Mimic Version: 1.10, Jan 10/2000 ===== (C)2000 Steve J. Gray http://www.ryerson.ca/~sgray Program Documentation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mimic: Multi-Interface Mediaplayer with Integrated Components Note: ActiveMovie, Netshow, DirectX Media, and Windows Media are all basically the same thing. They are all built on and around the ActiveMovie engine. They are all trademarks and/or copyright Microsoft Corporation. Requirements ------------ * Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or higher (IE5 recommended) * Microsoft Media Player 6.0 or higher (6.4 recommended) * May require editing of system files to enable ActiveMovie. If you know for sure that MediaPlayer is installed and you get the message "not a registered MCI device" do the following: << Windows 95 >> Edit the SYSTEM.INI file. In the [MCI] section add the line: ActiveMovie=mciqtz.drv << Windows NT >> Use REGEDIT to add the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\MCI32\ActiveMovie Set the value to: mciqtz32.dll * Windows NT users must install a special driver to allow direct access to hardware in order for the FM Tuner component to function! Please refer to the file "winnt.txt" for more info! Introduction ------------ Welcome to Mimic! Mimic is an all-in-one accessory program that can mimic most other programs of it's type using "skins". Skins are a collection of files that define the entire look of the user interface. Mimic contains one of the most powerful skin engines of any program. It allows buttons and labels of any size, tooltips for all buttons, graphical digit displays of any size and supports non-rectangular windows. Also, unlike most other programs that are limited to large BMP files, Mimic allows the use of GIF and JPEG files to save hard drive space! There is a special Winamp skin (winamp.skin) to import and use Winamp skins! Mimic includes the following features: Common Features: * Powerful skins with buttons of any size and placement (only two bitmap files required! Can be GIF or JPG to save space) * Multi Non-Rectangular regions for main form * Graphical Digits and Text * Right-click menu for access to most function even if not specifically included in the current skin * Tray icon * Keyboard control * Tooltips for all buttons and text. Media Player: * Able to play almost any format including: MPEG Audio: MP2, MP3, MPA MS Audio: WMA, ASF Wave Audio: WAV, SND, AU MIDI: MID, RMI, KAR Video: AVI, MOV, QT, DAT (mpeg) And more.... * Visual Playlist Selector (great for CD compilations) * Album cover features * Include bitmap files (BMP, GIF, JPG) in playlist * Intelligent conversion of filenames in playlist * MP3 IDTag display/editor with cover bitmap * Volume Control * Continuous Playback (adjustable song overlap) * Direct selection of song via keyboard * Karaoke Lyrics Playback (preliminary) (compatible with SJGPlay when files renamed to .LYR) CD Player: * Preliminary CDDB and CDPLAYER.INI support (read only) * Use Menu to toggle between CD and Media Mode FM Tuner: * Supports The following Cards: - Aztech / Packard-Bell / CompExpress - RadioTrack I / Reveal RA300 - RadioTrack II * Unlimited Presets * Allows descriptive station names * Displays Station Logo bitmap * Direct access to station or preset via keyboard Clock: * Current Time (12 or 24 hour mode) * Date with Day of Week * 10 independent Timers with Lap function Calculator: * Basic Calculator functions * Memory * Unit Conversions, with loadable definitions Notepad: * For quick notes * Load, Save, Print Web Browser: * Uses Internet Explorer engine * Supports Java, downloading * 10 Quick URL buttons * URL History Web Radio: * Compatible with MS MediaPlayer streams * Unlimited Stations * 10 Preset Station Buttons Screensaver: * Separate component (install to windows directory) * Clock functions * Animations * Picture viewer (to be implemented) And much more!... Future Planned additions (depending on user feedback): * Lyrics Editing/Synch'ing capability for player * More Karaoke functions * Jukebox features * Voice Recorder * Calendar with To-Do lists * Multiple alarms for clock * User suggested features.... e-mail me your suggestions! About MCI --------- For those not familiar with MCI (Media Control Interface), it is the mechanism that the Microsoft Media Player (and others) uses to play various media files that are out there. This means that you need an MCI driver to play specific file types. MCI drivers for some of the common types of files such as WAV, MIDI, AVI etc come standard with Windows, whereas other types such as MPEG Video, Quicktime etc need to be installed separately. This is where ActiveMovie comes in. ActiveMovie is the engine behind Microsoft's DirectShow, Netshow, and the new Media Player. ActiveMovie attempts to combine all the various formats into one player. Mimic requires MediaPlayer 6.0 or higher. Version 6.4 or higher is required for Windows Media Audio files. Note!: Version 6.0 is the only version that supports RealAudio/Video files. Supported Media Formats ----------------------- Mimic is a complete multi-format media player, with features favoring the very popular MP3 format. Because it uses the Microsoft MediaPlayer engine it is able to play a wide variety of formats. MS MediaPlayer is an open standard and can support future formats with the use of CODECS. Mimic will automatically support all current and future formats supported via MediaPlayer. The following file types are supported: MP2, MP3 WAV, AU, SND, AIF, AIFC, AIFF MID, RMI RA, RM, RAM, RMM (with MS Mediaplayer 6.0) AVI, MOV, QT, M1V, MPA, MPE, MPEG, DAT ASF, ASX Additionally support is included for the following formats using other 3rd-party MCI drivers: 1) Modules: MOD, MTM, FAR, 669, OKT, STM, S3M, NST, WOW, XM (requires Mod 4Win MCI driver available from www.mod4win.com) 2) AutoDesk Animator: FLI, FLC (MCI driver available with Autodesk Animator) 3) Golddisk Animation: AWA, AWM (MCI driver source unknown) 4) Multimedia Movie: MMM (MCI driver source unknown) Using the program ================= Prefs ----- * Info - Displays current skin info * Manual - Display documentation * Options - Startup: Lets you specify a playlist or directory to load - Shutdown: Save window position option - Window: * Always on Top makes the window stay above all others * Snap to ViewPort makes the window snap to the edges - Misc: * Scroll Songname - only works for Winamp skins or skins with a graphical song title display * Load Album using ID3Tag - looks for a corresponding album cover bitmap using info from MP3 file ID Tag * Use Friendly names - strips out underlines, extensions and track numbers from the filename - External Display * Sends the track title to a Prolite LED sign * Auto On/Off (not implemented) * Paths/Fav - Skins: * Default Path for Mimic or VB-Amp Pro Skin files - Vis PL Selector: * Default Path for the Visual Playlist Selector - Favorite Skins: * Lets you pick a favorite skin for each "component" Note: Click the "..." button to browse and select a directory. * Player - DirAdd Extensions: A list of extensions separated by spaces. Determines which file types are added to the playlist when you add a directory or drag a folder. - Device: Lets you select which MCI device to use; MPEGVideo or ActiveMovie Use MPEGVideo unless you have installed a device that has replaced the MediaPlayer driver (such as a DVD playback card). If you have, please refer to the README for instructions on installing ActiveMovie). - Continuous Playback: The number of milliseconds to overlap the end of one track and the start of the next. Zero to disable. * FMTuner - Tuner Card: * Selects the card type and address - Startup: * Lets you select a preset or frequency to tune - Shutdown: * Lets you control if the radio is left on or muted when the program ends - Registration: * The FM Tuner is the only component of Mimic that requires registration ($15 US). The radio will become non-functional after 5 minutes unless registered! Skins ----- Skins are loaded by selecting a ".skin" file. Skins can be in the same directory as the program or you can define the skins path in the preferences. Some skins (like the default) use skin linking. Linked skins should all be in the same directory since they usually share bitmap files. If you create a unique skin please e-mail it to me so I can add it to the skin download page. Album Covers ------------ The program makes extensive use of "Album Cover" bitmap files. The cover files can be either BMP, GIF or JPG format. Skins can contain the cover display in the main window itself, or if not used the program will open a separate window when a cover bitmap is found. When you load a playlist, the program will automatically look for a matching album cover bitmap. Example: Playlist: "Phil Collins - Hits.m3u" Cover...: "Phil Collins - Hits.jpg" You can also include Album Cover bitmaps (or any bitmap for that matter) right inside the playlist. When the program sees the bitmap it "plays" it for 5 seconds before continuing with the next song. Album Cover's will also display, if available, when displaying the MP3 IDTag, which is a special tag that may be available in some MP3 files. When the "Display Album Cover using IDTag info" option is selected the Album cover bitmap is updated whenever the IDTag exists and a matching bitmap file is found. The bitmap file must exist in the same directory as the MP3 file and it's name must correspond to one of the following formats: 1) AlbumTitle.xxx 2) Artist-AlbumTitle.xxx 3) Artist - AlbumTitle.xxx Where xxx is the extension (BMP, GIF or JPG). Visual Playlist Selector (VPS) ------------------------------ The main purpose of this feature is for CD compilation discs, where many CD's have been MP3'd and put on a single disc. The idea is to scan each album cover and create a playlist for the album, then the program will display thumbnails of all the albums on the disc so you can choose which to load and play. Up to 16 covers can be displayed on a page. You can page up/down through an unlimited amount of playlists. What you need to do is: 1) Convert the CD tracks to MP3 format 2) Place them in a folder (optional, but recommended) 3) Load the MP3 files and create a playlist 4) Scan the album cover (BMP, GIF, or JPG format) 5) Save the album cover with the same name as the playlist. Now, in the preferences "Paths" tab, enter the path to your files or your cd-rom drive (ie: D:\). When you insert the compilation CD click on the "Visual Playlist Selector" button and watch all your virtual CD's appear on the screen! Categorizing Playlists: You can also categorize your playlists in the VPS. Say you want to split your playlists into genres like "Pop", "Rock", "Country" etc. Create a folder for each category then create a ".DIR" file with the same name and (optionally) a bitmap with the same name. Now, when the VPS sees those ".DIR" files it will only display those entries and NOT playlists in those subdirectories until they are selected. The ".DIR" file can be any file (like a text file) as only the name is important. Example: Folder : Rock Dirfile: Rock.dir Bitmap : Rock.jpg (optional) Bitmap files should be SQUARE and can be any size (ie: 64x64 pixels). They will be scaled to fit, so if they are not square they will be distorted. Be warned, that the bigger the file the longer it will take to load each into the VPS screen. Also be careful; JPG files can expand to very large files! Large bitmaps can cause an out of memory error when 16 are loaded in at once!!! Continuous Playback (Mixing) ---------------------------- This allows you to play two MP3's (or other media) at the same time by overlapping playback. You can specify up to 10 seconds (9999 milliseconds) of overlap. You will need a fast machine and hard drive... Note: This feature has been tested and works on my machines: * Pentium2, 266MHz, 64MB, Awe64, Win98, and MSMediaPlayer 6.x * Pentium MMX, 200MHz, 32MB, SIS Built-in Audio, Win98, No additional software. Your milage may vary:-) Please let me know if it works or not, and your system configuration. I would appreciate the feedback! Drag and Drop / Add Directory ----------------------------- You can drag files, folders or even entire drives into the playlist. When adding directories Mimic will add all files with extensions that are listed in the "DirAdd Extensions" field in the prefs. Extensions are listed separated by spaces. For example: "MP3 MP2 MPA WAV MID QT". You can also drag and drop playlist files (M3U). Mimic will add all entries from all playlists. Note: When adding files Mimic does not check if a file is already in the playlist, therefor it's possible to have multiple entries for a single file. Please send all corrections, suggestions, bug reports or thanks to: sgray@acs.ryerson.ca Thanks!