One of the pencil2d people, pleases see this

Bug Reports
2

@BusyBeingLazyFridge There are unfortunately many possible issues that could have caused this problem. I’m afraid if you don’t have an existing backup or previous available, your work might not be recoverable :pensive:

The problem with white frames appearing is that most likely Pencil2D source files were deleted from hard disk before it could save them all, or the saving process was interrupted silently by the operating system or an third party app. I explain more about it on the other section…but basically there’s not much we can do :sweat:

That said you can still try following the guide we have linked below. From your description you could try the experimental recovery methods (Point #7) which shows how to use file recovery software to try to find at least one more drawing (Pencil2D saves the raw frames as PNG images)

WHY FILES MIGHT BE LOST?

Pencil2D by default uses temporary files for each file per work session. If you open a file it will unpack them on the temporary folder with a unique name.

When you “save” the temp files will be bundled as a PCLX file.

Only after you close Pencil2D normally, the temp files will then deleted from the temp folder normally (since you already saved)

If Pencil2D crashes, temp files should be retained on the system until you reopen the project.

Unfortunately since every case of the “white frame” problem is unique to each computer, we really never know what could have caused the wipe in the end.

Although this happens rarely, when it has happened we have always asked users to make sure they create backup copies of their work because to my knowledge, this is a problem that is caused mainly by external interference.

From trial & error we have identified some potential CAUSES for work loss, which I’ll share with you along what can happen:

  1. IF Pencil2D was being used on a new file, but you never saved the file at least once. Pencil2D will crash and the work will be lost. It’s impossible to recover in this case.

  2. Your hard drive was full and Pencil2D “tried” to save but it couldn’t save most of it. I’ve seen this happen. Lost work won’t be recoverable here particularly if you closed the software.

  3. IF Pencil2D was used in operating systems with very restrictive software permissions (e.g managed computers from school or work). The software might malfunction opn a guest account or an account that does not have administrator priviledges, as it was observed at least once that the software would not be able to pack, unpack or even convert the animation files to other media (export) bc the process was halted (probably identified as a P.U.P Potentially Unwanted Program).

  4. Using Pencil2D from a volatile, removable or cloud storage instead of hard disk, may sometimes cause issues when finding the resources needed to function.

  5. Saving to any location other than a hard drive might cause issues while unpacking or packing the files because losing connection could compromise the files being send to the PCLX (though I think they are sent to RAM memory first then to the drive, but I’ll have to ask)

  6. Having a “file cleaner” or antivirus software that CONSTANTLY wipes the temp folder or has an overzealous real time shield, will affect saving files.

I’ve seen it happen that people thought they saved the files, but it only saved until a certain part. In this case it’s not possible to recover what was not saved.

  1. “Closing the file immediately after saving”. While it’s not proven this can cause problems, I’ve had this happen to me before with other software that’s similar to Pencil2D and once a user had an apparently similar issue IIRC. Closing the software means half of the recovery techniques we know will no longer work.

  2. The most closely documented issue was from a user that constantly lost their work when they had a lot of frames imported and modified in a single file.

    After a lot of back and forth we recommended them to save the file as PCL (File > Save AS > change filetype to *.PCL [legacy format])

Using this file format, forces Pencil2D to ALWAYS save the animation project resources next to the actual project file instead of the temp folder while you work (so it’s arguably protected against Windows or MacOS periodical or potential temp file removal). After doing this they never experienced this problem again.

ALTERNATIVES TO PENCIL2D

Honestly. Even in this modern age, the free alternatives remain the same. But if you want to use open source apps to replace Pencil2D, try the following in order of complexity:

  • Krita
  • Opentoonz / Tahoma2D
  • Blender

If you can invest money into it, then I suggest (in order of price):