Version 0.6.4 Will not export animation file to anything

[Phoenixesper1]

Downloaded 0.6.4 from the site. Installed in onto a mac running 10.11.6. The program seems to work fine but when I go to export a test animation, (only 10 keys long) No matter what I do It will not export to any video format, or gif or pallet or anything. The process starts for a second and then abruptly ends without exporting. Now with that said I can save files in the native pencil 2D format PCLX, with no problem. Is this an endemic problem with this version? is there a known fix? I hope there is as this programs interface is quite user friendly.

[JoseMoreno]

@Phoenixesper1 Unfortunately, this is a compatibility problem between certain legacy macOSX versions (particularly 10.11) and the FFMPEG plugin which is used to export movies and images.

A Pencil2D developer with macOS experience was working on a potential test build to improve this for Pencil2D 0.6.5 but there’s currently no copy available and since we’re all volunteers on the project they can’t currently spare enough time to commit to this fix.

However meanwhile we get a hold of them, please consider the following:

In the forum a user with a similar issue provided a guide to compile FFMPEG from source to help legacy macOSX users with this problem: Export not working in legacy OS X version apparently their own FFMPEG compiled file worked as expected.

Consider compiling the ffmpeg version required for your OS and then replace it in your .APP folder for Pencil2D. The FFMPEG file is found in the folder structure:

 Pencil2D.app
 -- contents
 --- MacOS
 ---- plugins
 ----- ffmpeg

You could also try to use the same user’s pre-compiled ffmpeg build made for 10.7 https://www.dropbox.com/s/jncl1a9dd8tt7rp/ffmpeg?dl=0, however I can’t assure that it will work for your particular macOSX version.

Also be wary that it is a third party file, not something made by the Pencil2D maintainers.

I’ll update you once I have more info on a proper fix for upcoming updates.

[Phoenixesper1]

I thank you for the response however your fixes are far beyond my abilities to implement. I bearly grasped what the fix was. In any event I thank you for the attempt. I may just have to upgrade to catalina and get the latest version of pencil or find anther option.

[JoseMoreno]

@Phoenixesper1 I apologize, it wasn’t my intent to further confuse you, however this is indeed a very difficult technical issue in the sense that we depend on third party software that isn’t made by the Pencil2D team. We bundle the certified FFMPEG plugin that others make, but what our dev was trying to do was to make it work for 10.7 and above versions.

For now I can provide you with an alternative animation software list we have curated so you can find a simple animation application for you to work ahead: https://pencil2d-software.tumblr.com/post/184584013311/alternative-desktop-animation-software-pencil2d

If you want simple apps, from that list I can recommend:

1. WickEditor (Free, vector-based, works on the web)
2. RoughAnimator ($)
3. Paper Animation ($$, currently in alpha, you can try it out for free by subscribing to a newsletter)
4. Digicel Flipbook ($$)