Hi, I hope someone can help me out. Was loving Pencil2D, but now I keep losing random drawings directly after saving (but not every time I save). The keyframes are there, but the drawings are blank… it driving me kind of crazy, is there anything I can do? It happens the most when I try to move frames around on a Bitmap layer.
Anyone?
best regards
Ben
@ben Hi sorry to hear you’re experiencing this problem.
It seems you’re using Pencil2D under Windows 10, if that’s the case please read this guide to prevent this from happening. Attached to the guide there’s a development build with an extra fix, but you need to follow the guide thoroughly first to lessen the permissions issue with the OS.
Please note though that this development version might not be entirely stable, or might have other problems, and if you have any issue with it please let us know.
You can also consider looking for the latest dev build in the Nightly build section of our download website http://pencil2d.org/download#nightlybuild
Hi Jose, thanks for your quick reply. I’m using Pencil on Mac OS, not windows.
Is there a fix for Mac users?
How does it work with the Nightly builds? (sorry, pretty new to this)
best
Ben
@ben Hi.
If on macOS, particularly Mojave or Catalina:
Go into System Preferences>Security>Privacy>Accessibility , unlock the “lock” and add Pencil2D to the list of allowed apps.
We have dev builds for macOS as well, you can always get them on the same download page under the nightly build section I linked before.
A nightly build Is basically a bleeding edge version of the software built from the latest available source code (the instructions that control the program if you will), but while it may contain fixes and new features, it can also contain different bugs.
I’m asking you to test this to see if these steps along the latest version solve your problem, as i’m aware the developers pushed an additional fixed on december to address the blank frames problem when users moved keyframes (but all this problem spawn from the uncomfortably increased permission system on both Windows and macOS).
If this does not help you out however, please let us know so I can report back to the devs and I’ll gladly suggest a list of alternative software you can use in the meantime.
Thats great, i will test this and get back to you!
Does this mean i should replace my version of Pencil2d with the nightly build?
thanks again for all the help!
best
Ben
@ben Hi Ben, One of the devs recommended to use the version from December 3th and not the 18th (as seen on the images) due to a very nasty bug they are trying to fix.
Since Pencil2D is portable software you can have multiple versions of the same application on a single computer. I don’t know how this works in macOS, but if you have doubts, try running the nightly build from a usb stick. Unpack the files on the usb and use the “open as” command to avoid issues. I’ll ask the devs to see if they can give you better instructions if you are unable to run the program.
Again as mentioned, these are development builds, not meant specifically to replace a previous version but mostly to test if the issue you are experiencing keeps presenting itself.
ok, great. Will try using the 3rd December Build and let you know if the problem is solved.
Thank you so much for the help!
best
Ben
unfortunately it happened again after about 10min using the 3rd Dec Nightly build… 
@ben Sorry to hear that. And you’re positive you also lifted the lock for that specific version of the app under the Security settings as well right?
Please check that this is the exact build you used: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UlVt4lkdyuY4k9uz6a6jFaoIYdmBLo6I
Other than that I’ll ask one of the developers to review your case directly, so hopefully we can ask you to test a bit more in order to fix this issue for macOS users.
Meanwhile we look into though, as promised here’s a list on alternative animation software that you can try out:
@scribblemaniac If you have some spare time can you please take a look at this thread? The Nightly Build for December 3rd seems to still incur on issues regarding the “blank frames” bug.
It is definitely that build. I’m not sure if the lock was lifted for the build or the other version, so now I have deleted the other version from my computer and just have the build with the lock lifted. I will try it out again (don’t know if I’ll manage today) and report back 
sorry to be a pain, but now it wont let me export anything…
@ben Don’t worry, you’re not a pain at all!
In these cases it’s better to remove Pencil2D and any other instance of the program completely before trying anything further.
If you need to save some of your work, re-download the stable version form the website after removing the software and export your animation using PNG image sequences so you can later import them into other programs.
Along that, once you’re done doing backup for your files, then remove Pencil2D and try the development build.
If you still can’t export an mp4 movie with that, please try to export an animation GIF, if that doesn’t work yet, it may mean that macOS is blocking Pencil2D exporter plugin as well, however i’m way out of my league in regards to macOS systems, so if the security permissions are not lifted from “ruling” over Pencil2D despite you having “unlocked” it on the appropriate dialog, I’m not sure what other alternatives we have to improve on this problem 
.
Honestly, and this is just me ranting, both Apple and Microsoft really messed everyone up with their permissions crazyness, other free applications have had similar issues (though they have more stable funding so most of them have been fixed recently)
Unfortunately until we can find a way to fix this properly I kindly suggest trying out a different animation software from the list I shared before 
does that mean i also have to remove all old pclx files that i have saved as well as the app and just keep the sequences?
@ben No. I meant remove the versions of the Pencil2D software.
I don’t know how it works on mac but as far as I can recall you have to “install” the app bundles into the applications folder. So if you have more than one pencil2d executable bundle place in there, delete all of them and then reinstall the stable version.
I merely suggested exporting your animation to PNG files to keep your current work going on a different application.
Your PCLX files are NOT to be deleted, because that’s the actual work and they should work with any recent version of the program.
Please don’t delete your actual work files 
ok, i will try it out
deinstalled all, reinstalled the nightly build 3.12.2019, still can’t export movies.
deinstalled the nightly build and installed the stable version, then i was able to export.
So it seems to be a problem with the nightly build and my Mac
@ben I’ll ask another dev that has a mac to test this. Sorry that you’re having so many issues, although this does help a lot so the next stable version is hopefully more solid for everyone, so thank you for testing.
Would you mind leaving a record of your computer specs and the exact macOS version you have too?
It would be great to sort out the issues, i love the App!
The NB does see to be more stable when moving the frames…have only had problems once up to now.
Here are my computer specs
macOS High Sierra Version 10.13.4
MacBook Pro
Prozessor 2,7 GHz Intel Core i5
is that all the info you need?
@ben Yes thanks! We too hope we can fix this soon enough or find a suitable workaround. It’s seriously getting difficult to improve our users experience when all of these issues we can’t control keep piling up.
Thanks again for all your patience and assistance in this matter.
