After 6 months of work, we’re finally ready to wrap up the version 0.6.3 with new features, enhancements and bug fixes that have been worked on by the community. Please download it here and enjoy animating.

Many of these fixes and enhancements were made possible by contributors around the world that learned of our project through the #Hacktoberfest2018 event sponsored by Digital Ocean and Github

To everyone that contributed and made this release possible. Thank you!

Flipping / Rolling

#978 (by David Lamhauge)

Flipping & Rolling are two techniques that allow animators to quickly preview their animation work.

Flipping is used mostly for the process known as in-betweening with 3 drawings. By pressing Alt+Z, you can glance through the first drawing (previous key), the last drawing (next key) and the currently edited inbetween.

Rolling technique is used to check a specific part of the action of the animation. By pressing Alt+X, you can preview 5 drawings in ordered sequence flipping with all your available fingers.

New Features

• #1068 Added support for TIFF format (by Andrey Nevdokimof).
• #1074, #1121 Added a slider for changing frame size at timeline (by David Lamhauge).
• #1109 Import images as new layers on specific frames based on filename and numbering postfix e.g., Joe0001.png’, ‘Joe0002.png’, etc (by David Lamhauge).
• #1115 Added support for transparency in exporting WebM and APNG.
• #1126 Check for Pencil2D updates. (+ Added forum/discord links in Help menu.)
• #1136 Added an option to export key frames only when exporting image sequence.
• #1145 Added zoom shortcuts from 25% up to 400% as 1, 2, 3, 4 and Shift+2, 3, 4. (by David Lamhauge)

Translations

There are 3 new languages added in this version: Catalan, Greek and Kabyle. It’s always exciting to see Pencil2D being more accessible through translations. Joining us on Transifex to translate Pencil2D into your language or improve the existing translations!

Enhancements

• #1065 Fixed error message dialog typo (by Mattia Rizzolo).
• #1066 Implement individual division lines for the grid system (Preferences) (by David Lamhauge).
• #1086, #1087 Prevent layers with duplicate names
• #1091 Number postfix name suggestion when creating a new layer.
• #1100 Improved the quality of exporting an .avi video.
• #1102 Added cached frame pool size to preferences. (by Lucas Mongrain)
• #1108 Improved *.gpl import algorithm
• #1143 Remember last used FPS and camera sizes as default values when you create a new project.
• #1147 Move layers rather than swap when rearrange layers in Timeline. (by David Lamhauge)
• #1176 Make default palette file filter for suppored formats

Fixes

• #926, #1148 Scrubber should move to start of range on playback, if outside the range.
• #1059, #1168 Improved stroke accuracy by using Qt tablet events.
• #1089 Fixed Copy & Paste function (Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V) not working.
• #1090, #1123 Fix image export issues (by Philippe Rzetelski).
• #1092 Application icon disappeared after loading a file.
• #1093, #1161 Fixed: the recent opened file list got reversed every time when loading a project. (by Matthew McGonagle)
• #1094, #1104 Fixed *.gpl (Gimp Palette) file import algorithm. (by Andrey Nevdokimof)
• #1095 Fix move tool crash on camera layer.
• #1096 Fix crash and related issues on layer delete.
• #1101,#1103 Disable range spinboxes at startup (by David Lamhauge).
• #1107 Fixed miscelaneous g++ compiler warnings.
• #1111 Fix rename optimization during file save.
• #1134 Remove “Show Tab Bar” from the View menu on newer versions of macOS (e.g Mojave).
• #1135 Fix Error on digit count for numbered sequence file import
• #1137 Improve darkmode QDockWidget titlebar for macOS (Mojave)
• #1139 Fix audio volume in movie export if the project contains multiple audio clips.
• #1141, #1132 Resolved miscelanous warnings (NULL and C-style Casts) (by David Lamhauge)
• #1142 Force light theme on newer versions of macOS (e.g Mojave)
• #1144 Renable dark mode on newer versions of macOS (e.g Mojave)
• #1154,#1155 Fix pressure artifacts at end of brush stroke
• #1157 Fixed audio synchronization issue.
• #1166 Fix XML fields corrupting because of locale decimal types.
• #1175 Color wheel sometimes went greyscale.
• #1181 Fix canvas bugs
• #1188 Miscellaneous fixes: Fixes regression for #677. Fixes duplicate selection box.
• 4f7b4bb Improved the sound key length accuracy.
• b1064ab Fix auto-crop being disabled in duplicate frames.
• aafd048 Fix: mistakingly empty the filename of source keyframe when duplicating a frame

Known Issues

While there seems to be a growing list of Know issues, make no mistake, we are working hard on reviewing and fixing them as thoroughly as possible, and with this release you’ll notice plenty of improvements on key areas so don’t worry!

• #748, #1004, #1098, #1120, #1170 Miscellaneous undo/redo issues. Should hopefully be fixed in v0.6.5.
• #940 project is corrupted because comma is used as decimal separator in some countries instead of period. Some fixes were applied, but the issue is persisting.
• #1033 Sound import and playback does not work with the Linux AppImage. Workaround: use flatpak or your distro package manager (if it offers the latest version).
• #1117 The CLI (Command-Line Interface) export operation consumes more memory than exporting from within the editor itself.
• #1019 The program may crash or erase selection content when using the ALT + TAB / APPLE + TAB / SHIFT + TAB shortcut.
• #1120 Undoing Selection Flip X / Y will delete the drawing instead.
• #1133 Lag and buggy strokes with Huion tablets. Workaround: disabling the “linear optimizer” in your tablet driver may help if that option is available, see this post.
• #1174 Inconsistent palette import behavior: Depending on which palette file format is used, the new palette may append or overwrite the existing palette.
• #1177 Imported image position is modified by the canvas view center
• #1179 Currently there’s an audio delay of 1-2 frames for in-editor playback & exported files. However on some systems the opposite happens where the audio delay on playback might be longer by 12-16 or more frames, but on export it works ok.
• #1186 Quick Sizing is enabled on Paint Bucket Tool, but does nothing.
• #1189 Zoom shortcut on drawing tools not working properly with the Middle Mouse Button (Win) and mouse input in general (macOS)
• #1192 When using the flipping & rolling feature, if you quickly try to drag the scrub header when the action occurs, Pencil2D will crash. (there is a fix already awaiting approval)
• #1193 The feather slider widget (Brush Tool) has a higher max value than the input value, and any value above 96 pixels will not allow you to paint.
• #1195 The update check prompts an error because there is currently no other update to get
• #1196 A unerasable stroke appears when drawing if you turn off the pressure sensitivity checkbox with drawing tools.
• Playing back audio from any frame other than the first will slightly off-sync the audio in the editor. For now we recommend playing back sounds from the beginning and gauging the sound particularly for lipsync or musicalized action. Afterwards check your output with a dedicated video editor to avoid sync issues.
• Color Palette (Bitmap): First Swatch is unchangeable. Can’t use replace command. Use the other swatches to create your own colors or change it by editing the palette in a vector layer or via XML.
• Color Palette (Bitmap): Swatches will only update using the Replace command when having a vector layer active. (Note: Create your custom palettes with a vector layer selected)
• Selection Tool (Rotation): Using the SELECT ALL command (CTRL + A) and rotating a selection, will store the rotation transformation, if you create a selection and click on the drawing with the MOVE TOOL, it will rotate the selection again. Despite possible use cases this is a bug.
• Undo: Undoing a drawing modification made on an empty frame creates a keyframe on that frame.
• Undo: Undoing moving a keyframe to a new frame will create a blank keyframe on the place where it used to be.
• Undo, Smudge Tool (Bitmap): You cannot UNDO the smudge tool at the moment.
• Blur Tool (Bitmap): Pressing ALT with smudge tool doesn’t work, do not use it. Use other drawing apps for smudge effects.
• Fill Tool (Vector): Filling a stroke requires the stroke to be selected.
• Fill Tool (Vector): “stroke thickness” option will reset pressure sensitive lines width.
• In general the Vector Engine is a WIP or not working as intended. Much more work will be required, please don’t use it.

Help improve Pencil2D

Pencil2D is developed by passionate people in their spare time. If you like this software, and you want it to get better, you can help! Please visit the Contribute Page for further information.