Timeline thumbnails have disappeared

dsf wrote on 5/26/2007, 3:33 PM

All my timelines have gone blank: video, audio, text. There are no thumbnails to get an idea of where I am in the timeline, although the events are shown (as white rectangles). I see everything fine in the preview monitor--everything seems to be working okay. Searched through all the preferences, etc, options but can't find what i have checked/unchecked that caused this (assuming that is what happened.) Help?

Comments

farss wrote on 5/26/2007, 3:37 PM

Check under View, you've likely turned off thmbnails and waveforms.

dsf wrote on 5/26/2007, 9:03 PM

Check under View, you've likely turned off thmbnails and waveforms.

My sincere thanks.

[r]Evolution wrote on 5/27/2007, 10:25 AM

Many NLE's have this option of Thumbnails OFF by default.

I've noticed in Avid... if I use Thumbnails things get VERY Sluggish waiting for the Thumbnails & Waveforms to refresh everytime I move the timeline. Even if I just use the Header Thumbnail.

Premiere Pro also slows down when I try to use Thumbnails on the timeline.

I will have to do a test to see if Vegas slows down with Thumbnails enabled.

I prefer using them because they make it so easy to just look at your timeline and go to the place/clip you'd like to edit... but if it will boost performance... I may have to go back to editing without them like in Avid..

Chienworks wrote on 5/27/2007, 12:30 PM

"I may have to ..."

Amazing how you can suddenly have a need for an option you didn't even know existed a few moments earlier. ;)

If you've been editing fine with them on all along, why would you suddenly have to have them off?

blink3times wrote on 5/27/2007, 6:34 PM

I'll take full timeline thumbnail capacity anytime! In Avid liquid you can't even generate full timeline thumbnails.... just a head and a tail.

Makes it really tough to work with unsync-ed multi cam edits. I have to apply a 2d cpu effect to enable a split screen view so I can see what I am doing.

With Vegas's full thumbnail preview coupled with good zooming capabilities... the whole process is MUCH easier..... use the timeline itself as a viewer.

Not withstanding, Vegas moves much faster with full thumbnail view than any other NLE that I have worked with.

[r]Evolution wrote on 5/27/2007, 11:19 PM

Chienworks... please read my post again. Hopefully this time your interpretation will be more along the lines of what I said/meant.

I've known of the Thumbnail option all along. What I was saying after seeing this thread was that I will take a look at the performance of Vegas with & without the Thumbnails. If it's a significant difference... I will go the way of No Thumbnails. If it's not or barely any difference, I'll continue w/ the Thumbnails.

I currently use the Thumbnails when I'm using Vegas but lately I've only been using Vegas when I need to Render Regions or open files from various sources. Most of my work lately has been done in FCP or Premiere Pro. Before that nearly everything was done in Avid Adrenaline. I used to use Vegas all the time but in working with other NLE's I'm coming to find that Vegas doesn't play well within a Suite. This truly frustrates me and henders my workflow since I'm usually the guy that not only edits the piece but also the guy that Composites the GreenScreen and layers, adds the Titles, Authors the DVD, then does all the updates after review. (same as most of you.)

I prefer to be able to go in and out of my compositing & titling programs alongside my NLE. Since Sony has neither a composting nor a titling program I tend to look the other way for Sweet Suite Integration.

So my test for Timeline Thumbnails in Vegas will basically be for scrubbing through a Timeline that has lots of footage on it that I'm about to Render Regions so I can take the footage into another program. So far, the only Must Have Option for me in Vegas is Render Regions.

http://www.planet9productions.net

Chienworks wrote on 5/28/2007, 3:55 AM

Well, from a CPU standpoint, Vegas is definitely more "efficient" without thumbnails. How much more efficient? Not much that i've noticed. When working with non-mpeg material it takes Vegas about a full eyeblink to draw the screen, as compared to maybe half an eyeblink without thumbnails. Net loss of CPU time during a daily editing session is probably on the order of a few minutes.

On the other hand, from a human standpoint, finding where i am in a project, locating where i want to be, these things are painfully slow with thumbnails turned off. Having them turned on can save me an enormous amount of editing time. I can glance at the thumbnails and zip around the timeline finding my editing points in a flash. With thumbnails off, i have to scrub through the timeline and pay attention (that's tough to do all the time) to the preview window, wondering when the thing i'm looking for may appear.

So, since CPU time is usually idle and human time is usually full, human time is the critical item to consider. In these terms, having thumbnails on is a HUGE timesaver. I get much more accomplished during an editing session with them on, even if they do slow down Vegas to some (tiny) degree.

So, i'll ask again, why might you now *have to* turn them off, merely after reading this discussion and without testing, when you've been editing just fine with them on?