List of what doesn't work in Flash output

[babben]

I've asked for this information from MadCap but haven't had luck. So, I'm starting my own post with a list of what I've found so far and any workarounds.

Resizing images - If you rely on Mimic to resize images for you, your Flash output will become 'picasso-like.' (Can't recall which poster dubbed it this, but it's a perfect description.) The graphics are completely off. Workaround: re-size your images outside of Mimic and import them in as their final size. Don't let Mimic shrink the graphics to size. I called MadCap and they said this is a known issue and that the developers are working on it.

Rectangles and Buttons - I created a page with some buttons, polylines, an image and some transparent rectangles with text. There was no background bmp specified - I just set the color to plain white. When I compiled to Flash, everything showed up but the rectangles. I created a plain white background graphic, set it to be the background bmp, re-compiled. The rectangles showed up.

Polylines - when you compile to Flash, the tops of the polyline arrows are cut off. Haven't found a workaround for that one yet. I may have to create images and pull them in.

Recording data input - If you record keystrokes in making a movie, then export that movie to Flash, the letters come up really choppy. Workaround is to create input boxes in Mimic and use those to show keystrokes.

Recording applications - I find that it's a lot easier just to do screen caps of the application in its different states and then overlay the cursors, input boxes, etc. on top. I spend way too much time cleaning up recorded applications. It's faster (for what I'm doing) to do the screen cap/overlay method.

Overall, it's a good product but I wish MadCap was more forthcoming about what Mimic won't do in Flash. If users know what to expect they can work around it. Knowing about the above would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. Hopefully this post will save someone else the time too.

MadCap, would you please add the known issues to the knowledgebase? The picasso graphics issue wasn't there when I looked.

Users - what else is there that you've found?

[RussGuill]

I tried the demo and recorded a trial movie. I didn't like the fact that the text popup indicating something was clicked displayed and disappeared before the next screen even displayed. That, plus the workflow was not as smooth as another product. Overall, I wasn't impressed and could not recommend it to our group.

[orit]

hello,
first of all english is not my native language...
i'm using the trail version for neerly a month and not impressed of this product as i thought i' ll be
there's a lot of problems when i try to build the movie in flash output.
sometimes i get exeption message and the output does not sucseed ...don't know what am i doing wrong
when the output sucseed, the oudio cut of at the end of the frame. in the mimic as i press the quick preview movie, it sounds perfect.
when i try to fix something and then build the movie again, i get error message.
please help me
cheers

orit, sorry about my english

[MikeKatz]

Thanks Babben, useful information - I'm just beginning to evaluate Mimic, and this is really helpful.

[SteveS]

Hi Orit,

Welcome to the forums.

I find a lot of the time that exceptions are caused by the dotNet framework - a reboot can sometimes work wonders.

I also make a habit of deleting previous content whenever i build. You can do this using the Project -> Clean Project Output menu commands.

I've had trouble with the current round of Flash v Windows updates. (Flash behaving strangely). Does your project run properly if you build a movie as a Madcap Movie?

[mitches]

Have you had trouble with the audio being truncated?