Black first frame in a Short? Fade-in and your thumbnail frame pick

If you set output.fade_in_seconds in Timeline 1.0, the video starts from black, so a frame taken at time 0 is black. Take thumbnail candidates after the fade ends with Sume video frames, for example starting at the fade length plus a half second.

Why it matters

The July 24 YouTube post about Studio thumbnail updates describes picking a thumbnail in Studio (YouTube Blog). Whatever the picker, a black opening frame is a poor candidate, so the fade length matters.

The setting

output.fade_in_seconds accepts 0 to 5 seconds, and the fade-in plus fade-out must not exceed the output length. Leave it out for a hard start with no black frame.

{
  "output": { "fade_in_seconds": 0.5, "fade_out_seconds": 0.4 }
}

Then pull frames after it

With a 0.5 second fade, ask for frames at 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 seconds. Each time must be at least 0 and below the clip duration, otherwise the job returns frame_time_out_of_range.

Keep a rule

For a series, use the same fade rule on every episode, so the candidate times stay the same and you can reuse your checklist. Where no fade is needed, drop the field and the problem disappears.