Public speaking rolls to Mac OS X on the ScrollTrain

Marietta Design has announced the successor to its QuickPrompt and AccuPrompt software — ScrollTrain, developed for users who do public speaking. ScrollTrain is a teleprompter application for Mac OS X, developed using Cocoa.

The developer indicated that ScrollTrain sports new features requested by QuickPrompt and AccuPrompt users and adds new enhancements for smooth scrolling presentations. The application will be offered in two versions — a personal version called ScrollTrain Express, and ScrollTrain Pro, a full-featured version developed for corporate, industrial and religious uses.

Scrolltrain Express turns your Mac into a private teleprompter — open a text file and click on the play button, and ScrollTrain will walk you through your speech or presentation. The software features Cruise Control, which presents the document at a precise word-per-minute pace. The software features smooth, anti-aliased text that will speed up on short lines and slow down on longer lines to help make sure the speaker stays on pace.

ScrollTrain Pro adds dozens of new features, according to Marietta Design. The software presents words, pictures and movies, and lets users adjust the speed of the scrolling text with mouse, trackpad or external controllers. ScrollTrain Pro also adds support for AppleScript and imports RTF and HTML files. It can also locate and scroll files found on the Internet. ScrollTrain Pro can format text in any font or color; users can define background color or scroll over background pictures.

Marietta Design has developed ScrollTrain Pro to support a plug-in architecture. A free development API is available. The developer is also releasing five plug-in modules, with additional plug-ins scheduled for release in the coming months:

External Displays: a plug-in to drive camera or podium mounted teleprompter hardware and data projectors;

Crawler: a plug-in that adds customizable crawling “tickers” to the top or bottom of the scrolling display;

Internet Scrolling: a plug in that lets ScrollTrain find and scroll HTML-based files anywhere on the Internet. The Internet Scrolling plug-in lets users from around the world collaborate on a news program, creating scripts from many remote locations.

Run Order: a plug-in which gives users the ability to create a live show comprised of many individual files, arranged in a run order. Files located on the user’s hard disk or anywhere on the Internet can be rearranged at any time during the live show.

Scroll&Edit: A companion to the Run Order plug-in which allows users to simultaneously scroll and edit the same document. Users can make editorial changes while the file is actually being scrolled on a teleprompter.

ScrollTrain Express is coming this month for $89. ScrollTrain Pro will follow in December for $599. Mac OS X is required.