--- continue_trace Continue using state file from interrupted render. The ini option settings are: ---------------------------- continue_trace= continue_trace=on Attempt a continuation. Use when you have a *.pov-state file. or continue_trace=off Do not attempt a render continuation (Default) Resuming Options ---------------- Before diving into the resumption feature much; Remember! If you have a preview window active, and it is the active/focus window, you can pause a render with 'p' and resume any time later by hitting 'p' again. This option of stopping CPU consumption is safest with respect to continuing renders. A long running render can be aborted before completion and the render resumed later so long as (create_continue_trace_log=on or +cc) was used when the render was started. Renders can be started and stopped multiple times after the first invocation by using both (continue_trace=on / +c) and (create_continue_trace_log=on / +cc). Tip! ---- Suppose you have a collection of machines, some old and slow, some OK, and one or more that is really fast. Further that you are working on multiple scenes at once and that you started an expensive render on a slow machine because your fastest ones were busy. You can abort / 'q' the render on the slow machine creating a .pov-state file and move it all to a faster machine for completion. You must be careful to create exactly the scene on the faster machine and to copy the pov-state file to the image output directory. In short the environments must be similar. Yes! If the slow machine had only 2 threads and the fast machine has 32, it all works(*). You can of course do the opposite and move a lower priority render to a slower machine, if you want to use a faster one for something else. (*) - The only issue to watch is that, today, the (create_ini=on / +gi) ini option capturing feature always captures the thread count setting - though you might not have set it. This setting would need to be updated where the faster machine thread count is different. Details about resuming ---------------------- If running real time ray-tracing (RTR), it's recommended the render continuation options all be off. The continue and log options may or may not work properly if real time ray-tracing is active. Internally, it's a difficult to deal with the synchronizations required. Beware. If the +c is used, but there is no matching 'continue log file' / *.pov-state file, and there is already an image output file, the option will issue a message and exit or, continue to the next frame if an animation. The message looks like: File already rendered and continue requested; skipping. If the +c option is used and no 'continue log file' / *.pov-state file exists for the scene or frame being rendered (to an image output file) - in the same directory where the output file will be written - the render starts from scratch. Note! It's good practice to periodically delete all *.pov-state files laying around. POV-Ray only cleans them up when a render completes successfully. They are large, but it's also possible to use one for a continuation which doesn't exactly match the render options for the current command. It's also possible to create the same output file name with incompatible options. If the pov-state file is obviously not a match, it gets ignored. All this means you can end up with what looks like a valid output file, which itself, will cause the attempt at continuation to be ignored. It is up to the user to make sure that all options are set the same as the original render. The create_ini= / +-g option can help with this. If you expect the continuation might itself stop prior to completely finishing, use both (continue_trace=on / +c) and (create_continue_trace_log=on / +cc) with the current continuation. The preview display will only show the newly rendered parts of the image on continuation. The command line flag settings are: ----------------------------------- _c +c Attempt a continuation. Use when you have a *.pov-state file. or -c Do not attempt a render continuation. (Default) Member of the flag family grouping ( '_' standing in for '+' or '-' ) : ---------------------------------- _c, _cc and _gi Member of the ini command grouping: ----------------------------------- continue_trace, create_continue_trace_log and create_ini Reminders: ---------- With POV-Ray the ini commands and command line flags are interchangeable. Use either type on the command line or in ini files as you like. Upper, lower or mixed case spellings are all OK. The last setting of any option or value in the total of command line and ini file input, sets the value for the render. // SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0