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Media Processing and Proxies

What Solar Sailer does in the background after an import, how to generate a proxy for a file that won't play directly, and how to relink media that has gone offline.

Watch background processing​

As soon as files are imported, background work starts. The bottom-left of the status bar shows the current task, the file it's working on, and a percentage, next to a spinner. The task names you'll see are Conforming audio, Generating waveform, Generating thumbnail, Generating sprite sheet, and Generating proxy. Conforming audio prepares each file's sound so playback and scrubbing stay responsive.

Click that area of the status bar to open the Background Tasks popover. It shows how many tasks are active, a progress row for each, and a cancel button per task. Finished tasks leave the list on their own after a few seconds.

You don't have to wait for any of this. Playback works while processing runs, and the visuals below fill in as they finish:

  • Thumbnails on video clips. A poster frame shows up on the media card almost immediately. A fuller filmstrip appears on the timeline clip a bit later and replaces it.
  • Waveforms on audio clips. Timeline audio clips draw their waveform once it's ready. Until then the clip is blank.

Generate a proxy​

Some source files can't be played directly on your machine. Their media cards show a Proxy Required badge, and a warning appears shortly after import naming the files. Clips from these files are skipped during playback until a proxy exists. A proxy is a playable copy that Solar Sailer uses in place of the original.

  1. In the Media panel, right-click the item with the Proxy Required badge.
  2. Choose Generate Proxy.
  3. Watch the progress in the status bar. A message confirms the proxy is being generated.

When it's done, the card shows a PXY badge and the clip plays normally. To remove a proxy later, right-click the item and choose Delete Proxy.

If a source file has been moved, renamed, or deleted since you last opened the project, Solar Sailer warns you when the project opens: media file(s) could not be located on disk. In the Media panel, the item's card shows a ! overlay on its thumbnail, and in list view the name carries an OFFLINE badge. An offline clip can't be added to the timeline until you relink it.

  1. Right-click the offline item and choose Relink…. This menu item only appears on offline items.
  2. The Relink Media dialog opens, showing the file name and the path where Solar Sailer last saw it.
  3. Click Browse… and select the file at its new location.

The item relinks immediately and a confirmation names the file. Relinking is one file at a time, there is no batch relink.