FilmCraft won’t open?

FilmCraft on Windows

The installer flashes, then nothing

FilmCraft installer not working? It probably did its job: the 0.5.0 installer has no setup windows. We checked the MSI: unlike PhotoCraft 0.6.0, it contains no wizard. It installs in a second or two and closes, so it looks as if it failed (issue #310). Open the Start menu and type FilmCraft, or look for C:\Program Files\FilmCraft\filmcraft.exe. If it is there, the install worked and the problem is starting it: read on.

The installer always installs for every user, so it needs an administrator password (issue #248). Without one, use the portable ZIP from the download section: unzip it to a folder you own and start filmcraft.exe there.

It crashes on start with Intel graphics

This is the most common reason FilmCraft won’t open on Windows laptops with Intel UHD or Iris graphics (issue #512, #413). The cursor spins for two or three seconds, then nothing. Sometimes FilmCraft opens the very first time and never again (issue #582).

To confirm it, open Event Viewer › Windows Logs › Application and find the error for filmcraft.exe. If the faulting module is igvk64.dll with exception 0xc0000005, Intel’s Vulkan driver crashed while FilmCraft set up the GPU. Start FilmCraft on DirectX 12 instead, with the commands below. The reporter of issue #582 confirmed this fixed it on FilmCraft 0.5.0.

It crashes on start with AMD graphics

If Event Viewer names atio6axx.dll, AMD’s OpenGL driver crashed (issue #477). FilmCraft 0.4.0 loaded OpenGL on every start; FilmCraft 0.5.0 no longer does, and we checked that the fix is in the 0.5.0 release. Download the latest version. If you must stay on 0.4.0, start it with WGPU_BACKEND set to vulkan,dx12 in the commands below.

Antivirus flags filmcraft.exe

One user reported Kaspersky flagging the portable filmcraft.exe as a trojan (issue #53, not yet answered by the team). Before you trust or delete anything, compare the file’s SHA-256 with SHA256SUMS.txt in the official release and check its signature with Get-AuthenticodeSignature in PowerShell. The 0.5.0 installer we checked carries a Microsoft-issued signature for Learning Machines Inc, the company behind the ArtCraft apps. A copy from any other site is a different file: delete it.

Where FilmCraft keeps its logs

Paste %APPDATA%\FilmCraft\Logs into File Explorer’s address bar; with the portable ZIP it is the data\Logs folder next to filmcraft.exe. Attach filmcraft.log and any crash-*.log when you report a problem. If filmcraft-cli.exe runs but filmcraft.exe doesn’t, the problem is the graphics start-up, not the install.

FilmCraft on a Mac

macOS 11 Big Sur and 12 Monterey: FilmCraft crashes at once. FilmCraft declares macOS 11 as its minimum, but the 0.5.0 app also needs kVTCompressionPropertyKey_ConstantBitRate, a VideoToolbox setting for constant-bitrate export that Apple added in macOS 13 Ventura. We checked the 0.5.0 app: it requires that symbol at start, so on macOS 11 and 12 the system stops it before a window appears. The crash report reads Symbol not found: _kVTCompressionPropertyKey_ConstantBitRate (issue #468, still open). Until a fix ships, use macOS 13 or later, or FilmCraft online in Chrome.

macOS 10.15 Catalina and older: FilmCraft refuses to install. This is deliberate: the Crafting Apps target macOS 11 and later (issue #491). FilmCraft online is the way to use it there.

Intel Macs with older graphics: on some Macs with Intel Iris Pro or HD graphics, every Crafting App stops at start with a Device(Lost) graphics error (PhotoCraft issue #1859). No setting fixes it yet; FilmCraft online in Chrome is the workaround.

The Mac app itself is signed and notarized by Apple, so you should never need to bypass Gatekeeper. If macOS calls it damaged, download it again from the official release.

FilmCraft on Linux

Make the AppImage executable with chmod +x filmcraft-*.AppImage before starting it. Since 0.5.0 the tarball comes with an install script. If FilmCraft opens but the interface is too large on X11 (issue #457) or the title bar ignores your GNOME theme on Wayland (issue #433), those are known and open on GitHub.

It opens, but playback is slow

When FilmCraft cannot reach a GPU (in a virtual machine or container, or with a broken driver) it renders the preview on the CPU without telling you (issue #632). GPU use stays at 0% and the CPU at 100%. Update the graphics driver, or on Linux make sure your user is in the video and render groups. On Windows, forcing DirectX 12 as above can bring the GPU back.