Troubleshooting

Most problems in the studio show up in one of three places: the status label at the top left of the stage (Live, Loading, Paused or Error), an error panel over the stage, or a message in Perlin's reply. Find the one you're seeing below, with what it means and what to do.

No sound

Browsers don't let a page play sound until you've interacted with it, and a piece runs in a frame of its own. Click or tap inside the piece once and its sound starts. Gallery pieces with sound say so in the hint that shows as they start, such as "Click for sound, drag to orbit".

If a click doesn't do it:

• Check the piece is playing. Sound stops while the piece is paused, and while its tab is in the background.
• Look in the Parameters panel for a volume or sound control that's turned down or switched off.
• Check the piece has sound at all. Perlin only makes sound effects and music when Sound FX is on at the top of its panel. Switch it on and ask for the sound you want.
• Turn up your device's volume, and check the sound is going where you expect (speakers or headphones).

A short sound the piece tries to play before your first click is skipped rather than played late. Music and loops wait, and start once you click.

A piece is stuck loading or the stage is blank

• Loading doesn't finish. Press Restart (R). If that doesn't help, reload the page: your piece is saved. A slow or dropped connection can hold up the files a piece needs, so check you're online.
• The stage stays black or empty. Each new version Perlin writes is checked a few seconds after it starts, and one that shows nothing is repaired automatically while Auto-fix is on. If it's still empty after that, the stage shows "The canvas still looks empty." with a Fix with AI button beside it.
• A piece you edited by hand shows nothing. Open Code (C) and look at the Console tab for what the piece reported, or step back to the version before your edit with [.

Reading an error

When a piece fails, a panel over the stage names the kind of error and, where it can, the line of code. It has three buttons: Fix with AI sends the error to Perlin to repair (it needs an account), Show code opens the code at that line, and Restart runs it again.

An error that doesn't stop the piece, such as one when you click, doesn't bring up the panel. It's listed in the Console tab of the Code drawer, with what else the piece logged.

With Auto-fix on, Perlin repairs a new version it wrote that fails in its first twelve seconds, up to twice. Repairs are free up to 20 a day. Versions reopened later, pieces you've edited by hand and gallery pieces aren't repaired automatically: use Fix with AI.

A piece froze

The studio watches every piece as it runs, so one that locks up doesn't take the page with it.

• Infinite loop: the message says a loop "ran for more than 3s and was stopped (likely an infinite loop)", with its line where it can. A loop in the code never finished, and the studio stopped it.
• Not responding: "The piece stopped responding (the page froze)." Usually a loop that never ends, or a frame that's far too much work to draw.

Click Fix with AI to have Perlin find and fix it. If the piece froze after you changed a parameter, the value may be too heavy for your device: press Restart, set it lower, or ask Perlin to make the piece lighter.

WebGL is not available

3D and shader pieces draw with WebGL, the browser's way of using your graphics card. If the browser can't offer it, the error panel shows GPU error with "WebGL is not available in this browser" or "WebGL2 is not available in this browser."

• Use a recent version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
• Check hardware acceleration is switched on in your browser's settings.
• Update your graphics drivers, or try another browser.

GPU error with "The WebGL context was lost (GPU reset)" or "The GPU reset while running this shader" means the piece was too heavy for the graphics card. Close other tabs, press Restart, or ask Perlin to make it lighter: fewer particles, a simpler shader, less detail.

A piece runs slowly

The frame rate beside the status label turns red below 30 frames a second. Heavy pieces run best in a smaller window, with fewer tabs open. If the piece has a control for how much it draws, such as a count or a density, turn it down in Parameters. Or ask Perlin: "make it run smoothly on a laptop".

A video won't upload

Before a video goes into your assets, your browser plays it to measure it and take a frame for its tile. A video the browser can't play is refused, because nobody else's browser would show it either. The message reads: "name can't be played in this browser. Export it as an MP4 (H.264) or a WebM and upload that."

The usual cause is an iPhone video (a HEVC .mov) in a browser that can't play HEVC. Export it again as an MP4 with H.264, or a WebM, and upload that. A file with no picture at all is refused too: upload sound as audio (MP3, WAV or OGG).

Perlin isn't available

The send button is greyed out while there's nothing to send, while images or files you've attached are still being prepared, and when your balance doesn't cover the effort level.

A build stopped partway

A very large build can run out of room to finish in one go. Perlin keeps its work, and its reply says: "This one was too big to finish in one go. Perlin kept its work so far and can keep going from there." Click Keep going and it carries on from the saved code and plan. See Long builds and Keep going.

Other messages on a reply that stopped:

• "This generation was interrupted. Try again." or "Perlin lost track of this one. Try again.": click Try again.
• "The code still had problems after several attempts.": click Try again, or Open draft in editor to see what Perlin wrote.
• "It compiled, but failed while running": the piece arrived but broke on stage. Use Fix with AI on the error panel.

A request Perlin can't finish costs nothing. If you stop one yourself, you pay for the work done up to that point.

Pieces are missing on another device

Your pieces follow your account, not your browser.

• Sign in on both devices with the same account. Pieces made while signed out stay with the browser they were made in. They join your account the next time you sign in on that browser, and then show up everywhere you're signed in.
• Check the top bar. Saving turns to Saved once a piece is stored. Offline means the server couldn't be reached: the work is kept in that browser and syncs when the connection is back, so open the studio there again while online.
• Signing out makes a browser forget your account's pieces. They're still with your account; sign in again to see them.
• Clearing cookies disconnects a signed-out browser from the pieces made in it. Sign in before you clear them.

Reference images stay in the browser that attached them, so another device shows a small preview in their place.

No Enter VR or Enter AR button

The buttons only appear where they work: VR and AR on a Meta Quest, AR on an Android phone in Chrome, neither on a laptop. iPhones and iPads can't go into AR yet, so a piece plays on the screen there. The piece also has to be made for VR or AR: ask for it. See VR pieces and AR pieces.

Still stuck

Write to us from the support page with a link to the piece (Share, then Copy link), what you did, what you expected, and the text of any error. See Getting help.

Related

• Auto-fix and Look it over
• Saving and your pieces
• Frequently asked questions