5.19 Batch Mode
It IS possible, believe it or not, to become so jaded with the screen
drawing process, so familiar with the types and options, that you just
want to hit a key and do something else until the final images are safe
on disk. To do this, start Fractint with the BATCH=yes parameter. To
set up a batch run with the parameters required for a particular image
you might:
o Find an interesting area. Note the parameters from the <Tab>
display. Then use an editor to write a batch file.
o Find an interesting area. Set all the options you'll want in the
batch run. Use the <B> command to store the parameters in a file.
Then use an editor to add the additional required batch mode
parameters (such as VIDEO=) to the generated parameter file entry.
Then run the batch using "fractint @myname.par/myentry" (if you told
the <B> command to use file "myname" and to name the entry
"myentry").
Another approach to batch mode calculations, using "FILENAME=" and
resume, is described later.
When modifying a parameter file entry generated by the <B> command, the
only parameters you must add for a batch mode run are "BATCH=yes", and
"VIDEO=xxx" to select a video mode. You might want to also add
"SAVENAME=[name]" to name the result as something other than the default
FRACT001.GIF. Or, you might find it easier to leave the generated
parameter file unchanged and add these parameters by using a command
like:
fractint @myname.par/myentry batch=y video=AF3 savename=mygif
"BATCH=yes" tells Fractint to run in batch mode -- that is, Fractint
draws the image using whatever other parameters you specified, then acts
as if you had hit <S> to save the image, then exits to DOS.
"FILENAME=" can be used with "BATCH=yes" to resume calculation of an
incomplete image. For instance, you might interactively find an image
you like; then select some slow options (a high resolution disk video
mode, distance estimator method, high maxiter, or whatever); start the
calculation; then interrupt immediately with a <S>ave. Rename the save
file (fract001.gif if it is the first in the session and you didn't name
it with the <X> options or "savename=") to xxx.gif. Later you can run
Fractint in batch mode to finish the job:
fractint batch=yes filename=xxx savename=xxx
"SAVETIME=nnn" is useful with long batch calculations, to store a
checkpoint every nnn minutes. If you start a many hour calculation with
say "savetime=60", and a power failure occurs during the calculation,
you'll have lost at most an hour of work on the image. You can resume
calculation from the save file as above. Automatic saves triggered by
SAVETIME do not increment the save file name. The same file is
overwritten by each auto save until the image completes. But note that
Fractint does not directly over-write save files. Instead, each save
operation writes a temporary file FRACTINT.TMP, then deletes the prior
save file, then renames FRACTINT.TMP to be the new save file. This
protects against power failures which occur during a save operation - if
such a power failure occurs, the prior save file is intact and there's a
harmless incomplete FRACTINT.TMP on your disk.
If you want to spread a many-hour image over multiple bits of free
machine time you could use a command like:
fractint batch=yes filename=xxx savename=xxx savetime=60 video=F3
While this batch is running, hit <S> (almost any key actually) to tell
fractint to save what it has done so far and give your machine back. A
status code of 2 is returned by fractint to the batch file. Kick off
the batch again when you have another time slice for it.
When the savetime parameter is negative, Fractint will save the image
after the requested time and exit. This is useful in batch files where
you want to generate several images with a time limit on each image.
While running a batch file, pressing any key will cause Fractint to exit
with an errorlevel = 2. Any error that interrupts an image save to disk
will cause an exit with errorlevel = 2. Any error that prevents an
image from being generated will cause an exit with errorlevel = 1.
The SAVETIME= parameter, and batch resumes of partial calculations, only
work with fractal types which can be resumed. See "Interrupting and
Resuming" (p. 33) for information about non-resumable types.