How do I access "Unite Paths"?

[BreakTheIcing]

I am experiencing an incredible amount of lag whilst editing & running my animation. The animation itself is very short, with a small number of frames having been created so far. My wi-fi isn’t the problem, as other larger websites run without lag.

I recognize that my assets are all large, vector graphics, and I assume that is the problem. Upon looking through similar discussions, I found that “Unite Paths” is a common suggestion. However, I can’t find it. So, my questions are:

Where is “Unite Paths” in the Wick Editor? How do I use it? And, can it transcend layers?

I’m fairly sure the large assets are the problem. But I’m open to any other suggestions. If it helps, here’s some information about the animation at current:
•Below 80 frames.
•Sporting a 1:48, 2MB, .mp3 audio file
•Using MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) with 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 processor
•Completely vector with the exception of a single .jpeg
•Void of coding
•7 total layers; only 5 are in use
•Here’s a screen shot of one of the more detailed frames:

[zrispo]

Hi there!

Sorry that wick isn’t able to handle running your animations - currently, wick simply can’t handle very many objects on the screen at once (we’re fixing this in the next major version!).

Uniting paths for some parts of this animation may work, but using Unite Paths can cause you to lose details such as outlines and color differences.

If you want to try uniting some of the paths (you may be able to reduce lag a bit), you can find the option for Unite Paths in the inspector while multiple shapes are selected:

The next version of wick will be able to handle many more shapes at once though, so stay tuned!!

[BreakTheIcing]

Bummed to hear the animation is too big, but I’m now super excited for the next update. Question, seeing as the next update is an overhaul, will current .wick files still be compatible with the new editor?

Edit: Despite having multiple objects selected, Unite Paths doesn’t seem to appear.

[Luxapodular]

@BreakTheIcing We’re still considering whether or not old projects will work, but it’s very likely they will!

[kryptot7]

@BreakTheIcing Wow, your art’s really nice! Either the CPU or the graphics card is struggling to render all the objects - probably both. I know pixi.js (the renderer) is supposed to be really fast, so maybe it’s being slowed down by extra calculations since every shape is technically a separate object. Especially since Wick has to run its editor entirely in JavaScript as well as render all the objects. I’m not super experienced in JS, but from what I’ve seen, Wick’s code needs some optimization and simplification, hence the rewrite.

@zrispo The next version sounds awesome! Structurally speaking, what things are you considering doing differently in the rewritten code? I’d love if Wick had features like a GUI for all your variables or color swatches you could update whenever you want (a la Inkscape).

[BreakTheIcing]

Thanks, @kryptot7! My art style is complex compared to other animators I look up to–story time animators in specific. And, I do tend to reach data limits with my animating . To be fair, I don’t use very powerful animation softwares. Rather I use free or non-subscription programs ( because I’m cheap
).

[Hypersonicly]

1. Do you do youtube? 2. Any tips for starting out?