m3a

[David]

 
I saved an m3a file while I was working on an animation.

How do I recall the file??

[Sabine]

In the ANimation Maker screen in mb3d in the lower left you see a button with an image of a yellow folder. That should do the trick;)

[nurbsaur]

Hi guys,

I´m having an issue when loading a m3a file. Previously I started rendering a sequence with no problems, then I stop the render because I had to restart my computer. When I load  the m3a file again, it no longer renders a sequence, but only an image with no file index, like "scene4.png". When there was a sequence it was like "scene4_0001.png". Any ideas on how to fix that? I´d really want to continue rendering from the last frame I previously rendered and It´s driving me crazy! Any help would be very appreciated.

[Sabine]

Hi nurbsaur, can you include a link to a screenshot of the animation maker with the m3a loaded?

[Sockratease]

Hi nurbsaur, can you include a link to a screenshot of the animation maker with the m3a loaded?

Or you can just attach the m3a file itself if you like.  We added a lot of parameter formats from various fractal generators as allowed extensions during the last overhaul a couple years ago.  

You may ant to save it under a new name and try a few things like re-designating the output folder and giving it a new base name.

Or just try adding the index to the base name manually.

And welcome to the forums   

[nurbsaur]

Thanks for the quick response, guys! So glad to receive help, since I´m a newbie in the amazing Mandelbolt 3D.

How can I add an index to the base name? That´s what I´d like to do in the first place but didn´t found out where should I do that.

Here´s the m3a file attached.

Thanks again!

[0Encrypted0]

See highlighted areas in attached image.
"File index: Start:" should be one number higher than last rendered image file.
Also uncheck Overwrite if you do not want to lose already rendered images.

Hope this helps.

[nurbsaur]

Thanks 0Encrypted0, I´ve already done that, but when I press "Start rendering animation images" the result is still the same, only a file with no index. When I uncheck "Overwrite existing images" the render skips all frames and doesn´t render anything. It´s kinda weird.

[Sabine]

Loaded your .m3a and has twice messed up mb3d after I changed something in the AnimationMaker window so I couldn't close the program anymore
If I render the preview from frame 1 onwards it will run, but only to frame 360, the last 50 are ignored. If I choose another frame to start with nothing happens.
I am not quite sure, but could be that your m3a is corrupted somehow...

Attached a simple m3a that runs perfectly here for you to test. Notice: to change the output folder you probably will have to actually click the button Output Folder...

[Sabine]

Just checked something else: the Z-Buffer Does get saved, and correctly indexed... Another sign for that there is something amiss with the m3a. Have unchecked the z-buffer, no joy...

[nurbsaur]

Hey Sabine62, that´s exactly the kind of issues I´ve experienced. Should I report this as a bug? I´ll check the m3a you attached and let you all know.

[Sabine]

Awaiting your results;)

But: I've been testing some more here since I never had to start rendering an animation from another frame than the first. I wrote to you that my animation renders alright if I set the frame to start with to something else and then it renders with the index adjusted. Now I had a closer look and though mb3d starts the filename at the number I entered (+1), it starts at keyframe 1.

So suppose I have an animation of 4 keyframes in the animationmaker, and each keyframe has 50 subframes. That makes 200 frames total.
Now if I set the index to say 37 and hit Render!, the rendered images will be called blabla000038.png, blabla000039.png, blabla000040.png, to blabla000240.png.  That's where you think Hey, 240? And that's because only the name of the frames changes, but the program just renders from keyframe1, which is also frame1. In short, there's no way it can Really start to render from frame37, it will always start at frame1.

Now, in the Preview you can set it to start rendering at a certain Keyframe
My m3a was not a good one to test as all three keyframes look the same In the one I attached you can try and have the preview start rendering at keyframe2 or 3, to see what happens.

Resume: Resuming an animation render from a certain frame is not possible (a limitation of the program as it does not seem to write the needed  information to the m3a file), but it is possible to render from the next keyframe by loading the m3a and then tossing out the keyframes already rendered with their subframes. Which means that it's a good idea to use more keyframes, and if you stop rendering halfway, let it always render until it comes across the next keyframe so you can resume from there at a later time. And Then setting the index to the right framenumber is a good idea to prevent overwriting;)

Still there seems something very much amiss with your m3a-file, and I do not think it's a bug of the program. I have saved your two keyframes to .m3i-file, closed mb3d, reopened the program and loaded them into a new animation and it renders nicely, not only the subframes from keyframe1, but also those of the second. If you do the same you can at least render the whole animation again.

In the enclosed version of m3a-file you can test the 'render from keyframe'-possibilities. Also, kick out the first or first two keyframe and see what happens, if you like;)
The whole thing when rendered looks like this

[nurbsaur]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Sabine62. I´ll make some tests and return tomorrow with news, based on the m3a file you posted.