1 00:00:00,006 --> 00:00:03,000 - I have a theory that the thumbnail generator 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,004 for most video hosts has been developed to 3 00:00:05,004 --> 00:00:09,003 find the most ridiculous looking frame in my video. 4 00:00:09,003 --> 00:00:11,005 It's usually something along the lines of 5 00:00:11,005 --> 00:00:15,000 mouth half open, dorky look on my face. 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,002 So I always take the extra time to create my own thumbnail. 7 00:00:19,002 --> 00:00:21,002 There are a lot of ways to go about this. 8 00:00:21,002 --> 00:00:23,003 I'm going to show you how to create that right 9 00:00:23,003 --> 00:00:25,009 here in Camtasia. 10 00:00:25,009 --> 00:00:27,009 Here, I have a brand new project 11 00:00:27,009 --> 00:00:31,003 with my exported final video on the timeline. 12 00:00:31,003 --> 00:00:32,008 I'll start by scrubbing through 13 00:00:32,008 --> 00:00:35,006 and finding a section that does a good job 14 00:00:35,006 --> 00:00:37,000 of telling my story. 15 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,003 And I happen to know that somewhere in here 16 00:00:39,003 --> 00:00:40,008 is the frame I'm looking for. 17 00:00:40,008 --> 00:00:43,008 When I get to that area I can use the keyboard 18 00:00:43,008 --> 00:00:49,003 comma to go back, period to go forward, frame by frame 19 00:00:49,003 --> 00:00:55,001 till I find the frame that's going to work for my thumbnail. 20 00:00:55,001 --> 00:00:58,002 Now I'm going to export that single frame. 21 00:00:58,002 --> 00:01:00,001 I'm going to go up here to export 22 00:01:00,001 --> 00:01:02,004 and choose export frame as. 23 00:01:02,004 --> 00:01:07,008 You could also do ctrl F if that floats your boat. 24 00:01:07,008 --> 00:01:10,005 Okay. From here, I like this naming convention. 25 00:01:10,005 --> 00:01:12,008 If you want to rename it something else, that's fine. 26 00:01:12,008 --> 00:01:13,009 I like this one. 27 00:01:13,009 --> 00:01:16,004 And I'm going to make sure import to media bin is 28 00:01:16,004 --> 00:01:19,006 checked here and click save. 29 00:01:19,006 --> 00:01:23,001 And there is my frame. 30 00:01:23,001 --> 00:01:25,004 Now I don't actually need my video here anymore. 31 00:01:25,004 --> 00:01:26,006 I'm just making a thumbnail. 32 00:01:26,006 --> 00:01:29,003 So I'm going to delete that to get it out of the way 33 00:01:29,003 --> 00:01:32,005 and pull down my custom frame. 34 00:01:32,005 --> 00:01:34,007 And I'm also going to lock this track 35 00:01:34,007 --> 00:01:37,003 so I don't accidentally move it around. 36 00:01:37,003 --> 00:01:39,003 Okay. So here's my base template. 37 00:01:39,003 --> 00:01:41,008 Now I can add whatever I want using 38 00:01:41,008 --> 00:01:45,000 all the cool design tools in Camtasia. 39 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,004 For the sake of time I've already done that. 40 00:01:47,004 --> 00:01:52,001 So let me go ahead and enable these tracks here. 41 00:01:52,001 --> 00:01:54,001 And here I have a down and dirty thumbnail 42 00:01:54,001 --> 00:01:56,008 that tells my story in a single frame. 43 00:01:56,008 --> 00:01:59,009 Once again, I need to export this as a frame. 44 00:01:59,009 --> 00:02:04,009 So I'm going to go up to export, choose export frame as. 45 00:02:04,009 --> 00:02:09,002 And I'll rename that using my naming convention. 46 00:02:09,002 --> 00:02:13,007 Click save and pull this down here so you can see it. 47 00:02:13,007 --> 00:02:16,009 Here's my custom thumbnail. 48 00:02:16,009 --> 00:02:20,005 I can upload it to my video host and replace whatever mock 49 00:02:20,005 --> 00:02:24,007 or the image that's already been created. 50 00:02:24,007 --> 00:02:28,001 The thumbnail could also be used in an email, a newsletter 51 00:02:28,001 --> 00:02:31,008 or whatever method you use to share your creations. 52 00:02:31,008 --> 00:02:34,002 You don't have to be a graphic designer to 53 00:02:34,002 --> 00:02:35,006 create a thumbnail. 54 00:02:35,006 --> 00:02:38,001 Even a basic frame with some descriptive text 55 00:02:38,001 --> 00:02:40,000 is probably a better option than just leaving 56 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,004 thumbnail creation up to the 57 00:02:42,004 --> 00:02:45,000 soulless AI running your video host.