Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

    Originally posted by JaGra View Post
    Is it possible to have 'notes' remain open and visible throughout the script and appear in the Navigator like they do in Movie Magic Screenwriter?
    I just have the trial version of Fade In, but I can't find any way to do it. I checked to see if KIT Scenarist will do it and it appears that it will. (It puts the notes on the right panel if you open up "review." Click on the highlight and highlights the Note on the right panel. Toggle off "review" and the comments disappear, though the highlighting stays.)

    Though, I'll have to admit, I'm not exactly sure how the Navigator works with notes in MMS, so KIT Scenarist might be completely different.
    STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

    Comment


    • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

      No, the note does not stay open. The note is a pop-up window, and when you close it, it is gone until you reopen it. However, you can pass the cursor over the note symbol at any time to see what the note contains (and, of course, you can reopen the note by double-clicking it).

      You might want to request this feature. You can send an email to Support on the Fade In website, or you can send a tweet to @fadeinsoftware. Kent Tessman (the developer of Fade In) is very active on Twitter. He also reads messages sent to Support.

      "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

      Comment


      • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

        Maybe not specific to Fade In but as I polish up a draft with an eye toward reducing my page count, I've noticed that a line deleted here or there can have big ripple effects down-script. Conversely, I sometimes can delete and delete and the end page number doesn't move.

        Is there any way for a screenwriting program to analyze the script for those points where eliminating a line will save the maximum number of pages afterward? It doesn't seem to be obvious as I go through each page but would be nice to know which changes will give me the most bang for my editing buck.

        Comment


        • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

          I've discovered an issue with Fade In's exporting of Formatted Text (.txt) in regard to the number of characters per line.

          In a default "Screenplay" document set to Letter page size, Fade In has 60 characters per line for action, and 37 characters per line for dialogue. However, when exporting as Formatted Text, the resulting txt file has 61 characters per line for action, and 38 characters per line for dialogue.

          For example, within Fade In (and a created PDF) it's like this:

          Code:
          The front door fly screen opens. SONNY CHRISTO (22) shuffles 
          out, holding a tablet computer inches from his face.
                                   
                                   SONNY
                      Was it a gentleman rat, or was it a 
                      [COLOR="Orange"]lady rat, or was it a rat of  
                      ambiguous gender?[/COLOR]
          
          Ice Cream Man hears Bonnie and Sonny, but his mad eyes 
          struggle to focus on them.
                                   
                                   BONNIE
                      Go back inside. Lockdown, Sonny, 
                      lockdown.
          
          [COLOR="Orange"]Ice Cream Man takes an unsteady step towards Bon-- 
          BAAANG! -- a shot through his forehead. He drops to his 
          knees and slumps to one side.[/COLOR]
          But in an exported Formatted Text txt file it changes to this:

          Code:
          The front door fly screen opens. SONNY CHRISTO (22) shuffles 
          out, holding a tablet computer inches from his face.
                                   
                                   SONNY
                      Was it a gentleman rat, or was it a 
                      [COLOR="Orange"]lady rat, or was it a rat of ambiguous 
                      gender?[/COLOR]
          
          Ice Cream Man hears Bonnie and Sonny, but his mad eyes 
          struggle to focus on them.
                                   
                                   BONNIE
                      Go back inside. Lockdown, Sonny, 
                      lockdown.
          
          [COLOR="Orange"]Ice Cream Man takes an unsteady step towards Bon-- BAAANG! -- 
          a shot through his forehead. He drops to his knees and slumps 
          to one side.[/COLOR]
          As you may well imagine, I'm wondering what the hell should be done about it. Do angry gods require a sacrifice?

          By the way, I'm aware that the "industry standard" Final Draft defaults to having 61 characters per line for action.
          Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
          "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

          Comment


          • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

            How about having an option to show page breaks in exported Formatted Text (.txt) files? Perhaps page breaks could be indicated by a line of dashes, with two or three line spaces above and below.

            And maybe include an option to show page numbers within the page break, eg:
            Code:
            
            ------------------------ 001 >> 002 ------------------------
            Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
            "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

            Comment


            • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

              Please note that much of what I said in my replies turned out to be wrong. I mistakenly thought that exact format was retained in Formatted Text, because my own customized template (Bells & Whistles) worked all right when I exported to that format. However, I assumed too much. I will not add confusion to error by trying to explain everything. See my later posts, especially #193.

              Crayon,

              1.

              Fade In retains the correct number of characters per line when it exports to Formatted Text.

              I checked this issue with the default Screenplay template and with my own Bells & Whistles template, which is slightly different. I also ran a test with the Dialogue changed to a 40-character line. In every case, the Formatted Text retained the original formatting, as checked with a Text Editor.

              It may be that you are importing the Formatted Text file into Final Draft (using the Courier Final Draft font). If, in fact, you are doing this, that could explain the issue.

              A Courier font at 12-point size is supposed to create a line with 10 characters for each horizontal inch of text. Final Draft (with its own font) squeezes the letters together just a tiny bit (or it reduces the font size to something like 11.5 points - I am not sure which). The result is that an Action line in Final Draft, if the line employs all available space, will come out at more than 60 characters per line.


              Another possibility is that Final Draft or some other importing program may handle the line in a way that provides an extra space. If you look at an exported Formatted Text file in a Text Editor, you will see that all the lines that wrap have an extra space (blank) at the end. In other words, if line A in Dialogue continues by wrapping to line B, you will see a blank space at the end of line A. That blank space is not counted as a character by Fade In; but an importing program might handle it as a usable character space, and this might affect the number of characters per line.



              2.
              As for indicating page breaks with <------> or adding a page number, or both, those things in a page are a real nuisance when you want to import the Formatted Text into another program. But maybe some people would like the option. I can only see that it would be helpful if you are trying coordinate pages with someone who is using a different program.

              The real purpose of Formatted Text is to allow you to import the text into another program, or just to provide raw copy for printing out for some reason. And although the raw text retains margin indents, it does not keep paragraphs together that need to be on the same page (Character Name on the same page as the Dialogue that follows, or a Scene Heading with the next line of the Scene). Again, Formatted Text is really for importing into another program that can process that format.


              I would like to know if any of this information helps with your problem.
              Last edited by ComicBent; 07-22-2020, 09:15 AM.

              "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

              Comment


              • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                ComicBent - Thanks for responding.

                1.
                I'm not doing any importing into other screenwriting software. I'm just comparing the original Fade In document to the exported Formatted Text (.txt) file when it's open in Windows Notepad. I'm doing this with a view to posting pages in the Script Pages Feedback forum.

                When posting the two script examples previously, I had to manually edit the text in the first example in order to make it look like it does in the original Fade In document.

                My original Fade In document uses the default "Screenplay" template, is set to Letter page size, and is without any changes made to the Page Layout settings.

                Here's a test example to show what's going on with more clarity:

                ORIGINAL FADE IN DOCUMENT
                Code:
                FADE IN:
                
                
                EXT. WORLD - DAY
                
                123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
                123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
                123456789012345678901234567890.
                                         
                                         PERSON
                            1234567890123456789012345678901234567
                            8901234567890123456789012345678901234
                            5678901234567890123456789012345678901
                            2345678901234567890.
                
                123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
                123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
                123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
                123456789012345678901234567890.
                                                        
                                                              FADE OUT.
                EXPORTED AS FORMATTED TEXT (.txt)
                Code:
                FADE IN:
                
                EXT. WORLD - DAY
                
                12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012
                34567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234
                56789012345678901234567890.
                                         
                                         PERSON
                            123456789012345678901234567890123456789
                            012345678901234567890123456789012345678
                            901234567890123456789012345678901234567
                            8901234567890.
                
                12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012
                34567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234
                56789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
                789012345678901234567890.
                                                        
                                                        FADE OUT.:
                As you can see, something is awry with line lengths. Also, the two line spaces after "FADE IN:" got reduced to one line space. And where the heck did that colon after "FADE OUT." come from? And "FADE OUT." got moved six character spaces to the left.

                I'm using version 3.0.600, so I suppose I should update to 3.0.636, test again, and get back to you.

                2.
                I thought that having an option to indicate page breaks in exported Formatted Text (.txt) files could be useful for when posting formatted text on forums. Surely, how a writer handles page breaks is all part of the craft?
                Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
                "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

                Comment


                • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                  I've updated Fade In to the latest version (3.0.636) but the problem persists. I'm using Windows 10 Pro (v.1909). I'm using Fade In's default "Screenplay" template, set to Letter page size, and without any changes to the Page Layout settings.

                  Here's another test example to show how the number of characters per line gets changed when exporting Formatted Text (.txt) files.

                  FADE IN DOCUMENT (manually replicated)
                  Code:
                  [COLOR="Blue"]FADE IN:
                  
                  
                  EXT. WORLD - DAY
                  
                  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed 
                  do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna 
                  aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation 
                  ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. 
                  Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit 
                  esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint 
                  occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia 
                  deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit 
                  amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor 
                  incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad 
                  minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi 
                  ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in 
                  reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu 
                  fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non 
                  proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id 
                  est laborum.
                                           
                                           PERSON
                              Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
                              consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do 
                              eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore 
                              et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad 
                              minim veniam, quis nostrud 
                              exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut 
                              aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis 
                              aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in 
                              voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu 
                              fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint 
                              occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt 
                              in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit 
                              anim id est laborum.
                  
                  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed 
                  do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna 
                  aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation 
                  ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. 
                  Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit 
                  esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint 
                  occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia 
                  deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
                                                          
                                                                FADE OUT.[/COLOR]
                  EXPORTED AS FORMATTED TEXT (.txt)
                  Code:
                  [COLOR="Red"]FADE IN:
                  
                  EXT. WORLD - DAY
                  
                  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed 
                  do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna 
                  aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation 
                  ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis 
                  aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse 
                  cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint 
                  occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia 
                  deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit 
                  amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor 
                  incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim 
                  veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut 
                  aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in 
                  reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat 
                  nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non 
                  proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id 
                  est laborum.
                                           
                                           PERSON
                              Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
                              consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do 
                              eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et 
                              dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim 
                              veniam, quis nostrud exercitation 
                              ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea 
                              commodo consequat. Duis aute irure 
                              dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate 
                              velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat 
                              nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint 
                              occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt 
                              in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit 
                              anim id est laborum.
                  
                  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed 
                  do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna 
                  aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation 
                  ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis 
                  aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse 
                  cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint 
                  occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia 
                  deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
                                                          
                                                          FADE OUT.:[/COLOR]
                  I'll send an email to Kent Tessman about this issue soon.
                  I wonder if he keeps an eye on this thread.
                  Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
                  "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

                  Comment


                  • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                    Originally posted by Crayon View Post
                    I'll send an email to Kent Tessman about this issue soon.
                    I wonder if he keeps an eye on this thread.
                    The same thing happens in Linux. The formatted text feature must use a different template.

                    Trelby works well here. Export to formatted text matches PDF or native format. You can also copy directly from your Trelby document and paste to forums using Trelby. I think it's unique in its ability to do that.

                    Code:
                    FADE IN:
                    
                    
                    INT. STREET IN CAVE -- MORNING
                    
                    The streetlights are dim, barely illuminating the figures
                    who are silently walking.  A few windows along the street
                    are lit, but most are dark.
                    
                    HALSY HADDEN, late 20s, in overalls and a beard, stands in
                    an open doorway while he embraces LILA KARIL, mid 20s, who's
                    still in her nightgown.
                    
                    She hands him a pack.
                    
                                          LILA
                              Good luck.
                    Above copied directly from Trelby. (Using Copy (system) > Formatted text.)

                    Just realized it took out the extra space between FADE IN: and the header when I copied directly. When I export to formatted text it works properly. The above is what the export to text file looks like, the direct copy removed the extra space.

                    I think Trelby works in Windows 10 (I use it in Linux so don't know for sure).

                    https://www.trelby.org/download/
                    STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                      Okay, sorry to be late in returning to the party.

                      Crayon is correct about what is happening. I will explain, in a moment, what I think is happening.

                      But a couple of other issues first.

                      1. No, Kent Tessman does not regularly watch this board. I am assuming this because he never comments on anything. He does, however, spend a lot of time on Twitter (pretty much every day). You can get hold of him by email at [email protected].

                      2. Here is what I think is going on. It appears that if you use the built-in Screenplay template, and export to Formatted Text from within that template, you get the changes that Crayon has described. The 60-character line for Action is converted into a 61-character line. The 37-character line for Character becomes 38-character line.

                      However, this appears to be the way the export works only if you are using the built-in Screenplay template. I have used my own template (and I also tried the Cole and Haag template), and the exported text files reflected the proper line lengths for those templates.
                      Anyhow, if you really want to use the built-in template and not have the line lengths change when you export to Formatted Text, I think that you might be able to start a blank new file with the built-in template, and then save the file as a template. Give the new template a name that you like (not Screenplay). I think that this might work to maintain the original line lengths. I did not try it.

                      3. As for pasting text onto boards: Fade In is great for this. Just export to Formatted Text (Fade In automatically trims out the wasted space of the left page margin but leaves all the indents in place). Then copy the text that you want from the text file, and paste it onto a board.

                      Hope this helps.
                      Last edited by ComicBent; 07-22-2020, 09:01 AM.

                      "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

                      Comment


                      • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                        When doing rewrites, I change all the text to red. As I go through each scene, I change the text back to black when I'm satisfied that it's the least bad I can make it. That way, I can jump around and "fix" the easy scenes first, while making sure that parts I keep putting off get addressed. If there's still red text, I'm not finished.

                        This is how I used to maintain corporate policies/procedures in MS Word, but Fade In doesn't make it nearly as easy to bounce the font color back and forth.

                        It's not a huge deal, but a "font color" button on the tool bar (especially if it remembered its last setting) would make Fade In just about perfect for me.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                          Getting back to Crayon's issue for a moment ...


                          I only ran a quick test. It looks as if just using the default template and saving it as a different template (under a new name) does not work. Your 37-character line still comes out as 38 when you export.



                          I think you have to change something in the default template (and then save as a new template) or the exported text simply defaults back to what *Screenplay* normally does.


                          This is not a tough problem to work around. I will work on this, but I cannot do it as a rush job, since I am doing some other stuff right now. You might just use the Final Draft template (available as one of the templates in Fade In) and change the settings to what you want. Then Save As a New Template. Give it a name like Screenplay2 or whatever you want.


                          Try that and see if it works.


                          HTH.

                          "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

                          Comment


                          • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                            Well, crap!

                            Nothing is ever simple. I worked on the "Formatted Text" issue some more this morning.

                            Let me tell you what I know for sure, and then what I think.

                            WHAT I KNOW
                            I tried using a very wide Dialogue column (longer than anyone uses), and it transferred to Formatted Text just fine. But when I tried the somewhat narrow column that Final Draft uses (35 characters), it still became 38 characters in the exported Formatted Text.

                            WHAT I THINK
                            I tried various experiments. It appears that the Dialogue column in Exported Text wants to be 38 characters (or more, if your Fade In file uses a wider Dialogue column).

                            Also, my 60-character wide Action column (even in my personal template) became 61 characters in the Formatted Text file.

                            FINAL THOUGHTS
                            I cannot guarantee that I tested all of this accurately, because I have some other things to do and I was hurrying.

                            Tonight I will send a short report to Kent Tessman and ask him to address this. He may post here on the board. I do not know.

                            HTH.

                            ADDENDUM
                            I doubt that many (or any) of you will be interested in this, but here goes. Fade In is great for creating your own styles/elements. I have a "Blank Verse" style in my personal template. It is great for something in the Shakespearean style.

                            However, if I try to export to Formatted Text with a style that I have added, Fade In throws an exception (crashes, basically).
                            Last edited by Done Deal Pro; 07-22-2020, 08:07 AM. Reason: Clean out extra spacing/line breaks to tighten up.

                            "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                              Originally posted by Crayon View Post
                              As you can see, something is awry with line lengths. Also, the two line spaces after "FADE IN:" got reduced to one line space. And where the heck did that colon after "FADE OUT." come from? And "FADE OUT." got moved six character spaces to the left.
                              Since this is a feature I used to use a lot (and still occasionally use) it piqued my interest. As mentioned before, my tests on Fade In have the same results as yours.

                              Also, as mentioned before, Trelby exports as on screen. Kit Scenarist doesn't have a text export option so it won't do this at all.

                              WriterSolo will also export correctly to text, as will the old (downloadable) version of Celtx – I have 2.9.7 for Linux. (I don't know about the current, online, version.)

                              So, for (I'm guessing) a relatively rare usage of a screenplay application, there are (at least) three other choices. I'm also guessing that Kent Tessman will probably fix this once he knows about it. (I'm also guessing his main concern with formatted text files was for exporting to other applications. In that case the elements' margins are determined by the application importing the file.)
                              STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Fade In Pro -- tips, feedback, requested features

                                Originally posted by Centos View Post
                                The same thing happens in Linux. The formatted text feature must use a different template.

                                Trelby works well here. Export to formatted text matches PDF or native format. You can also copy directly from your Trelby document and paste to forums using Trelby. I think it's unique in its ability to do that.

                                Code:
                                FADE IN:
                                
                                
                                INT. STREET IN CAVE -- MORNING
                                
                                The streetlights are dim, barely illuminating the figures
                                who are silently walking.  A few windows along the street
                                are lit, but most are dark.
                                
                                HALSY HADDEN, late 20s, in overalls and a beard, stands in
                                an open doorway while he embraces LILA KARIL, mid 20s, who's
                                still in her nightgown.
                                
                                She hands him a pack.
                                
                                                      LILA
                                          Good luck.
                                Above copied directly from Trelby. (Using Copy (system) > Formatted text.)

                                Just realized it took out the extra space between FADE IN: and the header when I copied directly. When I export to formatted text it works properly. The above is what the export to text file looks like, the direct copy removed the extra space.

                                I think Trelby works in Windows 10 (I use it in Linux so don't know for sure).

                                https://www.trelby.org/download/
                                Centos - Thanks for that. It's always a relief of sorts to learn that a problem isn't just one's own. I'll have a look at Trelby, and will probably download it if the Formatted Text problems don't get fixed in Fade In any time soon.
                                Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
                                "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X