Import Mimic into Capture?

[ccardimon]

Is it possible to import a Mimic movie into Capture for editing -- or individual mimic frames into Capture for cropping?

[RamonS]

AFAIK the individual frames are stored as bitmaps in the Mimic project. You can do whatever you want with them, how it looks afterward is a different issue. Make sure that if you crop, crop all frames of the movie to the same size, otherwise things look ugly.

[ccardimon]

Make sure that if you crop, crop all frames of the movie to the same size, otherwise things look ugly.

That could be problem. The area I want to capture changes from a tiny login screen to a larger dialog window.

[RamonS]

The you need to fill in the background for the image of the tiny login screen so that it matches the size of the other frames. Frames of different sizes will be resized to match and that makes things look really ugly.

[ccardimon]

Cool. Where do I learn about filling in the background in such a manner?

[RamonS]

You need to find the dimensions of the largest frame first. Then you make a bitmap image with the background color you want to use. White is always a good default, but it depends on what the colors are of the item to be added on top or if there are any company design guide lines. Make a backup copy of the background, because you may need it more than once. Now paste the cropped image on the background. The best way is to center horizontally, but leave more space at the bottom than the top. Then save the frame. Continue with the next. If you have same sized items to be pasted on the background make sure that the items go in exactly the same place. Just one pixel off and you will see the item bouncing over the screen.
You can use any graphics program for that. Capture may work, but for simple things like this I rather use an equally simple tool like PaintShop Pro. Pick the one that you know best. Also, the background doesn't have to be a plain color, you can use a gradient or the company logo as watermark, but it shouldn't be detracting too much from the item you want to show. I'd pick a three or four frame test project to get a feel for it.
What you could do as well is simply pasting the image on a background that is much larger than the frame size and then crop that image to size. I am not sure if that makes it easier with placing the images in always the same spot, but you can try both approaches.

What is much easier is setting the desktop background to the desired color and capture a free form frame that is the size of the application window after login. IIRC Mimic remembers where you placed the frame on the screen the last time, so you can simple open the app, then start capture so that you can draw the frame, capture a frame or two, then throw the capture away. Now that the frame is in the right place you can start with the login process and the application window will fir magically into the capture frame (well, not such magic, you made it to happen as such). If you happen to capture a few desktop icons or some other 'dirt' you can paint over that later. Take the bitmap image, use the dropper to get the exact background color, then paint over it.

And as always, after completing a step, make a backup of the whole project. It is always easier to throw excess files away once done than to try to trick something together that is no longer available, or worse start over.

HTH

David