@A07236 Hi. Sorry to hear about this. Unfortunately there’s only so much we can do to help.
- First off make sure you are using the latest version.
- There are times where frames might appear blank but they are not, particularly if your computer memory is full, make sure to check the temporary file directory first to see if the drawings are still there or not (review the recovery guide below, point 4 first parragraph)
- There are other times this happens when an external app deletes the files on the temporary file folder which is where files are stored during a work session (we’ve had reports of this).
Also windows OS can prevent drawings from being written to the save file without your knowledge (we’ve also had some reports on this).
With those issues in mind first try the general tips in the thread linked below to make Windows a bit more easygoing when dealing with third party apps like Pencil2D, so future work won’t cause you grief (though it’s not guaranteed), there’s also advice on antiviruses.
- I recommend as well to pause or stop any file cleaner software & antivirus real time shield when working. Also make sure to add an antivirus exception folder to the temporary folder where Pencil2D drops the drawings when you are working, and to except the folder where Pencil2D.exe exists. This is so aggressive antiviruses that flag everything as malign, won’t hinder your work by erasing allegedly “unknown” files.
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However because of issues like this we always, always recommend to save backup copies of your project file.
No software is perfect and even commercial software can get get your files corrupted (I’ve had this experience a lot unfortunately) -
Now to attempt to recover your work please refer to the guide linked below under point 4 & point 7
- If after following the guide you can’t recover the frames from the temporary file directory as mentioned in the guide, nor recover frames with a file recovery tool respectively I’m afraid you might need to do the missing work again.
- As a personal recommendation, and this doesn’t have anything to do with the Pencil2D team, never trust any software to keep your work safe, as a professional it’s better to keep it safe manually by yourself in as many places as possible, be it external media like a USB stick or using a versioning system (you can read about this in the first guide on windows), computers are imperfect and any electrical imbalance can cause file corruption, as well as going through a black out during a saving procedure can also corrupt your files.
- I also recommend to always exporting PNG sequences with transparency to have hard data as a backup so you can go back to if all else fails.