Choose thumbnail

This feature is located under the Show Settings tab.  You can get there from Show > Show Settings in the menu bar, or by pressing CTRL+H.  Look for the "Thumbnail" option, which has a big Select button next to it.  Click on that button and you'll be able to select any other slide in the show to use for that thumbnail.  You can even select an image from outside the show.

Posted by: @joshua

This feature is located under the Show Settings tab.  You can get there from Show > Show Settings in the menu bar, or by pressing CTRL+H.  Look for the "Thumbnail" option, which has a big Select button next to it.  Click on that button and you'll be able to select any other slide in the show to use for that thumbnail.  You can even select an image from outside the show.

Thanks Joshua.

@joshua

Thanks for your response to the thumbnail question. I just subscribed and was looking for this feature as well!

I have made three versions of my DVD and each time regardless of the thumbnail picture i select it reverts back to the first slide.  Has anybody gotten it to work as expected. 

@shannon-cochran

This thread was for how to change the thumbnail for the show on the startup page, but you are correct, the option in the Publish area does not seem to allow you to change to a different image even though the choice is there. I would suggest you open a ticket with support.

At the top of the page, Support\Contact Us

Good luck, Bob 

@shannon-cochran

It sounds like the option to use 'video thumbnails' may be enabled.  This option is located under the "Thumbnails" section in the "Menu" tab of the DVD output interface and it effectively overrides the selected thumbnail image.  A video thumbnail will start at the beginning of the show and its duration can be specified in that DVD output interface.

@joshua

Points out the real need for a user manual...

@joshua - This is another one of the those Photopia Creator frustrations because it only appears to work part of the time. I burn MP4 files. While once in awhile the MP4 will have the thumbnail I selected, most of the time the thumbnail reverts back to the first slide. If the first slide uses a slide style, I have had Photopia pick up a portion of that style as the thumbnail. This results in a thumbnail that is basically useless. It sure would be nice if the thumbnail selected would actually become the show thumbnail.

@jimmartinsen

Generally speaking, the thumbnail used for a video file is determined by the program displaying the video, rather than the one in which it was created. There are some options for specifying video file thumbnails, but support for those technologies has historically been a bit spotty. We'll take another look at this request.

@joshua - Your answer is confusing as I am saving the files as .MP4 files. Are you saying Windows Media Player or VLC Media Player would create their own thumbnail and they could be different? I can't believe this could happen. Also, regardless of the thumbnail chosen in Photopia, when writing an .MP4 file Photopia seems to select an image at random from either of first or second slide in the show. I have two .MP4 files where the thumbnail makes no sense whatsoever because Photopia picked up part of the slide style of the second slide to create the thumbnail. One of these thumbnails is nothing but large blurred type. I've attached the image but I can't tell if it'll show up or not.

@jimmartinsen

The thumbnail(s) you see for Photopia video files in WMP, VLC, and even Windows are generated by those programs. Photopia doesn't embed a thumbnail in video file output, as it's a feature that has historically been poorly supported in the industry. We're going to take another look at this to see where the industry is at currently, but I can't make any guarantees on this one. We're largely at the mercy of video playback applications, which tend to generate their own thumbnail(s) even if a particular video file / format does happen to support a custom thumbnail.

@joshua - Thanks Joshua! I certainly believe what you are saying as all my selected thumbnails show up fine in Photopia Creator. I guess I have to find a media player I can live with.