#saving files

like, it would just not let me save, regardless of what. psd, pdf, jpg, png... nothing. even saving over a file i had already saved would not save it.

i was honestly baffled and angry. i tried to do EVERYTHING and nothing would work

(once i had the same problem with word and i almost cried since i write so much but i restarted pc and then it worked so i was relieved but it never got fixed w ps)

today i found out it’s an option on windows defender

so if anyone of you has had a similar problem where files won’t be saved, regardless of the program, after one of the last windows 10 updates

it’s windows defender fault

FireAlpaca itself cannot save an animation directly.

When you use File menu, Export Layers (Onion Skin Mode), you will select a folder, and FireAlpaca will save a sequence of .png files into that folder (always named 000.png, 001.png, 002.png, 003.png, etc., starting from the lowest layer or layer folder and working upwards).

You can then use an online service like AlpacaDouga or GIFMaker.me [supports transparency] to combine that set of .png files into an animated GIF (you could also use a desktop program like PhotoScape [creates animated GIFs] or a video editor [to create a movie file for YouTube, and maybe add sound]).

Depending on your computer and your version of FireAlpaca, it might offer to open AlpacaDouga when you export layers (and it might open the Japanese page - there is an English-version link at the top right of the page).

Brief instructions for AlpacaDouga here. Some Mac users have had problems with the OK!! Download button - if you get that, try right-clicking the button and choose open link (or open target) in a new tab (or new page).

There is a Palette control window/panel, to which you can add colours individually. To reveal it, use the Window menu, Palette. This stays with the program (saves when you close down FireAlpaca normally), no matter which image/project you have open.

The palette contents are saved as Palette.ini in the configuration folder (Help menu, Open Config folder), so you can save/backup that file (and other files and folders in that folder).

-Obtusity

Yes, easily, if you saved the original FireAlpaca file as .mdp.

No, if you only have the animated GIF.

Maybe, if you have a folder of PNG frames. You should be able to import them into FireAlpaca (see here for getting images into FireAlpaca). In Windows, you can drag a bunch of images straight from the File Explorer onto the FireAlpaca layers panel/window in one move - might not work with Finder on a Mac.

Sorry, but probably not.

If you have updated to a recent version of FireAlpaca (current version 1.8.7, check the Help menu, About), and you have enabled autosave (File menu, Environment Setting) then you might have autosave (anti-crash) files, use Help menu, Open Config Folder to find the autosave folders.

See my workflow rant on ways to reduce this and other problems (e.g. save every half hour to a new filename, file01, file02, file03, etc). For full safety, you should be saving a copy on at least 2 media (e.g. hard disk and USB, or save to hard disk then copy to a network service or synced folder - do not save directly to an online synced folder).

Hudson asked: 

help! i designed a song cover for my brothers music, and he wants to bring it in to his program and customize it (change the background, font etc.)but it needs to be a PNG, if you try to export it to a PNG it doesn’t work and if i click “save as” in file and make it a PNG it says “layers cannot be saved in this format. do you want to proceed?” i don’t know what to do.

You are doing the correct thing. 

The message  “layers cannot be saved in this format. do you want to proceed?” is a standard warning.

By default you can save as MDP with multiple layers, which allows you to come back later and continue working with layers.

PNG does not support layers, it is a single “flat” image. 

The program is just warning you that if you did use layers then they will all be merged into a single final image in the PNG output.

Sorry, your file might have been lost/corrupted.

The most common cause is saving to a folder synced with an online service (iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc), which can result in this problem happening intermittently (and not just in FireAlpaca, happens in other programs with complex file structures). Best workaround: save to a non-synced folder, then copy to the synced folder.

See my workflow rant about working around or reducing this and other potential problems. 

If you have a recent version of FireAlpaca or MediBang Paint, and you have enabled Autosave (File menu, Environment Setting), you can look for an autosave (really anti-crash rather than autosave) version of your file - Help menu, Open Config Folder to see the autosave folder/s.