What's with the variation code?

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mtnviewmark
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What's with the variation code?

Post by mtnviewmark »

Most rule sets involve some amount of random choice. The variation code is a short name for a particular sequence of random choices. If you render a rule set with the same variation code, you'll get the same picture. Normally, each time you choose "Render", the variation code increments and you get a different image. If you decided you liked an earlier one, you can type in the original code for it, or use the up/down buttons next to the code to go back to it.

A major use of the variation code is so that you can quickly preview a number of images at the smaller window size. When you find one you like, you can choose "Render with dimensions..." to create a high-resolution version. For this kind of re-render, the variation code is not incremented so you should see the same image, only better.

Note: some rule sets will not produce the same image at different dimensions when given the same variation code. I'm working on it...

The variation code is available at the top of the window in both the Macintosh and Windows versions. The Posix/Unix version will tell you what variation code it is rendering with, and you can specify it on the command line with the -v option.
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dz79
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number of potential variations

Post by dz79 »

That means in Windows and OS X the number of potential variations on an image is 18,278:

(26^1) + (26^2) + (26^3) = 18,278

and in the Posix version it's 321,272,406:

(26^1) + (26^2) + (26^3) + (26^4) + (26^5) + (26^6) = 321,272,406

right?

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Post by MtnViewJohn »

yes

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