What parameters can be changed in MB 3D providing smooth transition in render?

[Sfumato]

Dear frineds, there is a number of parameters for each fractal in MB3D and my question is what parameters can be changed in keyframes to provide smooth transition effect?
In other words if say the background pic is changed there won't be a smooth transition in render, it is obvious, but what about:
1). DE stop
2). Raystep multiplier
3). Stepwidth limiter
4). Stepcount for binary search
5). Smooth normals
6). Camera FOV
7). Light colors
. Spec.
9). Light angles and positions
10). Light Amount
11). Object colors
12). Color start and end
13). Color variation onZ
14). Gamma
15). Fog parameters
16). Ambient shadows
17). DOF parameters.
Thank You in advance, sorry for a newbie question. I still can't find a comprehensive explanation of Mandelbulb 3D interface so have to ask You questions one by one as they arise.
Thank You,
Sfumato.

[Sockratease]

Hi.

Any and all of those can be animated.

Smooth effects may vary depending upon the number of frames between each change (and how drastic your change is).

Here's an example where all I did was animate the DE Parameter, no other parameters change.

<a href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=20936784&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=01AAEA" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=20936784&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=01AAEA</a>

I suggest picking a quick to render fractal, then making it the first keyframe in an animation - then changing values one at a time and making a new keyframe - then previewing.  This will give you an idea of how it animates. If it seems abrupt, try adding more frames.

Some values, like the power value in an Integer Function, will not animate smoothly between values because they are integer only functions.  No decimals are used when calculating those, but they are all marked "Integer" someplace.  

Hope that is what you were looking for.

Have fun with it!

EDIT -

I still can't find a comprehensive explanation of Mandelbulb 3D interface

Did you notice the "tooltips" that pop up when you hover the mouse over each of the things you listed?  The manual is built in - sort of - so each thing has a brief description which may or may not help.

[Sfumato]

Sockratease, I'm graateful for Your comprehensive and soon reply!
Btw the video composition You uploaded is impressive and I liked the audio chosen for it.
I got You concerning the animation.
What concerns a 'built-in manual', not all parameters are clear, to say nothing of their impact on final render quality, for instance, raystep multiplier and stepwidth limiter. What do they stay for and how much should I reduce each of them or one of them to achieve the desired quality - ?
Or what should I do to reduce noise (white dots)? Which parameter should I play with?
Some peculiarities of MB3D behavior are not clear at all, say, zooming in by changing the number doesn't work sometimes, nor marking a zoom-in area with a left-bottom button results in the selected area shown in the render window...
Dozens of questions arise, taking into account I am neither a mathematician, nor a programmer. Though I work in computer graphics field for long (almost twenty years with Photoshop, use Illustrator, Lightwave, Apo, UF, FractalExplorer etc). I can't get the meaning of basic terms and symbols You use here in the forum (You'll probably laugh, but e. g. z = z^2 + c - how can we have 'z' in both parts of a formula - ? and what '^' means?). Various articles (www.fractalgallery.co.uk) haven't yet helped me - I slip and stop at the very beginning. I don't think it's too complicates for me (I've got two University diplomas, etc) - the reason is some basic knowledge\understanding I ddon't know where to get from!
Trial and error way is too time consuming on the one hand.
On the other I'm not sure it all asking all these questions here would be a good idea.
Thank You once again, have a lovely weekend!
Sfumato.

[kameelian]

Hi Sfumato,

You say:
"Some peculiarities of MB3D behavior are not clear at all, say, zooming in by changing the number doesn't work sometimes, nor marking a zoom-in area with a left-bottom button results in the selected area shown in the render window...Dozens of questions arise, taking into account I am neither a mathematician, nor a programmer..."

I had to smile. I guess we've all(?) been there. That's like your welcome to M3D (!) I'm still new to M3D too and have a gazillion questions, but I keep disappearing to use the 'trial and error' you feel is too time consuming. M3D IS time consuming - in a good/bad way too - like you get lost in it - but what makes it worthwhile to get lost are the FANTASTIC results you can get. For this, the price is often frustration and certainly time.

Sockratease (as ever) is right. Find something you like..."making it the first keyframe in an animation - then changing values one at a time and making a new keyframe."

As you say, a comprehensive 'how to' is not readily available. However, there are lots of snippets of tips to ongoing tutorials that others (including myself) have started to put together - even in the recent time I have been visiting. (see this M3D forum) From MY experience, learning something one day will not necessarily work the same way in a different formula, so 'learning' is a steep curve.

With reference to your "noise" (white and black grainy dots), reducing a combination of DE stop, Raystep Multiplier and Stepwidth Limiter to values with a decimal point tends to improve quality but will increase render time. Stepcount also comes into it. I find that a Raystep of 0.055 takes maybe five or more times longer to render than 0.5, but brings in lots of detail that was missing. A DE stop of 0.1 can sharpen up something previously done at 0.8 - again it takes longer.

I hope you find something good enough to get lost in trial and error.

regards
kam

[Sfumato]

Thank You, kam, for Your attention and long post!
I understand Your smile having had some experience in teaching Photoshop.
The main difference (foe newbies like me) is that the interface of popular graphic editors (Corel, Adobe etc) uses more 'plain English' or explained in it (e. g. 'nearest neighbour - preserve hard edges', 'bicubic interpolation - best for smooth gradients' etc) and in M3D one has to investigate what a, b, c, ... parameters mean in Quadist formula for example and so forth...
With kindest regards,
Sfumato.

[lenord]

Step width Limiter(SWL) and Raystep multiplier (RSM) are the ones to deal with noise, the lower the RSM and the SWL the cleaner the render along with First step Random and Normals on DE. Careful with DE Stop, too Big or too Small and DE Stop can completely change what you get especially when going Larger in resolution, too little can lead to tearing/overstepping, too big and well, you just never get there, takes a bit but you get to know what you need for what your looking for.