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Outline 4D (formerly known as Storyview 2.0)
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Posted by Dr Andus
May 29, 2013 at 11:05 PM
Although I don’t use this aspect of Outline 4D at all (I only use it as a straightforward single-pane outliner with inline notes), this review gives an idea of how the Timeline View can be used for script-writing. It has been discussed on this forum that in practice it doesn’t work all that well, but it’s an interesting feature nonetheless:
http://www.scriptmag.com/features/screenwriting-product-review-outlining-software
Posted by Dr Andus
Sep 2, 2014 at 04:10 PM
I just noticed that O4D is on sale right now for USD49.00. That’s the lowest I’ve seen, in case someone has been waiting for a promotion. Otherwise it’s an ageing bit of software, at the regular price of USD99.95 I would consider it quite overpriced. Nevertheless, it’s one of the few single-pane outliners with inline notes out there.
Posted by drm vorlock
Sep 3, 2014 at 09:55 PM
I want to create a timeline/eventline to help plot a novel which is not told in chronological order. I’m looking to create a purely chronological eventline, as well as an a-chronological ‘throughline’ with the scenes in the order in which the story unfolds, correlated with parallel eventlines showing ‘who-knows-what-when’ for several characters. I may end up using paper and markers, but I’d like to find some software which would allow me to change things around freely without facing the tedium of constant redrawing.
The event tracker of Outliner-4D looks like it might do I want, but I’m put off by the software’s premium price combined with its apparent abandonment and lack of mantenace updates. Also a 5 day trial for O4D seems unecessisarily parsimonious—certainly not much time to get comfortable with the ins and outs of the program or to determine if it is going to crash frequently on my win7/64 and/or be a resourse hog.
Unfortunately, searching “event tracking software” (for novelists) yields slim pickings, so I’m asking for any suggestions before I download the O4D trial.
Posted by Dr Andus
Sep 4, 2014 at 08:34 AM
drm vorlock wrote:
>The event tracker of Outliner-4D looks like it might do I want, but I’m
>put off by the software’s premium price combined with its apparent
>abandonment and lack of mantenace updates. Also a 5 day trial for O4D
>seems unecessisarily parsimonious—certainly not much time to get
>comfortable with the ins and outs of the program or to determine if it
>is going to crash frequently on my win7/64 and/or be a resourse hog.
>
>Unfortunately, searching “event tracking software” (for novelists)
>yields slim pickings, so I’m asking for any suggestions before I
>download the O4D trial.
Most of your concerns are justified. It can crash, but it does it rarely enough that it doesn’t bother me (on Win7/64), and I’ve never lost any data. I don’t think it’s a resource hog, in fact it seems fairly light. I don’t think very highly of its horizontal outliner (Gingko app is much better for that), but the vertical outliner is one of the most fully featured on the market for single-pane outliners with inline notes, which is why I still use it.
The “event tracking feature” does work, but whether it works the way you want to use it, you can only find out if you download it and try it yourself. As for the premium price, I’ve never seen it for less than the current promotion.
>I want to create a timeline/eventline to help plot a novel which is not
>told in chronological order. I’m looking to create a purely
>chronological eventline, as well as an a-chronological ‘throughline’
>with the scenes in the order in which the story unfolds, correlated with
>parallel eventlines showing ‘who-knows-what-when’ for several
>characters. I may end up using paper and markers, but I’d like to find
>some software which would allow me to change things around freely
>without facing the tedium of constant redrawing.
The first software that came to my mind was Storybook, however I don’t know in what shape it is currently. You can search this forum for discussions on it (e.g. http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/5144/). The latest version is here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ostorybook/
Posted by Hugh
Sep 4, 2014 at 10:09 AM
drm vorlock wrote:
>I want to create a timeline/eventline to help plot a novel which is not
>told in chronological order. I’m looking to create a purely
>chronological eventline, as well as an a-chronological ‘throughline’
>with the scenes in the order in which the story unfolds, correlated with
>parallel eventlines showing ‘who-knows-what-when’ for several
>characters. I may end up using paper and markers, but I’d like to find
>some software which would allow me to change things around freely
>without facing the tedium of constant redrawing.
>
>The event tracker of Outliner-4D looks like it might do I want, but I’m
>put off by the software’s premium price combined with its apparent
>abandonment and lack of mantenace updates. Also a 5 day trial for O4D
>seems unecessisarily parsimonious—certainly not much time to get
>comfortable with the ins and outs of the program or to determine if it
>is going to crash frequently on my win7/64 and/or be a resourse hog.
>
>Unfortunately, searching “event tracking software” (for novelists)
>yields slim pickings, so I’m asking for any suggestions before I
>download the O4D trial.
Have you tried Aeon Timeline (the only time-liner that I know of that’s designed expressly for writers)? http://www.scribblecode.com