In The Press
Madcap Software Releases Mimic State-of-the-art Software Simulation
New MadCap Mimic Native XML Software Simulation Application Offers Innovative Movie Format, Unicode for Easy Translation, and Best-in-Class Features for Recording and Editing.
San Diego, CA, USA – January 29, 2007 — MadCap Software, the leader in multi-channel content authoring, today introduced Mimic. A state-of-the-art software simulation application, Mimic lets individuals create movies that simulate actions on a computer screen and produce interactive instructional videos. Mimic is the newest addition to MadCap Softwares integrated dream suite of native XML, multi-channel authoring software for creating and publishing content in print, on intranets, across the Web, and around the world in local languages.
The newest product from MadCap is designed to support sales and marketing, technical support, eLearning, and Help systems. With Mimic, users have a choice between quickly creating standalone movies or producing multi-movie collections based on projects. Today output can be generated in Adobe Flash or in Mimic’s proprietary movie format. Mimic also will fully support output in the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) WPF/E format when it is released. Regardless of the format used, Mimic automatically provides built-in navigation for multi-movie collections.
“One of the most important and unique qualities in Mimic is our proprietary movie format, which offers an attractive alternative to Flash. It takes much less time to compile, results in much smaller output files, and consistently meets or exceeds Flash’s video quality,” said Bjorn Backlund, CTO of MadCap Software. “Movies generated in our format are also easy to access. They can be played in the freely distributable MadCap Movie Viewer or in the MadCap Help Viewer, which is used to display Help or training systems built with Flare.”
Mimic follows in the footsteps of Flare, MadCap’s flagship multi-channel content authoring software, and Capture, MadCap’s screen capture and graphics editing program. Like its MadCap predecessors, Mimic is a flexible, open-architecture application that produces XML files. This allows users to open movie files—before or after generation—and edit text in individual movie frames. Because Mimic provides Unicode support for all left-to-right languages, access to these XML files is especially useful for translating movies into different languages.
Like Capture, Mimic is tightly integrated with Flare, making the software simulation application particularly user-friendly for authors of online and Web content. Mimic can be launched from within the Flare interface, and Flare authors can quickly insert links to Mimic movies from topics, tables of contents, and browse sequences. The smaller size of videos generated in the Mimic movie format means authors can include instructional movies while ensuring that the overall size of a Help or training system does not become bloated.
A powerful example of Mimic’s integration with Flare is the use of variables (content that can be customized as needed for delivery to different audiences). Not only can a user insert variables directly into Mimic movie content, he or she can also create a link to a Flare project, so that the Flare project’s variables can be inserted into the Mimic movie. The same ability to link variables exists with MadCap Capture. Therefore, a user can modify a definition for the linked variable in Flare, and it will change everywhere simultaneously—in Flare content, in Mimic movies, and in Capture images. The result is true single-sourcing across three integrated products.
“Even at the beta stage, Mimic is a powerful and flexible tool for creating interactive movies and demos of our software,” said Sara Prentice Manela, editor for the documentation department at Palo Alto Software. “I am really excited about being able to give our users the feeling of actually working in our application while providing the kind of guidance and hand-holding expected in a tutorial.”
Additional key features of Mimic include full-motion recording, a wide variety of recording options, a visual timeline, audio integration, palettes for re-using buttons and other frame objects, input boxes, animated typing boxes, and various special effects.
Mimic will begin shipping in early February 2007. It is priced at $299 per license. Annual support starts at $149 per year.
“Movies are a compelling and effective communications vehicle, and with Web technology, it’s now easy and cost-effective to integrate them into a wide range of business communications,” said Anthony Olivier, MadCap Software CEO. “Mimic sets a new standard in software simulation by combining the flexibility and reach of native XML; Unicode for multiple language support; our unique small-footprint movie format; and best-in-class features for simulation, recording, and editing.”
About MadCap Software
MadCap Software is a trusted resource for thousands of companies around the globe for single-source, multi-channel authoring and publishing solutions designed to streamline the process of developing and delivering training content, learning and development programs, technical documentation, online Help, knowledge bases, and more. From authoring, publishing and translation, to cloud-based content management system, to contribution and review in the cloud, you can streamline content delivery and manage the entire content development lifecycle with MadCap Software. MadCap Software’s services include product training, consulting services, translation and localization, and an advanced developer certification program. Headquartered in San Diego, California, with offices in Austin, TX, MadCap Software is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the content development industry.
