Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, we have another release for you! Only 2 months after v0.6.3, we are releasing v0.6.4.

Download v0.6.4!

This is part of a new release strategy we are testing out right now, more details can be found on that below. The gist of it is that this release only has bugfixes so that we can make your experience as stable and trouble-free as possible.

Many thanks to all the people who helped to make this release possible.

Fixes

• 0e041d9 Fix crash when trying to manually scrub while flipping.
• #940 Fix saving issue with certain locales.
• 96dca6d Fix some move export issues on Windows.
• 97f5891, 7a41226, 168bb1f Fix various English typos throughout the program.
• d3a41d3, fddf846, ef235f0 Fix some subtle display issues.
• b43b024 Fix a potential program crash when deleting a keyframe while a selection is active (by Oliver Stevns with alternate solution by ryyharris).
• 9942932 Fix transformations temporarily applying to all frames during playback.
• 5aa4d9c Fix the first item in the color palette not changing the bitmap brush color.
• b293c28 Fix a partial file wipe issue when using Save As to convert pclx files to pcl files.
• 624b470 Fix the cursor getting stuck with the wrong icon sometimes when deselecting.
• 673ec0c Fix selection changing size during moving sometimes.
• 1dc46e6 Fix bucket tool occasionally filling the wrong pixel.
• c0af82a Fix semi-permanent display bug when right clicking in the middle of a stroke.
• e33fabb Fix autocropping for frames loaded from a file.
• a61ec8b Fix general UI & Tooltip typos. (by mapreri)
• #1015 Fix inverted active layer focus shortcuts (by ryyharris).
• #1170 Fix incorrect redo text (by ryyharris).
• #1192 Fix crash for Flipping & Rolling feature when clicking on timeline + General improvements (by davidlamhauge)
• #1195 Fix update checker on Windows.
• #1211, c24487d Fix crash on vector layers when drawing on empty frame without existing previous keyframe.

Enhancements

• c9e1ba6 Fix canvas flip icons in main menu
• 4b6e55a Tweak frame flipping timing & behavior.
• 4f31fe6 Set minimum value for the bucket fill tolerance to 0.
• 1a1238d Reset the autosave counter if the user manually saves.
• 8cc1f8b, e1db3a7 Add more warnings when attempting to modify a hidden layer.
• 676092a Improving tabbing order of the camera layer properties dialog.
• ca3b651 Automatically select the first action when first viewing the shortcut preferences.

New Versioning Scheme

So what is this new release schedule we mentioned in the introduction? Well basically, our team members got together in a meeting and identified multiple issues with the way that we are currently releasing new versions of Pencil2D.

Among these issue was the fact that some of the big changes or new features are introducing new bugs into our program. Since there is a long time between releases, these bugs don’t get fixed quickly and we are left with a lot of users complaining about the same issues.

We initially made release candidates, but they proved ineffective in finding bugs because nobody would use them. To address this, we will not be making release candidates anymore and will instead be releasing a bug fix version a relatively short time after each feature release so that we can quickly fix bugs resulting from big changes and distribute those fixes to our users in a timely manner.

This release, and all future releases ending in an even number will be bug fix releases. These releases will not introduce any new functionality, but we still strongly recommend you update so that you can avoid potential crashes and other issues.

All versions ending in an odd number will be feature releases. The next release, v0.6.5 will be one such release and is slated to have many new features including possibly a new undo/redo system, x-sheet support, new layer manipulation operations, and more. Because they require more work, the feature releases will take longer than the bug fix releases.

Known Issues

This released focused on fixing as many issues a possible, however as a small team, there are only so many things we can fix at a time. Here is a non-exhaustive list of bugs that we are already aware of, but were unable to fix in this release. Rest assured, we will do our best to fix all of them eventually.

• #748, #1004, #1098 Miscellaneous undo/redo issues. Possible fixes will be reviewed for v0.6.5.
• #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. A possible fix will be reviewed for v0.6.5.
• #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 on a bitmap layer.
• #1189 Zoom shortcut on drawing tools not working properly with the Middle Mouse Button (Win) and mouse input in general (macOS)
• #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.
• #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): Some issues when replacing the first swatch remain. It is recommended you make a new item rather than changing it.
• 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

In case you missed our announcement on social media, now you can upload your Pencil2D project on our website here to help Pencil2D development.

With a project library, our dev team will be able to test new features and detect bugs more effectively. We are still looking for more projects from our users so if you have any projects, please consider sharing them with us.

Even if you just share them privately, these files are invaluable to us. To those who have already shared your work with us, we are very grateful for your help. Some of the fixes in this very release would not have been possible without you.

Pencil2D is developed by passionate volunteers in their spare time. You can become one too, we have many other ways to help! Please visit the Contribute Page for further information.