Troubleshooting

AniCraft doesn’t start

If AniCraft fails to launch, it usually means your graphics drivers need an update or your GPU lacks modern API support (Vulkan, Metal, or DirectX 12). When the application can initialize, an error dialog displays the reason, and details are written to errors.log:

Operating System	Log Directory
Windows	%APPDATA%\AniCraft\data\
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/AniCraft/
Linux / FreeBSD	~/.local/share/anicraft/

Failures before launch (Linux / macOS)

If launch fails before the application process starts, the system will prevent execution without writing an errors.log or displaying an application dialog:

• Check terminal output: Launch the executable directly from a terminal (./anicraft or ./anicraft-cli) to see the system error.
• Check execute permissions: If you get a Permission denied error on Linux (especially with AppImages or extracted tarball binaries), mark the file executable using chmod +x <file>.
• macOS Gatekeeper: If macOS reports that the app cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified, right-click (or Control-click) AniCraft.app in Finder, choose Open, and confirm the prompt.

Try updating your graphics drivers to the latest version if hardware initialization fails.

It uses the integrated GPU instead of the dedicated card

On laptops or dual-GPU systems, AniCraft automatically prefers high-performance dedicated graphics. To manually specify your GPU, pass a filter string or power preference from the command line:

# Prefer high performance
anicraft --power-pref high

# Force a specific GPU by name
anicraft --gpu nvidia

Video export fails (MP4 / WebM)

AniCraft relies on FFmpeg for video encoding. While animated GIF, PNG sequences, SVG frame bundles, and Lottie JSON export natively without external dependencies, MP4 and WebM video exports require ffmpeg to be accessible on your system PATH.

• Windows: Install via winget install Gyan.FFmpeg or download from ffmpeg.org and add its bin folder to your PATH.
• macOS: Install via brew install ffmpeg.
• Linux: Install via your package manager, e.g. sudo apt install ffmpeg or sudo dnf install ffmpeg.

Opening .fla or .xfl files

AniCraft supports reading Adobe Flash/Animate .fla archives and uncompressed .xfl directories, importing vector paths, shapes, symbols, layers, and classic tweens.

• ActionScript: AniCraft is an animation studio and does not execute ActionScript 2 or 3 scripts. Scripts attached to frames or buttons are skipped.
• Unsupported filters: Complex proprietary effects (such as certain bevels or glows) are either rendered with compatible approximations or flattened.
• Legacy binary .fla: Very old Flash files (prior to Flash CS5 / XFL format) should be saved as CS5+ or .xfl in Animate before importing into AniCraft.

Playback lags on complex scenes

If preview playback drops frames on scenes with thousands of vector paths:

1. Enable Frame Dropping in the playback controls so audio and timing remain synchronized at the target frame rate.
2. In Edit › Settings…, adjust the stage preview quality from High to Medium or Low during editing; final exports always render at full quality.
3. Group static background elements into Symbols so their geometry can be cached efficiently.

Recovering lost work

AniCraft automatically saves recovery snapshots of your open documents at regular intervals:

• Autosave snapshots are stored in the autosave subfolder within your AniCraft user data directory.
• Open the latest backup copy with File › Open….
• You can adjust the autosave interval or disable it under Edit › Settings… › General › Autosave.

View the application log

To inspect runtime warnings, export logs, or error stack traces:

• Choose Help › Show log… from the menu bar to open the active session log.
• Include the log output when opening an issue.

Still stuck?

• Join the ArtCraft Discord to get help from the community and core team.
• Report an issue on GitHub. Include your operating system, GPU model, AniCraft version (Help › About AniCraft…), and any relevant log entries.