I can't see the animation

[nickkyneko]

Description

Recently I was animating a specific part of my animation, and after I finished and went to see the animation as a whole I noticed that the part I wasn't animating,the rest,was simply gone. I tried to restart pencil 2d, save, export but nothing worked.I wanted to know what could have happened and how I can solve it, I've been working on this animation for a long time and I really didn't want to lose it.

Expected result

It should all be there after I'm done.

Actual result

the rest of the animation, the part that I wasn't animating and was already ready simply disappeared.

Steps to reproduce

1-was animating a specific part of the animation

2-I went to check on the rest and it was completely blank

3-I tried to solve it but I couldn't, now only the part I was animating is not blank

Video or Image Reference

Video.do.WhatsApp.de.2024-10-05.a.s.20.20.06_6c169ad1.mp4

System Information

- Pencil2D version: <0.6.6>
- Operation system: <Windows>
- Drawing tablet: <wacom intuos>

[Jose-Moreno]

@nickkyneko Hi. Thank you for your report. I'm afraid that considering your description and the timing of it, it's likely that your work has been lost. It is more likely that if you have backup files or at least preview export you could use those to reconstruct your work.

The main issue stems from using version 0.6.6 which is no longer supported. My first idea would be to ask you to use the most recent version instead. While this won't return your work, it could mitigate the issue that triggered the file wipe.

Second, while the work might be fully gone, I still have to prompt you to follow this guide we have on the forum to see if you can recover anything.

https://discuss.pencil2d.org/t/pencil2d-project-file-corruption-prevention-partial-recovery-guide/3105

I particularly urge you to review your temporary files folder in case you can find some files there. If not try the other steps (the file recovery software is advised at each user's risk so make sure you are positive about wanting to use them)

Lastly additional tips to prevent this behavior regardless of version:

1. Please always save extra backups that are stored or archived in a different place. Either a cloud service, a USB, or another folder in your Hard drive.
2. If this is a recurring for you, know that Pencil2D stores session files in the temporary files directory for your current OS. So any antimalware, antivirus, file scrapper app or even windows own policies might be deleting the temp folder routinely. Pencil2D can't control this so I'll advise you to try using the *.PCL legacy filetype. You can use the File > Save As... command to change the type. With this you will NOT a single file but rather the entire Pencil2D project folder with assets. The pcl file + the folder should be treated as a unit and never deleted or moved separately.

[nickkyneko]

Thank you very much for answering! I was getting desperate for having lost a project of months, I will try to do what you indicated I hope it works :)

[Jose-Moreno]

@nickkyneko I really hope you can find something 🤞

Also I didn't realize it before, but looking at the video I noticed you have a lot of shots in the same file. If possible please consider working separate scenes / shots in separate files.

It is just very dangerous to have your entire project in a single file regardless of software, since even working with pro commercial apps like Harmony or Animate CC can risk you getting the file corrupted and lose work bc of this (I've had this happen on both btw 😓)

Having many layers + frames might not just bog down performance but every time you save a file there's an aggregated risk to lose work if anything comes to interrupt the saving process (e.g blackout, power issue, windows update, etc)

If possible use the File > Save As... command to save one file per shot, and try to trim each file down to the shots that're still available in your current file just to be safe.

[nickkyneko]

wow, I really didn't know this, I'm a beginner animator and I have no experience with animation programs. I should have thought about saving my projects after I lost several scenes because of the windows update hehe even so thank you for the help, I first tried to save on a pendrive everything I had done because of the risk of losing everything again updating.but when I updated the program,remains blank the rest of the scenes.I will try another method to see if I can recover :3