NovaMind News

PowerPoint Export

NovaMind for Mac received a significant update today with the ability to export Mind Maps directly from NovaMind to PowerPoint.

This capability opens up new sharing opportunities where there is a need to brainstorm ideas using Mind Mapping techniques, and yet to share the information using more “traditional” presentation software.

Although NovaMind for Mac used to have similar functionality, it did not work with the latest version of PowerPoint, and so we took the opportunity to completely rewrite the PowerPoint export in such a way that it no longer requires PowerPoint to be installed on your computer for the export to work.

The files produced are the new PPTX files used by PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and PowerPoint 2008 for Mac.

Here is a video of the export procedure and results:

Standard text styles are used wherever possible to make sure that when you apply a theme to your presentation in PowerPoint, the styles are applied consistently throughout the presentation.

Images on the branches are transferred to the presentation, and the branch notes become speaker notes.

This makes the transition from your NovaMind Mind Map to your PowerPoint presentation almost instantaneous.

PowerPoint export is available immediately as a free update to NovaMind 4 Platinum and NovaMind 4 Pro, and requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to function.

MS Project Export and Import

For some time, the Mac edition of NovaMind Platinum has had the ability to add project related information like start and finish dates, percentage complete, priorities, and assign resources to the branches on the Mind Maps, and then import the project information into Merlin project manager for Mac.

While this is a really good solution, we realize that many of you are using other project management software. The Microsoft Project file format has become the de facto standard for project management applications, so no matter which project management software you use, it is almost certain that you will be able to use the MS Project format.

This means that you can carry out the project inception phases in NovaMind, brainstorming your ideas and working out the project’s scope and objectives, then export into Microsoft Project format for detailed project management.

During the project, if you need to bring someone new on to the project or brainstorm solutions to particular problems in the project, you can either import the whole project file into NovaMind, or export a portion of the project plan from your project management package and open it in NovaMind, and work with it in NovaMind. Using the Mind Map format makes it easy to see the interrelationships between objectives and requirements and tasks within the scope of the project, which makes it a powerful tool for both understanding where all the different pieces of the project fit together, and also for designing solutions to project related issues.

The Microsoft Project import and export functionality is available immediately as a free update for NovaMind 4 Platinum for Mac users, and requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to function.

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The New Face of Screenwriting: NovaMind Introduces ScriptMapping - A Powerful Combination of Screenwriting and Mind Mapping

NovaMind Software has just released a new version of NovaMind Platinum with enhanced screenwriting functionality which can be used for all aspects of screenplay writing as well as experimental screenwriting, visual storyboarding, movie and production planning. See http://www.novamind.com/screenwriting/ for full details.

Brisbane, Australia — Writing screenplays used to be a difficult process where it was difficult to find the portion of the screenplay to edit, keeping track of the storyline could be difficult, writer’s block was common, and you really couldn’t “play with” the script to get it right.

These problems are a thing of the past with ScriptMapping - powerful screenwriting software built in to NovaMind mind mapping software. It allows the user to capture ideas easily during brainstorming sessions, and attach portions of the screenplay to different branches of the mind maps. The screenplay can be reorganized just by dragging the branches into different locations. Experimental screenwriting is now possible through the ability to disable the printing or export of the script on specific branches of the Mind Map. Visual storyboarding is accomplished by attaching images to the branches, or creating links to movies and other resources where required.

Many professionals in the live theatre, movie and TV industries already use Mind Mapping and brainstorming techniques to generate and develop story ideas and characters, and plan, organize and manage many aspects of production. These uses are also fully supported in NovaMind with the ability to add notes to the branches, hyperlink to other documents, set start and finish dates, percentage complete, durations and allocate resources.

John Brownlow, writer of the movie “Sylvia” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, said:

“I just wanted to congratulate you on starting to address the need for a truly structured screenwriting program.

As a long-standing and very disillusioned user of other screenwriting applications, I am delighted to see the way NovaMind is going. I already structure all of my scripts in NovaMind and am enormously looking forward to using the app to do much more of the work on my next script”

The screenwriting functionality in the Mac version of NovaMind Platinum has been completely rewritten over the last 6 months, and now includes the following capabilities:

• Screenplay formatting to industry standards for font, margin settings, line spacing, mores, continueds, section standards and page numbering
• Fully configurable cycling through section types on return and tab keypresses
• Automatic sentence casing of dialogues and actions
• Text completions for character names, scene headings, scene location and time, character parentheticals, and transitions
• Orphan protection of dialogs so they are not split from their character names
• Work with the whole screenplay in a single view or just one branch at a time
• Both import and export to and from Movie Magic and Final Draft
• Configurable initial section type for branches
• Configurable mores and continueds for characters and scenes, including automatic character continueds and scene number continueds
• Configurable scene numbering in the margins on both sides
• Configurable indents and capitalization for sections, as well as overall page layout settings
• Global replace of character names and scene locations
• Skip directly to the next or previous branch with script attached, or just to the next or previous branch, from within the screenwriter window
• Enable or disable script on a branch either from within the screenwriter window or on the Mind Map, or from within the print or export dialogs
• Jump directly to scenes or page numbers within the screenplay either using the mouse or by command key
• Capitalize or lower case selected text
• Scale the screenplay text for easier readability
• Ability to set the scene numbering and continuations for printing independently of the editor
• Print just a single branch, a range of scenes, or a range of pages of the script
• Ability to include mind map related text (branch titles, branch notes, attached text) in the printed or exported screenplay

The combination of screenwriting and mind mapping is totally unique to NovaMind, and provides everything you need to write and publish your screenplay directly from within NovaMind.

NovaMind has been used by some top screenwriting professionals for several years, and even with the old capabilities of the screenwriter, they have done amazing things. For example, Hector Cabello Reyes used the screenwriting capabilities of NovaMind to write the screenplay with which he won the top professional screenwriting award in Europe.

The combination of Mind Mapping and Screenwriting is a revolution in screenplay programs. It benefits the entire movie production business, allowing all the people involved to communicate better, be more flexible and creative, and produce better movies more quickly and with lower risk.

About NovaMind:

NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 6 years, and is rapidly gaining recognition in the Windows market. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun, and revolutionizes screenplay writing, idea generation, story development, and the entire writing and production workflow.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit http://www.novamind.com/ or e-mail Gideon King at gideon(at)novamind.com.

Make your Mind Maps look even better using the new image reflections, branch image layout modes, glossy button look branches, new corner styling and new themes. This allows you to more effectively present the Mind Maps to other people and to recall information more easily.

Brisbane, Australia, June 2, 2008. NovaMind has long been recognized as the Mind Mapping program that produces the best looking Mind Maps. These new features take that even further, allowing you to create stunning looking Mind Maps that really grab your attention and make the Mind Maps even easier to remember.

These new capabilities are available immediately in both the Windows and Mac OS X versions of NovaMind.

The image reflections for attached images allow you to create stylish “Web 2.0” look images to enhance the look of your Mind Maps. You can now also apply both the chamfered and rounded corners to attached images, to further enhance the look of the images.

Using the new branch image layout modes, you can fit, fill, or stretch the images to suit your needs within the branches. This allows you to maintain the shape of the image where necessary, or to fill the branch with the image as required.

The glassy look branches give you a “Web 2.0” look for your branches. Whether they are rectangular, chamfered, rounded or oval, the glassy look can be applied to instantly add that extra visual pizzazz.

The existing themes have been updated, and new themes added to take advantage of the new visual styling that is available. This gives you professionally designed themes for your Mind Maps to make them look great by simply applying a theme.

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way you think – they organize the information in the same way your brain organizes information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 6 years, and is rapidly gaining recognition in the Windows market. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun.

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If you’d like more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at gideon@novamind.com.