Troubleshooting and FAQ

A message appeared in Blender's status bar#

These are Pinvas's own messages, as Blender shows them.

"There is no picture on the clipboard"#

Ctrl+V found no picture. Copy an image, a screenshot, or picture files in your file manager, then paste again with the mouse over the board.

"Could not read the pasted picture"#

The clipboard held something Pinvas could not read as a picture. The reason is in the brackets after the message. Save the picture to a file and use Import instead.

"No colour to pick there: click on a picture"#

The eyedropper (E) reads a picture's own pixels, so a click on empty board has nothing to read. Press E again and click on a picture.

"Nothing rendered yet: render first (F12)"#

Add > Render Result needs a finished render. Press F12, wait for it to finish, then add it.

"Could not draw the viewport"#

Add > Viewport Snapshot could not draw the 3D View off screen. The reason follows in brackets. Try again with the viewport visible.

"Select an object first" and "Select an object with a material first"#

Show with needs a selected object. Picked Colour > To Material needs a selected object that has a material.

"No paint brush to give it to"#

Picked Colour > To Brush needs an active paint brush. Switch to Texture Paint or Grease Pencil drawing first.

"No colours to take: the picture is transparent"#

Make Palette reads a picture's visible colours, and this one has none.

"A video goes whole: its crop is only on the board"#

You sent a cropped video to the scene. The movie arrives uncropped; only the board shows the crop.

"Could not start the render: ..."#

Send to Pinvas could not start Blender's render. The text after the colon says why, often a movie output setting or a folder Blender cannot write to. Fix that setting in the Video Editor's scene, then click Send to Pinvas again. The scene's output settings are put back whatever happens.

"Could not write the board: ..."#

Export Board... could not save the .pinvas file. The reason follows the colon. Check that the folder exists and that you may write to it.

"Could not read the board: ..."#

Import Board... could not read the file. Check that it is a .pinvas file saved by Pinvas, and that it was not cut short when it was copied.

"Could not save the picture: ..."#

Export as PNG... could not write the picture. Check the folder and its permissions, then try the 1x size if 2x was chosen.

A picture shows as a red Missing box#

The picture is linked to a file that has moved or been deleted. Put the file back where it was, or import it again. To stop this happening, right-click and choose Pack Pictures into the .blend before moving or sending a file. See Boards and files.

Letters do things I did not expect#

Over the board, letters are shortcuts. S starts a scale and E starts the eyedropper. Press Esc to drop the action. To type text, open a note first; see Notes, frames and drawing.

The board says it is in another view#

A board lives in a single view. Click Dock It Here in the view that says so to bring it over.

A picture dropped on the viewport made an image empty#

Dropped anywhere except on the board, Blender does what it always does. Drop on the board and choose Add to Pinvas Board.

Questions before buying#

Which Blender versions work?#

Pinvas needs Blender 5.0.0 or newer.

Does Undock work on every system?#

On Windows, Undock opens a window of its own. On other systems the board floats over the viewport instead.

Do videos play sound?#

No.

Where are my pictures stored?#

In the .blend if they are packed or pasted, and on disk if they are linked. See Boards and files.

Still stuck?#

See Support for what to send.