[Niels]

Thanks for getting back to me with this. Appreciated.

Haha, know the feeling about technology 😉

Strange that the audio isn’t in complete sync when you play the mp4.

We are getting pretty close to releasing an update (Alpha 8.1) – mostly a lot of updating internal libraries, fixing bugs, etc. This update might fix the problem you face exporting with sound. So let’s see. It will be soon…

[Niels]

Thanks a lot for sending over your ap file. I have exported it successfully to mp4 including the audio and emailed it back to you. So apparently the issue is not with the file, but probably because of some anomaly in your setup. Of course we want everything to work fully (also on your computer), so I will be discussing this with Frederik (lead programmer) and get back to you…

[Niels]

BTW: If your ap files are large, please use wetransfer.com or some other means to get them to me.

[Niels]

Let’s see if I can export it here on my computer. It aught to work equally well on both our computers, but something is obviously wrong. So it will be intersting to see if your files can export correctly here or not. If you don’t mind? Please send your ap files to me (Niels). You already have my email address – it’s the one you got your activation key from. (I don’t write it here because of spambots picking it up).

If it works for me, I can of course send the working mp4 files back to you. And hopefully we can find out what the problem is too and fix it.

Thanks a lot for all your help and feedback!

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Do you have the latest version (Alpha 8)? This sounds like a problem we had earlier, that got fixed with Alpha 8. Please let me know which version you are using.

The latest version can be downloaded here: https://animationpaper.com/download-pre-release/

If you did indeed use an older version, please go ahead and install the latest. Your AP file will load just fine in the new version, but hopefully you will now be able to export without any problems.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Thanks for writing Joseph. Do you, by any chance, have a PC with an older onboard graphicscard? Please get back to me with what kind of graphics hardware you are using – I think I have a solution for you.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Roman,

Paint and coloring (and color palette) features are on our roadmap and will come in version 5.1, which is a free update from v5.0 licensholders.

This means you are not able to color using the current free pre-release (Alpha 8). However, you can easily export your animation using one of several ways – to get your animation into any paint program you might have already or any free one.

Let me know if you want me to go into more detail about exporting.

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Understandable. And then Animation Paper will be a relief when you finally switch over. 😉 Even though stuff will be somewhat different and therefore habits have to be unlearned.

Fun info – First version of Plastic Animation Paper was actually done in 1996. Over a period of 8 years we developed it and lot’s of people loved and used it for professional music videos, TV series, commercials and even feature films. But at some point we had to abandon it, it was getting old (just look at the UI!) :D, so we decided to release it for everybody and make it free. Many years later I decided to start over and create the modern and much improved version of it, found the right partners – and here we are. Soon releasing the finished Animation Paper v5.0 and hopefully start getting some income 😉 Then we of course keep developing it towards v6.0 and also expanding it to iPad and Android devices.

Anyway. Thanks for using our software – old or new! 😉

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that Ksenija. If it wasn’t saved at all, then there’s nothing we can do. We do have an autosave function, but unless you turned it on, then that is not much help either.

Remember, Animation Paper is in development, so bugs like this must be expected – even though it is very unfortunate. You need to save once in a while – or use the autosave.

Do you remember what it was you were doing when it happened? Did it show any error message or something else? Did Animation Paper just suddenly close? Please describe it as best as you can. Also what computer OS and version you are using. Important information, so we can rid of this problem. Of course it doesn’t hep you with your 2 hours of work. Sadly.

[Niels]

I’m happy you found a solution, Angelo! I was worried I wasn’t able to help you, because PAP 4.0 is 20 years old and with all the new Animation Paper 5.0 development I can’t remember such details 😀

Have you tried any of the alpha releases of Animation Paper yet?

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Coloring will come in the first free update after the major release we are working on now. So the major release is the official version 5.0. This is the one all the alpha versions are leading to. This will be in a relatively few months from now and it will be sold for $79 usd for the full license (no subscription). After that we will do the 5.1 with paint and coloring, which will be free for all 5.0 owners.

I am not suggesting you wait with your coloring projects, so in the meantime you can use the excellent export possibilities in Animation Paper – to get your animation over in any other software that you can color in, i.e. any paint package, free or commercial.

[Niels]

OK, thanks a lot for telling me. Valuable hints for us to understand the problem. And I’m glad it works for you now!

[Niels]

Thanks Landon. Then I like your first suggestion better. Haha 😀 I mean, giving almost the main software away for free and then do a version that has the most pro features, but still is very inexpensive doesn’t sound like we will get our efforts paid for unfortunately. Of course we could then have the pros pay more, but what I wanted was having one version that is the same for all – and have it so inexpensive that virtually everybody could afford it.

If a free version should make sense for me, it should be a SUPER slimmed down version. We actually did this with the predecessor, Plastic Animation Paper. Back then we had PAP:Free, PAP:Home and PAP:Pro. I still believe one version is better these days.

[Niels]

That’s great to hear Tomasz! Thanks.

[Niels]

OK, thanks a lot for letting me know, Haribamus. This is important, because we don’t see this problem on our Win11 installs. We might get back to you, to get a possible fix tested, if that’s OK?

Thanks,
Niels