Why does this formula change between preview and actual render?

[chaos_crystal]

Recently I came up with this odd little object that looks somewhat like a spaceship, lol. Nothing fancy but I think it's cute and would like to spruce it up a little and use it in an image. It's a hybrid made with mulC3D and I don't know what, if anything, else (other than Integer Power of course). I didn't make any changes to the formula dialog that I recall. I think I messed with it in the julia settings in Navigation. The preview shows a high bailout, 5320, and DE stop is sitting at 20+.  When I start the render, the DE stop is adjusted much lower, so are some of the other settings, but I haven't done anything with the bailout number.

What really mystifies me is what happens when I try to render this image. It changes completely! Instead of the little "car," I get a lot of empty background and some 5 or 6 little objects that are reddish and orange in color (which you will see--probably--if you make a test render of my params). I don't understand that at all, I've never seen a set of parameters do this. I must have made a mistake somewhere, but I have no idea what it might be???

Here are the parameters, and an image of what it ought to look like is attached:

Mandelbulb3Dv18{
d.....S....O/...w....2....UwG3c/sUB2.5Ewxhqt823ETAn64xlLX.w1x5rlpCK2.nkPnhO6A1/k
................................aqaLJSBAp/oTt6Y9QXAh./..................y.2...wD
...Uz6.....I..../M.0/.....E6/...6/....E3.....M..bKBM/iiD/..........m/dkpXm1.nz/d
//....kD12../..........kzqAnAnAnAPzDnAnAnAnA1z1...........U0.....y1...sD...../..
.z1...sD6r2/nxY3fvH4si/UMq7iyEknUKA2zofj7k.833kTOufiCpW0pxvtyITqzO.boihDYWpjTqjo
0vH5/MbWe/lqyyuhrZaiuRiD......oY/.............sD.6....sD..E.....................
.............oAnAt1...sD3bk/xw1.........................................7....k1.
.....i53iz1.......kz.wzzz1.U..6......U5.........m..........F....6/...I1.....S/52
...U.qFG9yzb2zzzRYoWzz7lz16.pc..zXCc..kvrEtMc7xD6ocyFE0ujz1..........2.28.kFrA0.
.Ub96aAIVz9.1se7Umvxz0........../EU0.wzzz1...........s/...................E.2c..
zzzz.............0...................2./8.kzzzD............8....................
/EU0.wzzz1...................................2CcN/UvNPcveeWCNq0.yRiibHJJUk1f..XR
SvBmx3CcN/UvNPcvQsLsUa3.ibhVi1bTV1OK.sSq4uCly3CcN/UvNPcvMwLsUa3.ibhVinqTV1OK.sSq
4uCkz3CcN/UvNPcv..EsUa3feeWCNqGQIJ36wk8EwyLsUa3f................................
E....6....E.....I....Y....kLhJ5P1B1F.o4QgJ4S/tqNgJqQ........................4MU/
..........kNaNaNaNapz.........wjAnAnAnAn/.oAnAnAnAHwzYNaNaNaNaxD........4.2.....
...qz0.......c/k........0.2.....................................................
.....................2.....3....9....oINiRKNmF1.Y7rPiZYFH/.PZB5.................
.......1Ak.1Ak...............U.E........kz1........wz.........yD........Uz1.....
................................................................................
................................}
{Titel: space ship}

[bib]

I get the same image as you with these params. The DE stop value (20) is very high, not an usual value (around 1 in general). If you decrease it you get those 8 little boxes, this is normal, because the high DE stop value means that the light rays are stopped quite early before they hit the fractal surface, hence creating that fuzzy spaceship shape. When you decrease DE, you approach the fractal surface closer, and the spaceships breaks into smaller parts, this is absolutely normal.

Edit: note that changing the image size has an impact on the DE stop value when the checkbox "DE Stop + C" is ticked (below the image size). For example if you double the image size, the DE stop value will be doubled too, to maintain the same image aspect.

[Jesse]

I think the program should also scale the DEstop value according to the imagesize-change when clicking on the quality presets, if the 'DEstop+C' is checked...

[bib]

I think the program should also scale the DEstop value according to the imagesize-change when clicking on the quality presets, if the 'DEstop+C' is checked...

That's right. Actually I never use the Preview button so I did not notice that until now.

[chaos_crystal]

Very, very interesting! I noticed that really high DE stop too, don't know how it got like that...

Thanks so much! I'm learning a little more all the time, and MB and I are finally beginning to get on rather well together, most days