How to include a thumbnail in the finished render file? (Vegas 19)

NCSGeek wrote on 3/20/2023, 7:21 AM

Hi. I cannot seem to figure out how to have my rendered video files include a thumbnail inside so that Windows and other machines can get that thumbnail for the file when viewing it. How can I do this? I'll provide any additional information as requested if needed.

I'm on the latest version of Vegas Edit 19 as of time of writing.

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NCSGeek wrote on 3/24/2023, 3:44 PM

@NCSGeek Thanks, is a file that doesn't show a thumbnail on your PC? you can see it here titled Untitled,

I haven't done anything with it, I clicked the link, a save to folder popped up & it downloaded instantly,

Correct, on my PC that file, as well as any file I render with Vegas 19, has no thumbnail. Interesting that it works on your PC. This pretty much confirms that it's my Windows installation not liking this specific codec/format.

The one thing then that still stumps my is that my other cloud storage provider, Mega.nz, also fails to show a thumbnail for these files. So I guess they gave a similar issue with not being able to work with this codec/format.

Either way it seems it definitely isn't something I can change within Vegas since it doesn't seem to be Vegas's issue. I can always just that batch file I made to manually attach a thumbnail using FFMPEG.

Thanks for your time.

Gid wrote on 3/24/2023, 5:19 PM

@NCSGeek Hi, yeah I can't explain it, as you saw I did some searching to see why a thumbnail is chosen 🤷‍♂️

These are a couple of 640 x 360 HEVC, I can't exactly replicate your renders but you can try them & see, one is from Vegas 19 the other is Vegas 20,

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zOVOeQxUu0GfXY-oA7XLuU7VKIVqYHkY/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SSYTffFJsbMgoO_gMfCtXxq3QAMCh0tU/view?usp=sharing

RedRob-CandlelightProdctns wrote on 3/24/2023, 6:42 PM

If you have HOS, there is an option in Render+ to add a Custom Video Thumbnail. Here is a screengrab along with a tooltip that describes how it works. The advantage is that you can save any frame from Vegas and use that as your thumbnail.

HOS does not use FFmpeg to accomplish this, but rather another open source app called AtomicParsley (what a name!). You can download the app and write your own command line. Or, you could download the free version of HOS which includes a host of open source tools including AtomicParsley. You'll still have to write your own command line, although it's pretty simple. It should work for any mp4 or mov file.

So ppl here should probably stop troubleshooting a "problem" per-se, ya? With this info you shared, it seems that there's a feature of video files that their thumbnail can be set via some embedded property -- which AtomicParsley is doing, and I gather ffmpeg can do too, ya?

Is this a new feature request then for Vegas --

In project properties let users choose what thumbnail to use for their rendered thumbnails
On the Video Preview dialog to add a button that sets the current frame as the rendered-file thumbnail?

NCSGeek wrote on 3/25/2023, 12:52 PM

[...]it seems that there's a feature of video files that their thumbnail can be set via some embedded property -- which AtomicParsley is doing, and I gather ffmpeg can do too, ya?

Seems so. And yes, FFMPEG can accomplish this also. Earlier in thread I linked a simple batch script to do so for me using FFMPEG. That's why I personally did not need the HOS program he mentioned.

Is this a new feature request then for Vegas --

In project properties let users choose what thumbnail to use for their rendered thumbnails

On the Video Preview dialog to add a button that sets the current frame as the rendered-file thumbnail?

Might be nice as a feature, but thumbnails seem to work on most people's machines except for mine and Mega.nz (Cloud Hosting Provider)

So it must just be this specific codec/format that isnt as widely supported in some ways.