The National Magazine Company Selects Vertus' Fluid Mask 3 to Optimise production workflow and creativity

December 5, 2007; 04:05 AM
BOSTON, MA & LONDON, ENGLAND – Vertus, the graphics and imaging software division of Heligon, a technology business specializing in image data interpretation, today announced that the National Magazine Company, one of the foremost luxury consumer magazine publishers in the United Kingdom, has purchased a site license for Vertus’ Fluid Mask 3 that will allow every designer on staff to access the program, strengthening their image editing toolbox and optimising workflow, quality and efficiency. The award-winning software will assist the National Magazine Company’s photographers and artists by enabling them to quickly and easily create the most seamless cut-outs on the market, resulting in less time spent editing images and more time focused on the overall publication.

The National Magazine Company, which currently publishes 19 magazines in the UK, including Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire and Cosmopolitan, maintains a rigorous publication schedule and plans to deploy Fluid Mask 3 to help ease the production staff’s workload. Established in 1910, the National Magazine Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, the parent company of Hearst Magazines, and reaches over 13.5 million readers every year. Because of its extraordinary reach, the publishing house requires the utmost creativity and skill from every member of the production team, and it is constantly seeking the best tools to help improve the teams’ efficiency.

“We’re very excited to expand our use of Fluid Mask 3 throughout our production process. We evaluated all the masking tools on the market and found Fluid Mask 3 to be the most intuitive, giving quick, accurate results on complex images,” said Sean Briggs, group publishing systems manager for the National Magazine Company. “We have been testing the program’s capabilities since its initial launch, and it truly helps to unlock our staff members’ creativity and perfect their execution. It has taken us a long way towards simplifying once complex, graphic reproduction tasks. The improvements to our workflow have meant that we realize the return on our investment for each installation of Fluid Mask 3 very quickly.”

Fluid Mask 3 is the top-rated digital imaging tool used for removing objects from their backgrounds by adapting complex algorithms that mimic the way the human eye and brain see edges and objects. The software identifies the outline of the various colors, textures and shades, and separates them into individual puzzle-like pieces. Through the use of this technology, Fluid Mask 3 enables the fastest and most accurate cut-outs on the market, expediting workflow and opening the user to new heights of creativity, layout and design.

“We are excited to deliver these licenses to the National Magazine Company, especially knowing that that the organization put Fluid Mask through such meticulous testing,” said James Carr-Jones, president and CEO of Vertus. “With the addition of Fluid Mask 3 to its production tool kit, we are confident that the National Magazine Company will realize improvements in its production process, both in terms of the accuracy of editing and the time saved in completing projects.”

Fluid Mask 3 is currently available for Windows XP & Vista, Mac Intel, and Power PC 10.3.9 and upwards. The program retails for $239, and is available for purchase at Vertus’ website: http://www.vertustech.com.

For a full demonstration of the software, please contact Gemma Howells, channel sales manager for Vertus (gemma@vertustech.com).

Additional User Testimonials

"Having evaluated nearly all of the major masking products on the market for the past several years, this is the first to give users a powerful yet easy-to-use tool that produces fantastic results when working with a wide variety of subject material."

Bob Bousfield, Application Specialist, National Magazine Co. Ltd.

“Fluid Mask is the only masking tool I turn to when working with complex cut-outs. It can even do my messy hair!”
James Naylor, Application Specialist, National Magazine Co. Ltd.

“I've found that Fluid Mask 3 makes it so much quicker to cut out the multitude of photos we take in the studio. They're nice and clean and so it literally takes minutes.”
Graham Taylor, Designer, Runner's World, National Magazine Co. Ltd.

About Vertus

Vertus is the graphics and imaging software division of Heligon, a technology business specializing in image data interpretation. Heligon's groundbreaking technology uses complex algorithms to mimic the way the eye and brain perform visual processing so that complex shapes and colors can be recognized within images. Heligon licenses its technology to market leaders in industries including design and graphics, printing and video. More information on Vertus can be found at: http://www.vertustech.com