a full burn-in period before it is shipped. For more information, visit: http://www.sharbor.com About Illinois Videographers Association Established in 1996, the Illinois Videographers Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the continuing education of all videographers from professional to amateur. Monthly meetings on various videography topics and trends are held at The Double-Tree Suites in Wood Dale, IL.
Safe Harbor Computers Now Accepting Orders for Adobe CS5 Licenses
Waukesha, WI – July 14, 2010 – Safe Harbor Computers, a leading supplier to video and 3D professionals, today announced that they are now accepting orders for licensing on select Adobe CS5 software, offering electronic downloads almost immediately to customers. Now available from Safe Harbor, licenses allow users to activate previously installed software such as trial versions, as well as crossgrade from one platform to another. Users who purchase licenses will also acquire portability between two machines. If one owns, or is the primary user of, a single-user or volume license Adobe product that is installed on a computer at work, one can also install and use the software on one secondary computer of the same platform at home or on a portable computer. Licenses are available for newly installed software, upgrades, crossgrades, and with 2-year maintenance plans providing free upgrades to full versions for a full two years after purchase of license. This includes any .dot releases during that 2-year window. Availability Adobe licenses for Photoshop CS5, Premiere Pro CS5, After Effects CS5, Production Premium CS5, and Master Collection CS5 are available immediately from Safe Harbor Computers, delivered electronically via email or FTP at http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/ADL.html. About Safe Harbor Celebrating 22 years of business, Safe Harbor has become one of the most trusted resellers in the multimedia industry. Founded in 1987, Safe Harbor helped to advance the video production industry by providing quality products and outstanding customer service to a wide range of creative artists. With a clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate website, Safe Harbor has built a reliable reputation as an industry leader. Look to Safe Harbor for quality editing and animation software and hardware, ready-to-edit custom workstations, as well as for a professional and personable experience. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Now Available
(San Jose, CaliforniaJune 8, 2010) Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3 software for Windows® and Macintosh, the essential digital photography workflow solution that allows photographers to quickly organize, enhance and showcase their images from one application. First released as a public beta in October 2009, the final version of Lightroom 3 introduces a completely redesigned performance architecture that better handles growing image libraries and provides an unrivaled raw processing engine with noise reduction and sharpening tools to achieve the highest image quality. The 64-bit capable Lightroom 3 includes new features that optimize workflows and allow images to be shared in creative ways, including support for DSLR video files and tethered shooting on select cameras. "There have been over 600,000 downloads of the Lightroom 3 public beta, which has supplied us with a huge amount of valuable feedback from a passionate community of professional and advanced amateur photographers," said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe. "The open dialog we have with our customers allows us to further improve Lightroom and provide the best tools they need to produce high-quality images. We’re happy to see that so many people are anxiously anticipating the final release, so they can start taking advantage of all the new features they had a hand in developing." Public Beta Process Perfects Lightroom 3 New Features Re-built from its core to be lightening fast and responsive, Lightroom 3 adds power throughout the application to provide a fluid experience for photographers. Images load almost instantaneously, and the import experience has been redesigned to be more intuitive, with added previews and default selections that give users quick access to sort through and find images. Helping streamline and adapt to photographers’ changing workflows, Lightroom 3 now allows users to import and manage DSLR video files, as well as take advantage of tethered shooting for select Nikon and Canon cameras. New state-of-the-art photographic tools help photographers bring out the best in their images. Unrivaled Luminance and Color Noise Reduction tools help produce a clearer picture from high ISO or underexposed images while still preserving details. The highly-requested Automatic Lens Correction feature can dramatically improve the results possible with any lens by allowing users to apply profiles that correct for undesirable geometric distortions, chromatic aberrations and lens vignette effects that most lenses introduce to the image. Users now also have a straighten tool to perfect vertical and horizontal perspective, additional presets for applying more photographic adjustment styles, and three new contemporary vignette styles and a Grain effect to add a more natural look with images. Lightroom 3 Expands Image Showcasing Output options have also been enhanced in this release, with new capabilities to publish collections on online sharing sites. Flickr® users have the ability to synch their accounts to Lightroom with one click, and integration with additional online photo sharing sites can be added via third-party plug-ins. Customizable print layouts provide more refined control over how photographers present final images, and new watermarking features, with options to modify text, size, location and style, help give professionals and amateurs flexibility for branding images. Lightroom 3 now also includes the ability to export polished slideshows as video files with the option to add audio and title screens. Pricing and Availability The estimated street price is US$299 for new users with an upgrade price of US$99 for qualified registered Lightroom users. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OS X v 10.5, 10.6 with Intel® based processor, or Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise or Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, 2 GB RAM and a 1,024x768 resolution screen. Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom. About Adobe Systems Incorporated Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com. Adobe Helps Prepare the 21st Century Workforce with Creative Suite 5
(San Jose, CAApril 14, 2010) To help K-12 and higher education institutions stay competitive and prepare today's technology-driven workforce, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 product family (see separate releases) and its supporting educational resources. The company is offering new curricula, a certification program and learning resources to better train students and faculty in the digital communication and collaboration skills vital to 21st century employment. For the first time, Adobe is extending significant software discounts for home usage with the new Creative Suite 5 Student and Teacher Editions along with the more affordable educational license pricing offered to institutions. "Being able to creatively express an idea using compelling facts and visuals is imperative in any profession. This process involves technology literacy, creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration skills," said Peter Isaacson, vice president of worldwide education for Adobe. "With the launch of Creative Suite 5, we're giving institutions, students and faculty the ability to learn these skills and use the tools wherever they are – in the classroom, at home or online." Creative Suite 5 products enable students and faculty to more easily create print, Web, video, audio and mobile content and incorporate it into their assignments. It allows them to work faster, craft great stories, collaborate more efficiently and visually communicate their ideas. For example, with the new Adobe Flash® Catalyst™ component, building interactive content can be done without writing code. And integration with Adobe CS Live online services provides new ways to work together online and streamline the way projects get done (CS Live Services are complimentary for a limited time).* "With Creative Suite 5, Adobe continues to deliver innovative tools that make teaching cross-media skills easier than ever," said Brett Forsyth, head of digital design, Vancouver Film School. "With Adobe Creative Suite 5 software, students learnindustry-standard tools to expand their creative skills – giving them a head start toward successful careers." Research shows that today's students are producers, not just consumers of digital media. Creating and sharing ideas, photos and videos on social networks and personal blogs are part of their daily lives. It is how they communicate socially, and they want to incorporate these elements into their school work. Adobe Creative Suite 5 software, and its accompanying educational training and pricing, gives students and faculty the opportunity to learn how to effectively use Creative Suite 5 and create compelling projects that express their ideas. "Adobe solutions are a critical part of the digital media platform for Lee County schools and are integral to our technical certification programs," said Jana Hambruch, project director, Office of Zone and Attractor Programs and Technical, Career and Adult Education, Lee County Public Schools in Florida. "Using Adobe software, students are graduating with the competitive skills required in today's workplace. Certification programs combined with industry-leading software like Adobe Creative Suite 5 will continue to better engage students in learning to achieve higher grades and standardized test scores." New Educational Resources Adobe has developed three different CS5 curricula designed to help teachers implement design, Web and video programs. These focus on the technical skills and design theory students need to be successful communicators in their fields: Digital Design: Foundations of Web Design; Visual Design: Foundations of Design and Print Production; and Digital Video: Foundations of Video Design and Production. The year-long curriculum guides will be available for free from Adobe, and will align to the standards set by The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) NETS for Students. Educators and students can get certified for both entry-level skills as an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) and professional-level skills as an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE). Developed and deployed by Certiport® and Adobe, these certifications validate a broad range of technical and communication skills when entering post-secondary schools or the workforce. Adobe will also offer CS5 online training from Total Training™ and on-site, instructor-led workshops through Knowledge Network Solutions. What's Included in Creative Suite 5 The Adobe CS5 product family also enables the creation of content and applications for the much-anticipated releases of Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR® 2, which are optimized for high performance on mobile screens and designed to take advantage of native device capabilities for a richer, more immersive user experience. For more detailed information about features, please visit: http://www.adobe.com/education/products/creativesuite Pricing and Availability Adobe Creative Suite 5 and its associated point products are scheduled to ship within 30 days with availability through Adobe Authorized Resellers, the Adobe Store and Adobe Direct Sales. Education pricing is available. For more information, visit: http://www.adobe.com/education/products/creativesuite. For the education market, Adobe offers flexible volume licensing programs and low pricing, making Creative Suite 5 more affordable for institutions of all sizes. The new Creative Suite 5 Student and Teacher Editions for individual home-use are expected to start at US $299. For more detailed information about educational upgrade policies and pricing, please visit: http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing. About Adobe Systems Incorporated Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com FreeForm Bundled with Adobe CS5 Collection
(Wilmington, NCApril 13, 2010) Digieffects® announced today that FreeForm will be bundled with Adobe® After Effects® CS5, Adobe Creative Suite® 5 Production Premium, and Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection. FreeForm, developed by Mettle Communications, is a plug-in for Adobe After Effects CS5 that allows users to manipulate a flat object into almost any shape using a mesh in 3D space. Regularly priced at $299, FreeForm will be bundled for free with all purchases of Adobe After Effects CS5, Adobe Production Premium CS5, and Adobe Master Collection CS5. More Info
"FreeForm adds a tremendous amount of value for the Adobe After Effects customer. Now users have access to solutions that were previously only attainable through full-featured 3D software, allowing them to take advantage of working with the latest in 3D effects" said Michael Coleman, senior product manager for Adobe After Effects. "We're pleased to be working closely with Adobe for the launch of Adobe Creative Suite 5. Having FreeForm selected as a bundle is a great validation of our products for video and film production," said Robert Sharp, President of Digieffects. "We are honored that Adobe has chosen to bundle FreeForm with Adobe After Effects CS5. Look for more exciting products from Mettle in the future," said Chris Bobotis, Principal at Mettle Communications and developer of FreeForm. About Digieffects Digieffects is a developer of popular software visual effects plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Autodesk Combustion, Grass Valley Edius and Boris RED. The company has been in the business since the beginning of the "plugin revolution" which dates back to 1996. Over the years, Digieffects has had great success with software products like Cinelook and Delirium and is proud to call thousands of film and video producers all around the world its customers and friends. About Mettle Communications Based in Montreal, Mettle Communications is an award-winning animation, print, and interactive design firm. The company has also leveraged its exceptional talent pool and technical know-how to create innovative proprietary software tools that streamline production. FreeForm was developed by Mettle and is marketed and sold by its partner, Digieffects. For more information, visit http://www.mettle.com. Computer Graphics Student Awards - 2010
The first annual Computer Graphics Student Awards is an online event focused on showcasing the technical and creative talents of fresh talent in the feature animation, visual effects film and television industries.
London, England CgCoach.com has launched the Computer Graphics Student Awards for 2010. The goal of the event is to showcase new industry talent, promote training facilities, and kick-start thirteen careers with fully paid eight week Internships at London’s leading production studios Framestore and Double Negative. The event is divided into eleven specific categories, ranging from "Student of the Year", "School of the Year", and "Excellence" awards in all aspects of production such as modeling, texturing, rigging, lighting, animation, fx, compositing, and concept art. Artists eligible to enter the awards will be asked to submit a single (1) video to CgCoach.com and complete the application form. The CgCoach.com team will then short-list students for each of the awards categories. All the short-listed winners will be presented online via an interactive portfolio system where the official Judging Panel will select their favorite entries. The Computer Graphics Student Awards - 2010, has a total of ten sponsors offering prizes to the value of approximately $67,000 USD. Sponsors include Framestore, Double Negative, Smith Micro, Luxology, Workstation Specialists, Pixologic, Next Limit, Nevercenter, 3D World Magazine, and Digital-Tutors. Registrations for this event close May 10th, 2010. Winners announced June 16th, 2010. For additional information, visit www.cgcoach.com. About CgCoach.com: NVIDIA Introduces NVIDIA Quadro CX
NVIDIA has introduced its new accelerator for Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 software, the NVIDIA® Quadro® CX. This new GPU provides creative professionals with a faster, better, more reliable way to maximize their creativity. Quadro CX was architected to deliver the best performance for the new GPU-optimized features of Adobe Creative Suite 4. "Adobe is at the forefront of the Visual Computing Revolution," said Dan Vivoli, executive vice president of marketing at NVDIA. "CS4’s GPU features are sending shockwaves through the creative industry." "Photoshop users are always looking for maximum performance, and we recognized that tapping into the power of the GPU is one way to give it to them," said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Professional Digital Imaging at Adobe. "Thanks to NVIDIA’s efforts to optimize the Quadro CX product for CS4, users can be assured of a dramatically fast and fluid experience on tasks such as panning, zooming, and rotating large images as well as manipulating 3D content." NVIDIA specifically designed and optimized the Quadro CX to enhance the performance of Adobe Creative Suite 4 product line and meet the unique needs of the Creative Suite 4 professional. Adding NVIDIA Quadro CX to the pipeline gives creative professionals a faster, better, and more reliable experience. With NVIDIA Quadro CX users can encode H.264 videos at lightning-fast speeds with the NVIDIA CUDA™-enabled plug-in for Adobe Premiere® Pro CS4, RapiHD™ from Elemental Technologies; accelerate rendering time for advanced effects; and accurately preview what deliverables will look like with 30-bit color or uncompressed 10-bit/12-bit SDI before final output. Adobe Creative Suite 4 software now has added optimization to take advantage of GPU technology, including the parallel processing capability in the Quadro CX GPU. These enhancements accelerate a number of visually intensive operations, including:
NVIDIA Quadro CX is available starting today, from leading resellers, e-tailers, and retailers, for $1,999 USD. For more information on NVIDIA Quadro and the new Quadro CX, please visit: www.nvidia.com/quadrocx.
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