muvee, Album Printer, FixFoto Sign Licensing Agreements To Integrate Perfectly Clear Image Correction Technology

Athentech Technologies Inc. ("Athentech") today said it has signed licensing agreements with three specialty consumer-oriented digital imaging firms to add its patented, award-winning Perfectly Clear image correction technology into their "niche" applications. The announcement came during the photokina convention and trade show here.

Under the licensing agreements, Perfectly Clear is being integrated into a new multimedia slideshow creation tool from Singapore-based muvee Technologies, as well as new photo book creation software from Album Printer in the Netherlands, Athentech said. It also is being included as a plug-in that comes shipped with imaging software from the German company FixFoto, the company said.

Perfectly Clear image correction technology is widely considered to be the smallest, fastest and most accurate image correction application available – providing exceptional image quality and seamless system integration. Today, Perfectly Clear is installed in more than 23,000 kiosks spread out across more than 30 countries, and integrated into dozens of digital imaging applications to produce photos that are accurate in every way – meaning that customers’ memories are perfectly preserved, according to Athentech.

"Our album creation software has been designed with ease of use in mind," said Joris Keijzer, CEO of Album Printer. "Our licensees have been asking us to help them achieve better-quality photo publications, so their end users keep coming back to them. Perfectly Clear provides a very fast and automatic solution for enhancing the quality of pictures, so people will enjoy their photo books and calendars even more."

"Our new product instantly and automatically creates emotionally engaging music video productions out of the photos and videos that consumers shoot every day," said Terence Swee, co-founder and Chief Opportunities Officer of muvee. "While we constantly improve muvee’s core Artistic Intelligence engine, we also believe in licensing the best components for our products. We’re very impressed with how Perfectly Clear helps us deliver better quality pictures in our productions. muvee is about the marriage of art and science, and Perfectly Clear is an excellent example of a product that combines both."

muvee Technologies’ new PC product, called muveeNow, is an easy-to-use wizard-driven video-and slideshow-production software that incorporates Athentech’s Perfectly Clear technology. In three easy steps, users select their video and pictures, add their favorite music and choose a production style. muveeNow then automatically applies themed style effects and transitions to highlights of the customer’s footage to create a finished production that can be saved in various formats or burned to DVD. muvee Technologies is previewing muveeNow this week at photokina (Hall 04.1, Stand E-041).

"Digital imaging enterprises that provide all kinds of image-related products and services are finding common ground in the ability of our Perfectly Clear technology to improve their offerings, increase their sales and simplify their workflow," Athentech President Brad Malcolm said. "We’re pleased to be providing the only digital-based image-correction technology available. It’s having a very positive effect on digital imagers who adopt it. We’re very excited to count muvee, Album Printer and FixFoto among our partners."

Perfectly Clear is included in literally millions of copies of digital image management and manipulation software, including Bibble for professional photographers and SimpleStar’s Photoshow for enthusiasts and consumers, Athentech said. Users, such as Jim Holt, a working photographer from Napa, Calif., found Perfectly Clear to be both robust enough to meet his professional standards and easy enough to lighten his work load: "I’m always looking for ways to cut my digital workflow time, and I like strong, reliable image applications that actually work and give me the quality I need. That way, I can devote more time to actual photography and to my clients," Holt said. "I give Perfectly Clear very high scores on both counts."

Visitors to Athentech’s photokina exhibit booth (Hall 4.1, Stand C-017) will participate in demonstrations of all the primary capabilities of the technology in a variety of settings, the company said, from integration into kiosks to home and professional lab use.