Create Thumbnails

Generate still PNG frames from videos and images.

Method

Create Thumbnails scans the Source folder for video and image files and writes PNG thumbnails for each one to the Output folder. Every frame is scaled to fit inside the chosen Resolution, with dark gray filling any space left over, so all thumbnails come out at a uniform size while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the image. Videos produce several frames spread across their length; still images and very short clips produce one.

When Volare sets up a show folder, Source folder and Output folder default to the show’s Staged and Asset Resources folders.

Frame selection

The number of frames, and where they’re taken from, depends on each file’s length:

• Under half a second, and still images: one frame, from the very start.
• Half a second to 3 seconds: one frame, from the middle.
• 3 seconds or longer: Count frames, evenly spaced. With a Count of 3, frames are taken a quarter, half and three quarters of the way through.

Output layout

With Preserve folder structure on, each file’s thumbnails are written to a folder named after the file, under the same subfolders it has in the source:

Asset Resources\Song_01\Intro_v02\thumb_1.png
Asset Resources\Song_01\Intro_v02\thumb_2.png
Asset Resources\Song_01\Intro_v02\thumb_3.png

With it off, every thumbnail is written directly to the Output folder, named after its file:

Asset Resources\Intro_v02_thumb_1.png

Parameters

Parameter	Details
Source folder	The folder of media to generate thumbnails from.
Output folder	The folder the thumbnails are written to.
Resolution	The size of every thumbnail: 1920 × 1080, 1280 × 720 or 960 × 540.
Count	The number of frames taken from each video.
Scan subfolders	Include every folder inside the Source folder.
Preserve folder structure	Give each file its own folder in the output, mirroring the source’s subfolders. See Output layout.
Skip existing	Skip a file when its complete set of thumbnails is already in the Output folder.