I know most of you are seasoned artists in the sense that you are comfortable with your assorted graphics programs. I have this horrible habit of getting caught up in the work, and I forget to "save" at times. The pic you see was beautiful (in my slightly warped opinion) I spent many, many hours creating the flames and putting it all together. When I was creating the thumbnial, I got distracted and used the original image......the only image.*wipes away a tear* I think I'll go away and sulk now.

Oh, what a hard lesson! I've done the same thing - probably every fractal artist does that at some time or another! It is a lovely image! I bet you'll never forget to save an image again! (Everytime I save an image, I use a different name. I never just hit "save." Sometimes that means I have 100 different versions of the same image, but I can always go back and weed them out. It's a good habit to get into.) LindaA

I'm usually pretty careful about saving everything and filing it all away neatly so I don't lose anything, but I had a long break from my computer a while ago, and when I came back to it I had a look at some of my old work-in-progress renders and found an image I really liked, only to discover that somehow the upr/ufr files were missing. It's a horrible feeling, you have my sympathy. I decided I liked that particular image so much that I'd try to recreate it, which I thought initially would be impossible (I don't usually have a clear idea of what I want to do when I start a new image, and even when I do I usually end up with something completely different), but actually, not only did the determination to rediscover the image keep me focussed, but all the effort ended up with a much improved result, which I now think is one of my best pictures... ...so don't lose heart, you could try to recreate it and make it even better the second time. Best wishes, Simon.

Oh boy,I've done it too...a lot of times.More than I care to count.LOL! You've saved all the flame files though,right? Just dig em out,re-render em one by one and reconfigure the piece. ;) ~Ally

oh man that looks like it would have been amazing! I hope you try to recreate it..

Ouch! I feel your pain. Have lost a few things, myself (aside from my mind). Nick

I am very like you when it comes to saving my steps in an image, I am too eager to stop and save. But I learned a very useful command (that is in PainShopPro) shift+d makes a copy with all layers still there. It is useful for me, because I often merge layers and go on working from that. Afterwards it is impossible to go back and change. But when your program crashes in the middle of working...it's awful. I have also done the same mistake as you, sitting there with just a thumbnail, it's awful! I do hope you can recreate it! Looks like a wonderful image!

:) That's why the "undo" button is my best friend~ I've done that several times. as long as you don't close the image all the way you can normally get it back.

Oh, you guys are the best! I did save the fractals, and one of these days I'll probably render them all again and try and put it all together. Gunsan, I usually try and remember to duplicate because of all of the layers, but in this one I just kept working like a mad woman. LOL It just wanted to be born and I just let it. etomchek, I had closed it out.......I'm saving the little pic as a reminder to slow down and do the steps while I work.

I don't know what program you're working with to put everything together, but this works with all of them. There are several ways to preserve your original, like duplicate, etc. But one good trick is to "Save as..." a different name before you actually start playing with it. That way you ensure you won't overwrite your original in case you get too enthusiastic to remember. Of course, this is to avoid overwriting. To avoid losing what you've done if the app crashes you should ctrl+s (or whatever shortcut for saving) often. I know this might sound ridiculous, but a post-it or something hanging on your monitor should help. Its effect washes over time, when the little piece of paper becomes part of the "landscape", but if you didn't get the habit by then, you can change it for another, with a different color or something to make it attract your eye on it again. Sorry for my English. HTH Hugs Barbara