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Output File Size

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:56 am
by sryan
I created a project in Mimic and then built both a Flash output a madcap Movie Viewer output. The Flash file that was created ended up being 66MB while the Movie Viewer file was only 4MB. I don't understand the huge gap in sizes. Any ideas as to why the file size is so vastly different even though it's the same project?

I tried adjusting some of the Movie Properties but nothing seems to help. Any help would be appreciated as I'm a bit lost at the moment.

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:02 pm
by RamonS
The proprietary MadCap movie format has much better compression and handling of the frames. That is not available in Flash, which results into a larger file size. In return Flash files can be viewed by almost anyone on almost any system, not so for the MadCap movie format. So if proprietary formats are OK and you exclusively live in a Windows and .NET only world, then the MadCap format is a good choice. For everything else there is Flash.

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 5:17 am
by sryan
I need to incorporate the tutorial i create into a wpf application (using xaml). Flash or Silverlight are the only ways I see to do that (without launching an outside app). Unfortunately the file sizes are so large that it would require us to move to a DVD install disc at some point.

I still don't understand how files that are no bigger than a total of 9MB (project, png frames and wmv videos included) could create a 66MB flash file.

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 5:59 am
by RamonS
It is the compression (or lack thereof if you will) that is involved. Is the silverlight output any better? Also, did you try a different quality setting for the Flash output (Movie Properties > Movie Output > Flash Options) ? Further, do you have a lot of sequences in the movie with scrolling screen content? Scrolling will cause Mimic to switch to full frame mode recording a video rather than single frames.
The only other option I can think of is to take the flash output, convert it to avi (e.g. with Pazera), and then use the RivaVX encoder to create a new flash video file. RivaVX allows for fine tuning more options and potentially get smaller files. I have no idea what this does to the quality.

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:44 pm
by sryan
My tutorial is mostly event (click) based. Has about 115 frames but doesn't last more than 2 mins. there are only two frames in the project that use FMV. Each last no more than 2-3 seconds and the wmv containing those videos is no more than 230KB.

I tried to look at the "quality settings", but I don't have any. At least not where you suggested I look. In that area, I only have the ability to enable embedded skins and to edit skins. Does it matter that I just upgraded to v5.0?

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:50 am
by sryan
Sorry, I neglected to answer your other question regarding Silverlight.

I tried that build option and the entire Silverlight output folder that gets created is approx 9MB. So, yes it is much smaller than Flash. I haven't worked with Silverlight before so not sure which files in the output file is th main one (js, htm, etc).

Silverlight has the same issue with not being able to resize FMV frames that Flash does though (mentioned in a previous post of mine).

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:51 pm
by alieen
The Flash file that was created ended up being 66MB while the Movie Viewer file was only 4MB. I don't understand the huge gap in sizes. Any ideas as to why the file size is so vastly different even though it's the same project?

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:16 am
by RamonS
Do you have a lot of full frame captures in the project? In general, the comments from above still hold true. The MadCap format is generating smaller files, the downside is that it is a proprietary format that requires its own player.

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 3:44 am
by ChoccieMuffin
This post is from 2011... the original poster has probably resolved the problem by now. :-)

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 6:09 am
by sryan
No, I still consider this unresolved. I have simply just come to live with it over the years.

Re: Output File Size

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:41 am
by ChoccieMuffin
Sounds like you need to add a feature request or, more likely, a bug report!