Specifying HTML5 Options

If you are generating HTML5 output, there are a few options that you can set in order to affect the output. You can select the video formats to be used. These dictate which browsers will be able to display your movie(s). You can also select an option to create single video files (MP4 and WebM). Single MP4 files can be used to view movies on the iPhone.You can play single MP4 or WebM files on YouTube. See Movie Output Formats.

How to Specify HTML5 Options for a Collection

  1. Open the collection.
  2. In the Collection Editor, select the Options tab.
  3. In the Default Output section, make sure HTML5 is selected.
  4. To the right of that section, click HTML5 Options. (This button is not enabled unless HTML5 is selected in the Default Output field.) The HTML5 Options dialog opens.

  5. Select the appropriate options in the dialog. At this time only a few video formats can be used with the <video> element. Two of the more prominent formats—WebM and MP4/H.264—are supported in Mimic.

    • WebM - Google Video Format Select this option to generate output that is supported in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera browsers.

    • MP4/H.264 - Apple Video Format Select this option to generate output that is supported in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple Safari browsers.

      • Path to Encoder If you select the MP4/H.264 format, you need to download an encoder for it. Some encoders require a small fee. You can obtain a free encoder at https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/ (both ffmpeg-git-full.zip and ffmpeg-git-essentials.zip will work). Then in Mimic's HTML5 Options dialog, you can navigate to the extracted \bin\ffmpeg.exe file.

    What if some of your users have browsers that support WebM, while other users have browsers that support MP4/H.264? You can select both options, generating output in both formats. Depending on the browser being used, the appropriate format is displayed.

  6. Click OK.
  7. (Optional) Under the list of output formats on the Movie Output tab, select Single File Output if you want to generate single video files. If you select this option, Mimic creates single .mp4 and .webm files and stores them in the "videos" output subfolder. These files can be distributed by themselves, without any support folders or files. The regular browser-related files—which are generated based on your selections in step 5—are necessary to view your movies in the correct browser. On the other hand, the single video files—.webm or .mp4—can be used to play movies in a standalone player, such as Windows Media Player or QuickTime. Single MP4 files can be used to view movies on the iPhone.You can play single MP4 or WebM files on YouTube.
  8. Click Save the active file. to save your work.

How to Specify HTML5 Options for a Standalone Movie

  1. Open the movie.

  2. Select Movie > Properties.

    The Movie Properties dialog opens.

  3. Select the Movie Output tab.
  4. In the Default Output section, make sure HTML5 is selected.
  5. To the right of that section, click HTML5 Options. (This button is not enabled unless HTML5 is selected in the Default Output field.) The HTML5 Options dialog opens.

  6. Select the appropriate options in the dialog. At this time only a few video formats can be used with the <video> element. Two of the more prominent formats—WebM and MP4/H.264—are supported in Mimic.

    • WebM - Google Video Format Select this option to generate output that is supported in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera browsers.

    • MP4/H.264 - Apple Video Format Select this option to generate output that is supported in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple Safari browsers.

      • Path to Encoder If you select the MP4/H.264 format, you need to download an encoder for it. Some encoders require a small fee. You can obtain a free encoder at https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/ (both ffmpeg-git-full.zip and ffmpeg-git-essentials.zip will work). Then in Mimic's HTML5 Options dialog, you can navigate to the extracted \bin\ffmpeg.exe file.

    What if some of your users have browsers that support WebM, while other users have browsers that support MP4/H.264? You can select both options, generating output in both formats. Depending on the browser being used, the appropriate format is displayed.

  7. Click OK.
  8. (Optional) Under the list of output formats on the Movie Output tab, select Single File Output if you want to generate single video files. If you select this option, Mimic creates single .mp4 and .webm files and stores them in the "videos" output subfolder. These files can be distributed by themselves, without any support folders or files. The regular browser-related files—which are generated based on your selections in step 6—are necessary to view your movies in the correct browser. On the other hand, the single video files—.webm or .mp4—can be used to play movies in a standalone player, such as Windows Media Player or QuickTime. Single MP4 files can be used to view movies on the iPhone.You can play single MP4 or WebM files on YouTube.
  9. In the Movie Properties dialog, click OK.
  10. Click Save the active file. to save your work.

What’s Noteworthy?

Note The Skin section of the Movie Output tab shows a preview of the HTML5 movie player.

Note Some players do not support interactive movies (e.g., YouTube only supports non-interactive videos).

Note In order to generate single video files for HTML5, you must have Internet Explorer (IE) 9 or higher installed. Therefore, you must be working on an operating system that supports IE 9.

Note Selecting the option to create single video files will increase the generation time for movies.