NewTek is the driving force pushing the edge of video and graphics technology while redefining price/performance and ease of use. Our cutting-edge products are used worldwide on projects from home video to feature films, and have won awards for television shows such as Babylon 5 and Star Trek. Founded in 1985, NewTek is a privately-held business with offices in Topeka, Kansas and Boulder, Colorado.
We distribute our products to over 200 authorized VARs with a 2-tier distribution system. Distribution is currently available in the following countries: Canada, Taiwan, Korea, France, Japan, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, India, Israel, Germany, Netherlands, and USA.
The Video Toaster provides all the tools necessary to produce broadcast-quality video at a price that is affordable to home users, while enabling professional video producers to maximize production quality within a fixed budget. The Video Toaster includes the broadest range of video production tools available in a single product, including video switching, character generation, and 2D and 3D graphics tools. The signature ability of the Video Toaster is overlaying animated video transitions across the screen in real time; no other product offers this capability in the price range of the Video Toaster.The Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software that includes ten video production applications. Its unique design of hardware can be reconfigured by each software release, allowing NewTek to provide customers with dramatic new capabilities with each upgrade. Currently running on Amiga workstations, versions of the Video Toaster are also in development for Intel-compatible and Sun Solaris systems.
The Video Toaster Flyer is a broadcast quality, nonlinear editing system allowing users to edit video and audio without the complexity of an analog videotape-based system. This powerful tapeless editing system records video and audio segments as clips, which can be arranged using a simple drag and drop interface. A powerful DSP chip provides up to eight tracks of 16-bit, CD quality audio for music, sound effects and voice overs. Because we designed a proprietary method of digital video compression (VTASC), the Flyer can deliver lossless compressed video of D2 quality.
LightWave 3D is one of the most powerful animation systems available, offering features such as ray tracing, motion blur, depth of field, variable lens settings, and many other special effects that allow users to create stunning images and animations. LightWave 3D has the most comprehensive feature set of any 3D program, providing workstation performance at a PC price.Due to its unparalleled rendering quality and ease of use, LightWave 3D is the artist's choice for creating special effects for popular television shows, feature films, and commercials, as well as graphics for corporate videos, video games, print, and much more. LightWave 3D is available for Windows 95 and Windows NT on Intel, DEC Alpha, Power Mac and MIPS, as well as Silicon Graphics, and Amiga workstations.
In early 1986 NewTek released its first product, Digi-View. Digi-View captured imagery from a video camera and allowed those images to be brought into the computer. It was the first personal computer product to create photographic-quality 4096-color images using a new advanced display mode. Digi-View rapidly became the best-selling video digitizer for any computer platform.
In 1987 NewTek released Digi-Paint, the first Amiga paint system to work in the same photographic quality as Digi-View. Digi-Paint broke the 32 color barrier by offering a palette of 4096 colors. Thousands used Digi-Paint to modify and combine digitized images.
After three years of intensive R&D, NewTek introduced its flagship product, the Video Toaster, in April of 1990. Simply stated, the Video Toaster is a television-studio-in-a-box. The Toaster board and software turn the Amiga computer into a four input switcher, digital effects generator, titler, video paint system, animation and modeling system and color effects processor. These features provide Toaster users with the tools necessary to create professional, broadcast quality video programs.
The year 1993 brought NewTek and its founder, Tim Jenison, prestigious recognition in the form of a Prime Time Emmy Award for Technical Achievement from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. This award is granted to individuals whose inventions have brought significant change to the television industry through innovative technical advancement.
In 1994, NewTek released the final component in the complete Video Toaster system, the Flyer. A Toaster system with a Flyer installed provides broadcast quality video and CD quality digital audio editing in a tapeless environment. Unlike other nonlinear editing systems, the Flyer is based upon VTASC, a special video compression scheme developed at NewTek specifically for the purpose of putting broadcast quality video onto a computer hard drive. The Flyer tapeless editing system furthers the NewTek goal of providing broadcast video that is affordable and easy to use.
In August, 1995, the award winning LightWave 3D system was released as a standalone program for Windows and Windows NT running on Intel-based, DEC Alpha, and MIPS systems. By the end of 1995, NewTek shipped versions of LightWave for the SGI and Amiga computer platforms. LightWave has one of the largest established user bases of any 3D package and has been used on TV shows and feature films such as seaQuest, Space: Above and Beyond, Babylon 5, Unsolved Mysteries, The Tonight Show, The Simpsons, Star Trek, and Jurassic Park.
In October, 1995, NewTek announced a joint venture between DeskStation Technology and NewTek called NSG (NewTek Systems Group). NSG's focus is to combine the fastest in 3D graphics workstations and the best in 3D animation software to form a single, affordable line of powerful workstations for professional animators and video makers alike.
At the National Association of Broadcasters convention in April of 1996, NewTek announced the establishment of strategic relationships with Apple Computer, Inc. and Sun Microsystems Computer Company. Technology sharing is a key ingredient of these relationships. Initially, NewTek announced a port of LightWave 3D to the Power Mac and the use of Sun's Java development language in the expansion of NewTek's graphic and video product lines.
Additionally, in April of 1996 NewTek announced and shipped a new version of LightWave 3D. LightWave 3D version 5.0 supports OpenGL, introduces a breakthrough new modeling feature, MetaNURBS and includes well over 100 new features.
The re-release of the Amiga 4000T means that LightWave 3D and the Video Toaster will continue to be supported on this platform. NewTek recently added new programmers to its experienced coding and development teams for LightWave 3D and the Video Toaster, as well as future digital video products. With an established worldwide dealer/distribution network, strategic business alliances, and a successful brand name, NewTek is poised to continue its dominance in the emerging desktop video and graphics marketplace.
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