Pencil 2D FAQ (now open)

Hola. Eso no debería de suceder. Has una animación mas corta y exportala a ver que pasa. Si se cuelga, como tu dices. No es problma del programa. Mas bien creo es de la pc. El microprocesador requiere de mucha memoria y recursos para hacer ese tipo de operaciones. Avisa que sucedio. Porque a mi me paso lo mismo. Pero era por un error de software muy dificil de resolver. Suerte. A cuanta memoria tienes en tu pc. Es muy importante tener 1700MB. Que es lo minimo.

Hello, I’m not sure if this is the right place to post my question ;owo
Annnyyyywaaays, I was wondering if there are any websites/software that supports the current Pencil file type? I’m doing a part of an animation collaboration on a different website, and I’m trying find a way to make it into a gif file so I can upload it to the editor. (The website is Scratch if it’s important.)

@DamselinDistress Hello. Well the Pencil2D project file (the one you open with the editor) can only be edited with Pencil2D, however if you change it’s extension to .zip you can open and see it’s contents. There is a “main.xml” file which is like an addressbook that points to all the drawings and resources, along that there’s a folder that contains all the data, which is basically all the RAW drawings in PNG format. These drawings are cut-out and not aligned as you see them in the editor to preserve space and size, so the XML file organizes the drawings on the editor.

If you want to export a GIF though, you can do it. If you have the latest version you can go to File > Export > Animated GIF. And you’re done. Of course a GIF doesn’t retain information on Layers. Only the flattened frames. I hope this answers your question :slight_smile:

Hi there! loving Pencil2D, many thanks. just wondering, is it possible to export gifs/video with the onion skinning visible…?

thanks! x

@kriksix Hi! Hmm well this is currently not possible. You can currently enable the onion skin to be shown during playback on the editor, but this is mostly for review purposes… you could maybe try capturing the screen while playing back the video on the editor, but this may lower your playback framerate if the animation is too long.

If you can show us a case where you would use this feature maybe I can show it to the developers so they can think of ways to solve this with the current version.

1 Like

Hi Jose! many thanks for the reply. hm it’s a little tricky to explain… the onion skin has influenced the way I’m drawing/animating, and become part of the aesthetic. the upcoming frames as much as the preceding. The plan is to project hand drawn (and digital/3D) animations onto sculptures/in VR. Yes! I can definitely work with screen captures if not possible…

(the kind of sculptures I’ll be projecting onto (hence the abstract animations):
https://kriksix.com/exhibitions/everything-nothing-1.html

(screen capture gif)
ezgif-2-86a10bdaec07

@kriksix Hey, that looks really interesting. Also yes, unfortunately it’s not possible to do it “easily” in Pencil2D.

I’ve already asked our devs what and how they think it would be possible, but meanwhile they answer back I can tell you some ideas on how to make it “artistically” possible.

Here are some ideas I had:

  1. Offset Layering
  • This would need you to create your main animation on one file. Then export an image sequence using KEYFRAMES only. This new feature is located in File > Export > Image Sequence > [x] Export Keyframes Only.
  • Once you’ve done that, you’d have to create a new file to import the full animation on several layers, as many as onion skins you’d want to have.
  • Then each layer would require another “companion” layer with a white fill and a lower alpha value that acts like a “tracing paper” inbetween layers. This will help you dim the layers below since Pencil2D does not have layer transparency.
  • Once you do that, you can start offsetting each layer using ALT + CLICK & dragging the first frame of each layer. You’d offset it as much as you want the effect to last.
  • By looking at your sample, id’ say you have about 10 frames or more activated for the onion skin, so you’d have to import the same animation 10 times. Leave the first one as it is, and then offset the other 9 layers by 1 or 2 frames (depending on your FPS too)
  • Inbetween each one of those 9 layers you’d want a single white fill with increasingly high alpha values (you start from a really low value, because they will stack additively too)
  • And that file will be almost like your “compositing” file and your main animation resource will be safe too (because having too many layers and frames in a single file is not recommended)
  1. Use a compositing / motion design software
    Basically doing the same steps form the first point, but the import part done on a software created for compositing, like After Effects. In fact After Effects has an effect called “echo” that allows you to ghost the images similar to what you want, so you’d need only a single layer for the animation, but you’d need the images to be line only, or else it would echo the colors too making them look as “solid ghosts” :stuck_out_tongue:

  2. Use a software that allows you to animate opacity from scratch.
    I personally don’t know many applications that allow you to export the onion skin, unless it’s After Effects, but that is done with an post-processing effect. In most cases you’d have to use vector programs like Toonboom Harmony or Synfig, to animated the objects (strokes, fills, etc) individual opacity per frame, but at least that is possible.

Sorry if this isn’t as easy as you thought or needed it to be, but to be fair what you’re doing seems more like experimental animation so it’s bound not to be easily done with any software that exists in the market and such is the challenge that most experimental animators face when trying new things.

thanks for the awesome answer! yes I thought there might be a way in After Effects, and there’s definitely happy workarounds in the meantime. I’m only just starting, and am loving being able to draw so fluidly from one frame to the next, so plenty to play with for now. thanks again Jose and devs.