Version 2.9 is one of our biggest releases yet. It brings richer episodic support to Think Crew, introduces reusable schedule templates, adds nine new variables including automatic sunrise and sunset times, and gives the projects, scripts, schedules, and templates pages a complete redesign – along with bunches of other new features. Here is what is new.

Episodes

If you work in the series world, this one is for you. You can now create a list of episodes in your project and apply those episode numbers to each script. When you ingest a script, Think Crew assigns the episode number to every breakdown it creates from it. If you build breakdowns by hand that are not tied to a script scene, you can assign episodes to those manually.

Episodes carry through to your day out of days. View a single grid with all episodes merged together, view all of your episodes broken out by element, or narrow the day out of days down to just one episode. We have also added episode variables, so you can reference the episode names directly in banners and print headers.

Templates

A template is a collection of categories and elements that you can apply to a schedule when you create it. The new Templates page lets you edit those categories and elements until they are exactly the way you want them.

From there, creating a schedule is simple: apply the template and your categories and elements come with it. You can ingest scripts at the same time, and if the script and the template disagree, the template takes precedence. You can also save the data from an existing schedule back into a template and reuse it whenever you like.

Sunrise and Sunset Variables

We have added nine new variables to Think Crew, including four time based ones: sunrise, sunset, dawn, and dusk. Each is calculated automatically from the shoot date and your current city. If you need times for a different location, just add a city name to that breakdown and the sunrise and sunset times will reflect that city instead.

Pin, Archive, and Table

We redesigned the document cards on the projects, scripts, schedules, and templates pages. They are more concise, showing more information in a more compact space, and the manage button has moved to the top right as a settings icon.

You can now pin selected documents to the top of the list, which makes them easy to find. You can also archive projects you no longer want on your main list, then switch the view to “archive” to see them or move them back. A new table view replaces the previous list view, letting you sort by column name and see all of your documents at a glance. And we have introduced context menus throughout the document pages: right click any document to act on it directly, without having to select it first.

Also new in v2.9

• Font size override on individual strips and banners
• Panes now persist between sessions
• Calendar view shows durations
• Copy and paste strips, categories, or elements from one schedule into another
• A completely rewritten script revision tool with a cleaner interface and far more control over how data is merged between revisions
• A redesigned permissions page with a simpler interface for making changes
• Interface refinements throughout: animated icons, reduced color in the nav bars to cut down on distraction, user avatars that show initials when no picture is available, and more tooltips to explain what each button does