Video Snapshots Genius user guide

By default the pictures go to Pictures\Video Snapshots, in a folder named after each video.

Before you add anything, the middle shows a welcome page where you can drop videos or click Choose videos or Open a folder.

Settings window

General	Theme: Default (Blue) or Black, White & Gray; a restart applies it. Data and logs: open the data folder or the log file (attach the log when you contact support).
License	Enter your name, e-mail and license key; once activated it shows your registration details.
About	The program, its main features, the company and contact details, and the FFmpeg license.

The program reads each video’s duration, resolution and codecs and makes a cover thumbnail; a progress bar shows how far it is and Cancel stops it. Videos already in the list are skipped. Click a video to see its snapshots, hover over it and click Remove from list to drop one, or Remove all videos to clear the list.

• Capturing runs from Skip first up to about one second before the end (5% of the length for a very short video), because the last frames of many files cannot be decoded cleanly.
• In Fixed interval mode the number of snapshots is (duration minus skipped seconds) divided by the interval, and at least one.
• Skip blank frames treats a frame as blank when 98% or more of its sampled points match one colour. A black frame with only a logo or a credit line counts as blank; a dark scene with content does not.
• In Fixed number mode a blank planned shot is replaced by trying a quarter, a half and three quarters of the way to the next planned shot; the time shown on the snapshot is where it really came from. Fixed interval mode does not replace, to keep the spacing even.
• If a blank frame could not be replaced you get one notice saying how many snapshots are missing. Frames you pick by hand are never filtered.

Capture works on the selected video, Capture all (bottom of the video list) on every video in turn. Cancel stops it and keeps the videos already done. Snapshots keep the original video resolution; they are resized only when you save.

1. Select the video and click Pick frames to open the player.
2. Play, or drag the timeline, to the moment you want; use ← and → to step one frame.
3. Click Capture frame or press C. The picture appears in the Captured list, where Remove deletes it.
4. Click Done. The captured frames are added to the video’s snapshots and sorted by time with the others.

Scroll to zoom, drag to move, and double-click to switch between fit-to-window and 100%. The buttons at the bottom right are Adjust (Ctrl+E), Annotate, Copy (Ctrl+C), Save as (Ctrl+Shift+S, a PNG, JPG, BMP or GIF at the original resolution without watermark) and Apply (Ctrl+S).

Apply is what makes an edit permanent: until then everything is a preview. After Apply the snapshot is replaced, and Save, Save all, the GIF and the contact sheet all use the edited version. If you close the viewer with unapplied changes it asks whether to Apply or Discard.

Save (Ctrl+S, bottom bar) saves the selected video; Save all (bottom of the video list) saves every video that has snapshots. Each snapshot is resized, watermarked and encoded as set in Export settings, and the GIF and contact sheet are made if turned on. The output folder opens when it is done; if a video fails, a message lists the file and the reason and the others are saved anyway.

Pictures\Video Snapshots\
  Holiday.mp4\
    1.jpg            # numbered in time order
    2.jpg
    ...
    24.jpg
    animate.gif      # if Animated GIF is on
    collage.png      # if Contact sheet is on

Saving the same video again overwrites files with the same names, so rename the folder or change the save location first if you want to keep the old results. This is a Cinema contact sheet as exported:

The 15 days count from the first run and cannot be restarted by reinstalling or deleting files; turning the system clock back does not extend them. The reminder has Buy now, Not now (or Esc) and Already purchased? Enter your license key.

1. Click Settings (slider icon, top right) and open the License page.
2. Enter Name, Email and License key from your order. Activate stays grey until all three are filled in.
3. Click Activate. The program contacts the license server and verifies the result on your PC, then says it has been activated and restarts itself.

Activation needs the internet once. The license is saved in %APPDATA%\VideoSnapshotsGenius\license.dat, so after a new PC or a Windows reinstall you activate again. Keys of other products do not work here. More in the activation guide.

Where things are kept: settings in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Video Snapshots Genius\data.db (saved when you close the program), the log in log.txt in the same folder. The program never checks for updates by itself, so get new versions from the download page.

Did not find your answer? Email service@iotcrazy.com or use the contact form.