Hi! I’m trying to import audio, but the key-frame is not expanding to the length of the audio, so it only plays for a single frame, and even if I manually add another frame on another layer it doesn’t play sound. I’m on version 0.7.0.939 and have done this with both .mp3, .wav, and two different files, so I don’t think it’s the file itself. Older files with audio still work.
My computer specs are:
Processor Intel(R) Core™ i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz,
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable),
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor,
GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti,
And I’m using Windows 11 home and it is up to date.
I do have Pencil on an external hard-drive but I tested it with it in other locations and it still doesn’t work.
@DragonWyvryn Apologies I only saw this thread today. Welcome to the forum btw.
This is an odd problem since Pencil2D should be converting any imported audio file to WAV, using the FFMPEG plugin under the hood.
Honestly we’ve had a few users over the years claiming similar issues where the sound can’t be played, but most of us can, which has led me to think that it could be a sound driver or operating system issue, but it’s honestly very hard to tell you what could be happening and how to fix it.
For now if you want, send me a private message with the audio files you’re trying to load. Or if you’re ok with sharing them here load them in your reply and I’ll check how the files behave in the latest version when I have a chance.
For now please try to re download Pencil2D, unzip it to your program files directory (instead of downloads or desktop) and make sure the plugins folder has the FFMPEG app inside.
Make a brand new file > Go to File > Import > Sound … > Create New Sound Layer > Name the Layer > Browse and select the file that’s not working > Open.
Then, regardless if the frame expanded or not, save the file like this File > Save As > Type > Legacy Pencil2D Project (*.pcl) > and save it on your desktop > Youll see a PCL file and a folder with the convention filename.pcl.data and send that as well.
Very interesting! All the systems that this problem has occurred for me, the copy of Pencil2D has been installed on the Desktop.
In college and when I’ve used Pencil2D in a public library, I’ve had no choice, but install Pencil2D on the Desktop. In both of the above I’ve never looked to see where FFmpeg is installed.
But when I was introduced to Pencil2D, I was told that Pencil2D was a portable program.
Am I correct that .png, .wav and .mp4 are used internally within Pencil2D?
Though I want to say I still have the zipped version that doesn’t work. I tested it by unzipping it and the issue still happens as described. I just made a file with the issue and I’ll send that over since even though the issue was fixed by downloading the latest nightly build knowing why specifically it wasn’t working is important. I send both those and the audio to you via pm, though I don’t think it’s the audio file as I tried multiple different audio files to test, even ones that I had used in the past for other projects in pencil that worked.
@DragonWyvryn Thanks for letting us know! I’ll check the files and forward them to the team as soon as I’ve finished profiling the assets in case we can find what could have been causing the problem. Glad you got it working though!
Yeah! I might post the animation on the forum when I’m done with it, thanks for helping! I really love open-source projects and Pencil has been a great tool for me, so I’m happy to help with it in whatever small way I can.
I am aware, that in my case the fact that I am a computer user on a college system, access rights may be playing a part on these results!
Reply from the ‘Red Face Department’ the reason that I didn’t hear sound earlier, was that sound, temporally switched on the computer I was using.
The sound was playing and when I imported the .WAV file the sound played using the play button within Pencil2D and when exported as a .mp4 video file too!
I will now repeat the process for the .MP3 file too.
This worked too I my situation, but in neither of these did the screen show the length of the input file in frames.
Perhaps this was happening and that the non change of the display, re the Sound layer mislead me.
Just a simple question why when a file is imported with a descriptive name say ‘Speech.MP4’ when this is imported does it become sound_20241119_120815_507.WAV?
The .WAV bit I understand, but how does the long string of numbers relate to this file, in a meaningful way?
When I use my laptop, I’m logged with read and write access to the entire disk storage area, but on the college system I only have full read and write access to files within my allocation. I have to install Pencil2D on the desktop because I am not allowed to store executable files in other areas.
My laptop spec
Intel(R) Celeron(R) N4020 CPU @ 1.10GHz 1.10 GHz
4.00 GB (3.83 GB usable)
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Windows 11 Home 23H2
Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1047.0
The college computers have significantly higher spec
