GenArts, maker of the Sapphire and Monster GT motion graphics effects suites for mograph artists, editors and compositors, has appointed George Naspo as its new president and CEO. In a statement, the company said Naspo, a former CEO of both startups and more mature businesses, will focus on increasing GenArt's investment in new product development and improving interoperability with existing editing and compositing tools. Naspo also plans to expand the company's sales and marketing departments. In March, while serving in a consulting capacity as VP of sales, he appointed Christopher Boyd channel sales manager.

The plug-in developer, responsible for what are arguably some of the most sophisticated motion graphics effects and generators on the market, has consistently provided premium options to Flame, After Effects, Nuke, Smoke and Resolve artists but has been challenged in the market by competitors like Boris FX and Red Giant that have broadened and improved their product lines at consistently lower prices. 

Last fall, GenArts released Sapphire 9, the latest version of its most popular suite. (Current version 8 users also received an update to 8.14 in January.) Version 9 introduced a range of gorgeous particle presets, such as Aurora and NightSky, a nice repair frame utility and improvements to the node-based compositing tools the company first included in version 8.

"Builder is the first of its kind within the post-production plug-in industry," Naspo tells StudioDaily, "and it's my favorite new feature in Sapphire because it allows you to create custom effects and transitions. It will significantly improve the workflows of artists and editors in terms of saving time, adding production value and overall creativity. Currently, Builder can be used across Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, and Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve, and we're looking to expand Builder into more OFX-compatible hosts."

A one-year subscription to Sapphire for After Effects CC, Premiere Pro CC, Resolve, The Foundry Nuke and Autodesk Smoke for the Mac is $499. Monthly rentals of Sapphire 9 for Autodesk Flame start at $849 per month and at $280 per month for Avid users.