Is MIMIC a video player?

[henkjans]

Dear forum colleagues,


on a local computer (which controlles a machine) I like to use video's in my htmlHelp (made by Flare 6). Not a webHelp (because there is no internet connection).
Flare supports Flash, Windows media and Quicktime as players. For all three these formats there are several players to download/use.
Mostly they are free (and always comming with lots of advertizing, automatically updates and cash memory usage).
That is not allowed on our machine controlling pc's.

What I need is a local player (no interaction with the internet our user) OR a plugin for Flare.
My reseller suggested Mimic, but when a see the demo on the Madcap site I have my doubts in getting the workaround I will.
It should be as simple as it is. Entering media in a topic and playing it using htmlHelp.

Is there anybody who has an answer??

[Nita Beck]

Hi Henk. According to Mimic's Help system, you can distribute "Desktop Output Only" in either Mimic Movie format (for which you'll need to redistribute MadCap's Movie Viewer) or Adobe AIR format (for which your users will need to download and install Adobe AIR from Adobe).

Here's an extended excerpt from Mimic's Help (not formatted, but the full discussion).

Desktop Only Output
You can create movie output designed to be accessed from a desktop with MadCap's proprietary Mimic Movie Format (MMF) or with the Adobe AIR format. For the best quality and file size results, MMF is recommended.

About the Mimic Movie Format
The Mimic Movie Format (MMF) is designed to be opened by users from their desktop, rather than being accessed from a server. If you need to integrate your movies into a software application, MMF is a good solution.

Following are some important characteristics of MMF:

Built-in navigation If you generate a project (as opposed to a standalone movie), navigation is automatically built in to the interface so that users can access all movies in the project.
Compile time The time required to generate output in this format is typically much less than it is for other formats.
Output file size The generated file size is much smaller in this format than it is for other formats.
Output file types The output consists of files using an .mcmovie extension (for individual movies), and another file using an .mcmoviesys extension (when creating projects).
Viewer Movies can be viewed in the freely distributable MadCap Movie Viewer or the MadCap DotNet Help Viewer.
XML The output files are XML-based, so you can open them in any XML editor to modify them.

In addition to generating the output, what other actions are required?

MadCap Movie Viewer You must also provide your end users with the freely distributable MadCap Movie Viewer. If you are distributing MadCap Flare output with the DotNet Help format, your end users can use the freely distributable MadCap DotNet Help Viewer instead of the MadCap Movie Viewer to see the integrated Mimic movies: http://madcapsoftware.com/downloads/red ... ables.aspx.
About the Adobe AIR Format
The Adobe AIR format is browser-based, but it is designed to bring Web-related content to a desktop environment. It does this by taking Flash files and incorporating them into a single executable file.

Following are some important characteristics of the Adobe AIR format:

Built-in navigation If you generate a project (as opposed to a standalone movie), navigation is automatically built in to the interface so that users can access all movies in the project.
Output file types The output consists of a single file with an .air extension. When users access this file, an executable file with an .exe extension is created on their local drive and saved in their C:\Program Files directory.
Multiple environments End users can install the movie file not only in Windows, but in a Macintosh and Linux environment as well.
Skins You can edit the interface of the movie output (e.g., the navigation features) through the use of skins, including language skins. See and About Skins and Editing Language Skins.
Viewer Movies can be viewed in the application window. Because this type of output is actually an application, it uses its own window to display the movies.
In addition to generating the output, what other actions are required?

Java Runtime Environment installation (you) As the individual compiling the movie output, you need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) before generating output. You can download the JRE from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.
Adobe AIR installation (you and end users) Anyone who wants to view the generated Adobe AIR movie output from Mimic needs to install Adobe AIR first. This means that both you and your end users must run this installation. You can download Adobe AIR from http://get.adobe.com/air/.
Note: If you have trouble generating and viewing Adobe AIR output, the problem may be caused by your firewall. Try disabling your firewall and generating the output again.

Hope this helps.