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Resources Window Preview Mode

Preview mode can be used to pop up a window which draws the vicons/aicons thumbnails in a larger size. Preview or draw vicons mode is a helpful feature of CINELERRA-GG that lets you see and/or hear the first 5 seconds of the video for identification purposes. The Preview mode/playback toggle is to the right of the Visibility label as seen in the screenshot above. Preview mode is available for the Media, Proxy, Media User Bins, and Clips but clips are only 1 image.

When Preview/draw vicons is enabled/active, if you click on one of the video icons or an audio waveform icon, a view pops up that increases the size to 4 times the surface area larger. This makes it easier to see or hear if it is the media you are looking for in case you have many similar media files. To conserve memory, the video is stored 8 bits per pixel which results in low image quality while the audio is 16 bit. The reason for playing 5 seconds of a video for a vicon is that until the first I-frame, the media frequently does not decode properly. In other words, a lot of media does not begin at the beginning point and will not be properly rendered until enough data has been read to assemble a picture. You can increase the thumbnail size, clarity of pixels (memory size) and color mode but it takes a lot more memory. Change these values in Settings → Preferences, Appearance tab, right hand side of the Layout section – be aware that when you click OK, your session will re-initialize. You can also temporarily increase the preview mini-window by use of the mouse wheel up or down for media but not for clips.

There are 4 options for the preview mode.

1. Full Play is the default mode. This means all of the media will automatically play when the mouse is in the Resources window and you can use the left mouse button to click on specific media to see it pop up in a larger view. Audio only files do not play the audio until the icon is clicked on and the waveform aicon pops up into the 4x larger mode. Full Play includes the Mouse Over capabilities as described below as well as the Inter-View Src Target functions.

2. No Play mode is especially useful on smaller computers and for users who find the constant loop play to be somewhat distracting.

3. Mouse Over mode is activated by a single click on one of the vicons/aicons and deactivated with another single click over any of the icons. Once activated, whenever you just move the mouse over an icon, it automatically pops up the increased size preview. The first time in your session that you enable this feature, it may take a few seconds to load all of the icon previews into memory so be patient and just wait. Mouse Over mode makes it quick and easy to preview without having to drag the media to the viewer. You can still drag the media same as without preview enabled.

4. Src Target mode gives easy access to the Inter-View source target available by using the middle mouse button on media. There are 2 advantages to this mode – there is no 5 second play loop taking up cpu time and the popup allows for the use of the letter “f” on that popup to have it go to fullscreen mode. Src Target mode in any scenario never plays sound as that is nonsensical usage. After the initial click to pop media in this mode, you also have the Mouse over feature.

For any of the options, but not No Play, you can temporarily turn off that option by clicking on the top "Preview mode" option selected button using the middle mouse. This helps to avoid having the thumbnail get in the way of dragging or other functions. When you do, a line will be drawn through the current preview mode so that you are aware that it is in No Play mode until you click it again.

Note that if in Settings → Preferences under the Appearance tab, you have unchecked Use thumbnails in resource window you will only have default icons and no active previews.

Figure 2.33: The location of the Preview/Draw Icons mode.

Figure 2.34: Note the line through the mode.