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About Movies

Not only can you explain concepts and tasks to users in your project, but you can also show them through the use of movies. You can insert links to MadCap Mimic movies, or you can insert SWF movie files directly.

Methods for including movies

Following are the methods for using movies in Flare.

Inserting links to Mimic movies If you have MadCap Mimic installed, you can create videos to be displayed in the output format of your choice—Mimic Movie Format (MMF), Microsoft Silverlight, or Adobe Flash.

After creating a Mimic movie, you can insert a link to it. The movie will open and play in the appropriate window (e.g., movies generated in MMF are viewed in the MadCap Movie Viewer or MadCap Help Viewer). After you insert a movie link, a small movie frame icon displays next to it. You can insert movie links into topics, tables of contents, or browse sequences. For more information, see Inserting Movie Links into Topics, Inserting Movie Links into TOCs, and Inserting Movie Links into Browse Sequences.

Here is an example of a Mimic movie link: Click here to see the movie.

Note: When you insert a Mimic movie link, the appropriate movie files are not copied to your project's content files. Instead, they are automatically copied to the output files when you generate the target.
Inserting SWF movies directly You can also create Flash-based movies (SWF files) using other software and then insert those movies into your Flare topics. When users open a topic containing a movie, the movie plays automatically. See Inserting Movies into Topics.

Note: When you insert a movie from outside your project into a topic, a copy of the SWF file is added to your project. The SWF file is stored in the Resources\Images folder of the Content Explorer.

Available movie formats

You can insert links to Mimic videos generated in one of the following output types: Mimic Movie Format (MMF), Microsoft Silverlight, or Adobe Flash. For more information not provided here, see the MadCap Mimic online Help.

About the MadCap 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 the best 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 any of the other formats.
Output file size The generated file size is much smaller in this format than it is for the 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.

Note: This only applies to output that has not been compressed.

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/redistributables.aspx.

About the Microsoft Silverlight Movie Format

The Silverlight format is designed by Microsoft. According to Microsoft, "Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web."

Following are some important characteristics of the Microsoft Silverlight 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.
Compile time The time required to generate output in this format is typically much less than it is for Adobe Flash.
Output file size The generated file size is much smaller in this format than it is for Adobe Flash.
Output file types The output consists of an HTM file (XML-based), as well as various ancillary files.
Skins You can edit the interface of the movie output (e.g., the navigation features) through the use of skins, including language skins.
Viewer Movies can be viewed in a browser window.
XML The output files are XML-based, so you can open them in any XML editor to modify them.

Note: This only applies to output that has not been compressed.

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

MIME type In order for end users to see Microsoft Silverlight movies delivered from a server, the MIME type must first be set up correctly. This is something that your server administrator would need to do. You should provide the admin with the necessary steps. See the Mimic online Help.

About the Adobe Flash Movie Format

The Adobe Flash format is a common method for adding animation and interactivity to Web pages.

Following are some important characteristics of the Adobe Flash 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 files that use the .swf extension and XML-based files using the .htm extension. In addition, various ancillary files are created to help display the navigation. You can use the HTM files as the main entry points to view the movie output. The HTM files are used to display the Flash video (SWF), as well as the navigation for it.
Skins You can edit the interface of the movie output (e.g., the navigation features) through the use of skins, including language skins.