SEE CORRECTIONS BECAUSE OF MISTAKES.
Originally this was going to be a review, then a feature-by-feature comparison with Fade In Pro, then a feature-by-feature comparison with Fade In Pro and Trelby. But I kept getting bogged down in details. My biggest problem is that I don't use a GUI screenplay for writing screenplays anymore. I often use Trelby to touch up screenplays that I write in Jstar and import via Fountain format and it works well for that. Both KIT Scenarist and Fade In Pro are "overkill" for me. If I was writing professionally or trying to write professionally, I would probably be using either or both KIT Scenarist and Fade In Pro.
As it is, my main criteria is how well do they import, format and exchange files. I'm happy to report that KIT Scenarist does this well, with some quirks (which I'll get to, eventually).
My impressions. Of the three, KIT Scenarist renders fonts best. It looks really good. That might be because it defaults to Courier Prime, but that wouldn't explain why KIT Scenarist handles the Dark Theme better than Fade In Pro. So, for appearance alone, I rate KIT Scenarist slightly better.
That said, there is no Zoom feature in KIT Scenarist, (NOT true, as Dimka Novikov mentions in a post (below), you zoom using Ctrl plus the minus or plus key, or you can also use the mouse or trackpad, see Dimka Novikov's post below) so the font size display you start with is what you're going to get (happens to be about right on my computers) — Fade In Pro uses Zoom levels like most GUI word processors (which tend to "mush" fonts when they get too small). You can "sort of" work around this in KIT Scenarist by setting up a template based on a smaller or larger font — choosing it for writing — and then, when you're ready to print to PDF, changing the template back to the standard template. KIT Scenarist, as well as Fade In Pro, print PDFs as they see them on the page, they don't default to standard screenplay format. I actually like Trelby's solution here better. It provides an option to change the size and face of display fonts. When you print, or export, it exports in the the standard screenplay format, using the Courier font.
KIT Scenarist has four modules, a Research Module, A Card/Corkboard Module (which looks nice), the Script Module (what I use) and the Reports Module. All but the Research Module are also available in Fade In Pro (I don't think Fade In Pro has a research module, ComicBent may correct me here) and Trelby (I don't use these features, so this is all I'm going to say about them).
All three are extremely flexible. You can adjust all elements' spaces, margins, etc., to your liking. You cam also change where the TAB and ENTER keys take you when entering text, depending on your taste. So all three basically the same here and all good. (Better than the Final Draft version I last tried.)
Unlike Fade In Pro and Trelby, KIT Scenarist does not allow you to use CONT'D and CONTINUED, etc. (CORRECTION: CONT'Ds and Continueds HAVE been implemented in the newer betas, see Dimka Novikov's post below). This is not a big deal to me because I don't like CONT'Ds, but the option is simply not there if you DO want to use them (Not True). Apparently, in Russia, and maybe all of Europe, this feature is not used, as the publisher (Dimka Novikov) specifically mentioned that this feature seems to be important to "the world," but not to Russians. In his first software announcement on Done Deal Pro he wrote ... "In the near future I plan to implement many things that are very important in the world, but not in great demand in Russia, such as corkboard, automatic text corrections on the page breaks (CONT'D), fixing pages and scenes numbers and many other things." (Since the feature has been implemented, all my assumptions are incorrect here.)
I think all the features except the CONT'Ds have been implemented by this time. Apparently this is the least important feature to Dimka Novikov and those in the KIT Scenarist project (and I happen to agree with them here). (Again, not correct.)
One quirk that is a bit bothersome for me, is that — in page mode — KIT Scenarist breaks up elements. A scene heading can be orphaned at the bottom of the page, or a Character's Name will be separated from his dialogue. At first I thought this was a "deal breaker" until I found that, when exporting to PDF, you can check "Check Page Breaks" and KIT Scenarist fixes this format issue. But it is a bit quirky (from my point of view) and something else you have to be aware of. Also, to get to the form where you can change this, you have to click on "Additional (Numbering, Title Page, etc.)" or you won't see these options. Also a bit quirky.
Also, different from most screenplay formatters (I think), KIT Scenarist defaults to scene numbering. That's easy to shut off but you need to aware of it. Also different is that the spell checker doesn't load by default — you have to choose it. Just something else to be aware of.
KIT Scenarist imports from Final Draft and Final Draft template (.fdx and fdxt), Trelby (.trelby), Office Open XML (.doc and .docx), OpenOffice (.odt), Fountain (.fountain) and Celtx (.celtx) formats. So pretty complete (not as complete as Fade In Pro — no PDF format import — and it misses some of the Text import features of Trelby and Fade In Pro). Still, it's not hard to make a Fountain format file. KIT Scenarist exports to DOCX, PDF, FDX and Fountain. So you should be able to share files easily.
One last "oddity" (quirk). I use the pdftotext utility to convert PDFs to formatted text (for posting on Done Deal Pro, etc.). It works well with PDFs made with Screenplain, 'Aftewriting, Trelby and Fade In Pro — but files exported to PDF in KIT Scenarist adds tabs to the text file. It's easy to remove the tabs, but it also doesn't separate multiple paragraphs in action scenes. So my workaround for this is to export to Fountain, run Screenplain to make the PDF file and then use the pdftotext to create the formatted text file. Since this is a feature that only a few would use it's probably not a big deal. But Fade In Pro and Trelby handle formatted text files very well.
Well, that's about it. There's much, much more to KIT Scenarist, but the subject is too big for me, especially since I really don't use the application (except for testing it). I've installed this on both Windows 8.1 and various flavors of Linux — no issues. I haven't tried the iOS or Android applications (as I don't have an Android or an iPhone or either brand's tablet).
What I do like about KIT Scenarist is its clean page view in the Script Module. I get rid of the Scene Heading panel (I like a simple page) but the Outline toggle let's you see all the scenes and navigate to them. Toggle again, and you're at your new location in full script mode. It has a review panel, and a Fast Text (that I don't understand) and quick access to your Export/Import, Save/Save As, New (etc.) Menu. They also have a Compact Mode, which I use. So, in short a nice, impressive and professional interface.
KIT Scenarist is free to use, but if you want to collaborate, there are two levels of paid support for online storage and collaboration that cost 300 rubles (about $5.50, for under 10 scripts/projects) and 999 rubles (about $17.50, for over 10 projects) a month. If you don't need these features you can buy KIT Scenarist shirts/gifts, etc., or donate via PayPal.
This is good screenplay formatting software. It's well worth a look and a test run.
Originally this was going to be a review, then a feature-by-feature comparison with Fade In Pro, then a feature-by-feature comparison with Fade In Pro and Trelby. But I kept getting bogged down in details. My biggest problem is that I don't use a GUI screenplay for writing screenplays anymore. I often use Trelby to touch up screenplays that I write in Jstar and import via Fountain format and it works well for that. Both KIT Scenarist and Fade In Pro are "overkill" for me. If I was writing professionally or trying to write professionally, I would probably be using either or both KIT Scenarist and Fade In Pro.
As it is, my main criteria is how well do they import, format and exchange files. I'm happy to report that KIT Scenarist does this well, with some quirks (which I'll get to, eventually).
My impressions. Of the three, KIT Scenarist renders fonts best. It looks really good. That might be because it defaults to Courier Prime, but that wouldn't explain why KIT Scenarist handles the Dark Theme better than Fade In Pro. So, for appearance alone, I rate KIT Scenarist slightly better.
That said, there is no Zoom feature in KIT Scenarist, (NOT true, as Dimka Novikov mentions in a post (below), you zoom using Ctrl plus the minus or plus key, or you can also use the mouse or trackpad, see Dimka Novikov's post below) so the font size display you start with is what you're going to get (happens to be about right on my computers) — Fade In Pro uses Zoom levels like most GUI word processors (which tend to "mush" fonts when they get too small). You can "sort of" work around this in KIT Scenarist by setting up a template based on a smaller or larger font — choosing it for writing — and then, when you're ready to print to PDF, changing the template back to the standard template. KIT Scenarist, as well as Fade In Pro, print PDFs as they see them on the page, they don't default to standard screenplay format. I actually like Trelby's solution here better. It provides an option to change the size and face of display fonts. When you print, or export, it exports in the the standard screenplay format, using the Courier font.
KIT Scenarist has four modules, a Research Module, A Card/Corkboard Module (which looks nice), the Script Module (what I use) and the Reports Module. All but the Research Module are also available in Fade In Pro (I don't think Fade In Pro has a research module, ComicBent may correct me here) and Trelby (I don't use these features, so this is all I'm going to say about them).
All three are extremely flexible. You can adjust all elements' spaces, margins, etc., to your liking. You cam also change where the TAB and ENTER keys take you when entering text, depending on your taste. So all three basically the same here and all good. (Better than the Final Draft version I last tried.)
Unlike Fade In Pro and Trelby, KIT Scenarist does not allow you to use CONT'D and CONTINUED, etc. (CORRECTION: CONT'Ds and Continueds HAVE been implemented in the newer betas, see Dimka Novikov's post below). This is not a big deal to me because I don't like CONT'Ds, but the option is simply not there if you DO want to use them (Not True). Apparently, in Russia, and maybe all of Europe, this feature is not used, as the publisher (Dimka Novikov) specifically mentioned that this feature seems to be important to "the world," but not to Russians. In his first software announcement on Done Deal Pro he wrote ... "In the near future I plan to implement many things that are very important in the world, but not in great demand in Russia, such as corkboard, automatic text corrections on the page breaks (CONT'D), fixing pages and scenes numbers and many other things." (Since the feature has been implemented, all my assumptions are incorrect here.)
I think all the features except the CONT'Ds have been implemented by this time. Apparently this is the least important feature to Dimka Novikov and those in the KIT Scenarist project (and I happen to agree with them here). (Again, not correct.)
One quirk that is a bit bothersome for me, is that — in page mode — KIT Scenarist breaks up elements. A scene heading can be orphaned at the bottom of the page, or a Character's Name will be separated from his dialogue. At first I thought this was a "deal breaker" until I found that, when exporting to PDF, you can check "Check Page Breaks" and KIT Scenarist fixes this format issue. But it is a bit quirky (from my point of view) and something else you have to be aware of. Also, to get to the form where you can change this, you have to click on "Additional (Numbering, Title Page, etc.)" or you won't see these options. Also a bit quirky.
Also, different from most screenplay formatters (I think), KIT Scenarist defaults to scene numbering. That's easy to shut off but you need to aware of it. Also different is that the spell checker doesn't load by default — you have to choose it. Just something else to be aware of.
KIT Scenarist imports from Final Draft and Final Draft template (.fdx and fdxt), Trelby (.trelby), Office Open XML (.doc and .docx), OpenOffice (.odt), Fountain (.fountain) and Celtx (.celtx) formats. So pretty complete (not as complete as Fade In Pro — no PDF format import — and it misses some of the Text import features of Trelby and Fade In Pro). Still, it's not hard to make a Fountain format file. KIT Scenarist exports to DOCX, PDF, FDX and Fountain. So you should be able to share files easily.
One last "oddity" (quirk). I use the pdftotext utility to convert PDFs to formatted text (for posting on Done Deal Pro, etc.). It works well with PDFs made with Screenplain, 'Aftewriting, Trelby and Fade In Pro — but files exported to PDF in KIT Scenarist adds tabs to the text file. It's easy to remove the tabs, but it also doesn't separate multiple paragraphs in action scenes. So my workaround for this is to export to Fountain, run Screenplain to make the PDF file and then use the pdftotext to create the formatted text file. Since this is a feature that only a few would use it's probably not a big deal. But Fade In Pro and Trelby handle formatted text files very well.
Well, that's about it. There's much, much more to KIT Scenarist, but the subject is too big for me, especially since I really don't use the application (except for testing it). I've installed this on both Windows 8.1 and various flavors of Linux — no issues. I haven't tried the iOS or Android applications (as I don't have an Android or an iPhone or either brand's tablet).
What I do like about KIT Scenarist is its clean page view in the Script Module. I get rid of the Scene Heading panel (I like a simple page) but the Outline toggle let's you see all the scenes and navigate to them. Toggle again, and you're at your new location in full script mode. It has a review panel, and a Fast Text (that I don't understand) and quick access to your Export/Import, Save/Save As, New (etc.) Menu. They also have a Compact Mode, which I use. So, in short a nice, impressive and professional interface.
KIT Scenarist is free to use, but if you want to collaborate, there are two levels of paid support for online storage and collaboration that cost 300 rubles (about $5.50, for under 10 scripts/projects) and 999 rubles (about $17.50, for over 10 projects) a month. If you don't need these features you can buy KIT Scenarist shirts/gifts, etc., or donate via PayPal.
This is good screenplay formatting software. It's well worth a look and a test run.
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