Fractalforums

Mandel Machine can export iteration data to files with .mmi extension. Has anyone reverse engineered this format? This could be useful to e.g. recolor Mandel Machine images with an external tool, or to play around with statistics for various locations.

Linkback: https://fractalforums.org/mandel-machine/66/documentation-of-mmi-format/769/

http://www.fractalforums.com/mandel-machine/kfb-to-mmit-converter/ has been used by Dinkydau to transfer KFB from Kalles Fraktaler 2 into Mandel Machine for colouring.  Don't know about the other direction.  Also I think Mandel Machine has many formats, not sure if this is the right one for you...  Mandel Machine sources are available (though not the latest version, afaik) which might help in re-engineering.

Since then I extended the program to also convert mmi to kfb and mmf to kfr but I didn't share it because the code is really ugly. I used it once to take a render with glitches out of mandel machine and repair the glitches with kalles fraktaler's examine zoom sequence feature. Then I converted the kfb-map to mmit to load it in mandel machine again.

There is documentation over here:
http://www.fractalforums.com/mandel-machine/version-1-3-3-is-available/
Note that the data is actually big endian, unlike what Botond Kosa said.

Unfortunately mandel machine crashes when I try to export an mmi-file. Exporting fails with every version except for the one where the format was first introduced if I remember correctly. Does it work for you? It would be helpful if there was a way to get it to work with the latest version because of the extra features and bugfixes it has. I begged Botond Kosa for the source code many times because then it could just be repaired (and made to export kfb directly, why not?)

What could also be done is converting mmit to kfb. The mmit format is the normal file format that mandel machine uses to save and load iteration data and parameters, but it's so complicated that I'm not looking forward to make a converter for it. It's not even lossless (which is also one reason why it's complicated) so in my opinion it would be far from ideal to use.

I did find a workaround some time ago to import a new color palette without deleting render data. You cannot open new colors without resetting coordinates, however a workaround is avsilable.

Close and save the file you want to rerender with coordinates. Now start a new file, import the kf color palette of your choice. Now open your old file, highlight chdckbox for all settings except color. Whdn you import, it will load the old coordinates with the new palette. You will need to retweak color cycling settings.

When saving the new palette, only savs the file, not the coordinate data. You don't want to cprrupt that.