5 Ways to Benefit from Using Thumbnail Frames in Livegrade

Did you ever want to leave your DIT cart without taking your large external hard disk but still keep your most relevant reference media files? This blog post describes how to achieve this with a few clicks and reveals other efficient solutions when using thumbnail frames in Livegrade for similar use cases.

What are Thumbnail Frames?

Before looking into specific use cases, let’s look at the thumbnail frame feature in general. 

By default, recorded movies are indicated by a thumbnail of the movie’s first recorded frame in the shot library. On still image exports and in PDF reports, Livegrade also uses that first frame of the movie. 

However, the first frame of a recorded movie is usually not the most significant frame of the shot. 

Hence, you can set a thumbnail frame directly in Livegrade’s viewer window.

As soon as you have set a new thumbnail frame, the thumbnail in the shot library updates automatically.

Another button allows you to quickly navigate to your loaded movie’s currently set thumbnail frame.

The SITUATION YOU’RE IN

Using reference media from previously created shots is the key to keeping your looks consistent. Hence, Livegrade offers multiple ways to create reference media. 

For example, you can:

1. Record movies with capture devices,
   • Movie recordings that you can create on the fly using the auto-record functionality are especially powerful. You can go back to any recorded frame anytime, e.g., to compare the look of a previous scene with your current live image.
2. Create frame grabs with LUT boxes,
3. Or import media from a hard disk.

However, movie recordings take a lot of disk space. On long-period productions, your movie recordings might take hundreds of Gigabytes or even Terabytes, even when using efficient video codecs such as ProRes LT or H.264. Consequently, most DITs have a large external hard disk on their cart, allowing them to record everything without headaches. 

But what if the location forces you to change to a more mobile setup with just your laptop and a few small devices? 

And how do you reveal the relevant part of many hours of recorded movies when a reference is needed quickly?

How to benefit from using Thumbnail Frames?

In the following section, we will walk you through efficient solutions for five use cases:

#1: KEEP WORKING AWAY FROM THE CART

Did you ever want to leave your DIT cart without taking your large hard disk but still keep your most important reference media files?

Here’s a neat way to do that quickly without losing your most crucial reference images.

1. In Livegrade Studio – the fastest way is using multiple media folders:

• Make sure to set thumbnail frames for your reference movies at a significant position.
• Create a new media folder, e.g. called “Reference Stills”, on your internal hard drive and make it the record folder.
• Select the reference movies from your large external drive for which you would like to keep still images.
• Choose “Duplicate As Shot With Still Image” from the contextual menu.
• Unplug your large hard disc – your shots with movies now will go offline, but your newly created shots with still images remain online, and you can work fully mobile, just with your laptop.

When you return to your cart:

• Just plug in your large external drive again, and your media files are all back online.

2. In Livegrade Pro – using PFLA export and import:

• Make sure to set thumbnail frames for your reference movies at a significant position.
• Select the reference movies from your large external drive for which you would like to keep still images.
• Choose “Duplicate As Shot With Still Image” from the contextual menu
• Export a look archive (PFLA) from the newly created shots with still images (make sure to include media files in your export).
• Create a new media folder, e.g., called “Reference Stills” on your internal hard drive and make it the record folder – your shots with movies now will go offline
• Import the look archive with the shot with still images and choose to copy the media files to your record folder.
• Unplug your large hard disc – your shots with movies are offline, but your newly created shots with still images remain online, and you can work fully mobile, just with your laptop.

When you return to your cart:

• Export a look archive (PFLA) with your newly created shots (make sure to include media files in your export).
• Plugin your large external drive again and change your record folder to your previously used record folder on the large external drive.
• Import the look archive with your new shots and choose to copy the media files to your record folder.

#2: SAVE SPACE ON DISK

Did you ever want to remove space-consuming movies while keeping the most significant frames as still images?

You can do that easily if you have set a thumbnail frame for your movies or if you are satisfied with the first frame in the shot anyway.

• Just select the shots with movie recordings that you want to “condense” to shots with still images.
• Choose “Duplicate As Shot With Still Image” from the contextual menu.
• Delete the shots with movie recordings that you duplicated.

#3: SIMPLIFY REVIEW

Did you ever want to quickly navigate to the most significant frame of a movie recording when reviewing recorded shots from your library?

You can navigate to your thumbnail frame with the “Jump to Thumbnail Frame” button in the viewer and its associated menu items or controller actions for MIDI, Tangent, or Stream Deck devices.

Tip: If you would like to load movies always at the thumbnail frame’s position, consider creating a multi action on your Stream Deck layout. For example, add action “Load Selected Shot into Library Slot” and then action “Jump to Thumbnail Frame” to your multi action.

#4: PERFECT REPORTS

Did you ever want to change the thumbnails in your reports to display a more significant frame from your recorded movie? Or did you ever need to create a still image from a movie recording to export that frame as a still image instead of the clip’s first frame?

If you set a thumbnail for each of your recordings, any workarounds when sharing shots with recorded movies as still images or as PDF reports will be unnecessary. As soon as you set a new thumbnail frame, your custom specified frame is used automatically for exporting still images and in PDF reports.

#5: CARE & SHARE

How many times did you need to find a significant still frame and export a still image to then share the image via Airdrop with one of your co-workers?

Again, with your custom set thumbnail frame and Livegrade’s ability to share stills from the shot library directly via Airdrop, any previously used workarounds are no longer required. Just select the shots you want to share and choose “Share Stills of Selected Shots via Airdrop”. For shots with recorded movies, Livegrade will automatically use the set thumbnail frame so that what you see in your shot library is what you get when sharing shots via Airdrop.

Conclusion

Working with thumbnail frames makes your life much easier if your production relies on a well-curated shot library with reference movies. You can benefit from speedy and robust access to your most significant recorded frames.

Furthermore, you can easily share them with co-workers and communicate your work in a more meaningful and appealing way to succeeding departments. So, don’t forget to set a thumbnail frame and let Livegrade do the rest 🙂 .