Have you ever finished your edit, uploaded your rendered video to ScreenLight to share it with your client only to discover that the thumbnail is a black frame?
Well step right up because those days are over. That's right, you can now set a custom video thumbnail by simply scrubbing the video. In this post I will walk you through the steps.
1. Edit the video to set a custom thumbnail
Clicking on the edit button on the video view brings up the video editor.
From here you can edit the name of the video, as before, but on supported browsers there is also a video player that you can use to select the frame you want to use for the video thumbnail.
2. Set the new video thumbnail
Selecting the frame is as easy as playing the video and pausing it at the frame to use. If you need to adjust the frame, the back and forward buttons will move the playhead by a single frame. Holding down Shift while clicking the frame forward / back button will move the playhead by one second. Lastly, holding down Control or Command will move the playhead 10 frames or 10 seconds if Shift is also depressed.
Pro tip: The Control/Command and Shift modifiers work the same way with the main video player too.
Clicking the capture button grabs the new thumbnail and prepares it to be saved. At this point, if you change your mind, you can hit Cancel and nothing will have been changed.
3. Save the new thumbnail
Hitting Save will save the new video thumbnail and bring you back to the main video player.
Wrap up
So there you have it, no more black frames staring back at you as you prepare to send your video to your client. As always, let us know what you think and especially any suggestions for improvement.
Acknowledgements
Big Buck Bunny is (c) copyright 2008, Blender Foundation / www.bigbuckbunny.org
