Field Assembler Help Index

How To ...

Reassemble Field Rendered Images

Define a Sequence

Use the Command Line

Commands

File menu

Edit menu

Help menu


File menu commands

The File menu offers the following commands:

New Sequence	Begin specifying a new image sequence for assembly.
Open Settings	Opens saved sequence settings.
Save Settings	Saves current sequence settings.
Save Settings As	Saves current sequence settings to a specified file name.
Exit	Exits Field Assembler.


Edit menu commands

The Edit menu offers the following commands:

Change Settings	Allows you to edit the current sequence settings.
Assemble	Begins the process of assembling the images.


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands, which provide you assistance with this application:

Help Topics	Offers you an index to topics on which you can get help.
About	Displays the version number of this application.


File New command
New Sequence command (File menu)

Use this command to create a new sequence for assembling field rendered images. You will immediately be prompted with a dialog for specifying the field rendered images you wish to assemble, and how you would like to name the output images.

You can open existing settings with the Open command.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+N


File Open command
Open Settings command (File menu)

Use this command to open existing settings. The settings dialog will open, allowing you to begin the assembly, or change the parameters.

You can create new settings with the New Sequence command.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+O


File Open dialog box

The following options allow you to specify which file to open:

File Name

Type or select the filename you want to open.  This box lists files with the extension you select in the List Files of Type box.

List Files of Type

Select the type of file you want to open:

Drives

Select the drive in which Field Assembler stores the file that you want to open.

Directories

Select the directory in which Field Assembler stores the file that you want to open.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File Save command
Save Settings command (File menu)

Use this command to save the active document to its current name and directory.  When you save a document for the first time, Field Assembler displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document.  If you want to change the name and directory of an existing document before you save it, choose the Save Settings As command.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+S


File Save As command
Save Settings As command (File menu)

Use this command to save and name the active document. Field Assembler displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document.

To save a document with its existing name and directory, use the Save Settings command.


File Save As dialog box

The following options allow you to specify the name and location of the file you're about to save:

File Name

Type a new filename to save a document with a different name.  A filename can contain up to eight characters and an extension of up to three characters.  <<YourApp>> adds the extension you specify in the Save File As Type box.

Drives

Select the drive in which you want to store the document.

Directories

Select the directory in which you want to store the document.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File 1, 2, 3, 4 command
1, 2, 3, 4 command (File menu)

Use the numbers and filenames listed at the bottom of the File menu to open the last four documents you closed.  Choose the number that corresponds with the document you want to open.


File Exit command
Exit command (File menu)

Use this command to end your Field Assembler session.  You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu. Field Assembler prompts you to save documents with unsaved changes.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Double-click the application's Control menu button.

Keys:	ALT+F4


Index command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the opening screen of Help.  From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using Field Assembler and various types of reference information.

Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen.


Using Help command (Help menu)

Use this command for instructions about using Help.


About command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of Field Assembler.


Title Bar

The title bar is located along the top of a window.  It contains the name of the application and document.

To move the window, drag the title bar.  Note: You can also move dialog boxes by dragging their title bars.

A title bar may contain the following elements:

Application Control-menu button

Document Control-menu button

Maximize button

Minimize button

Name of the application

Name of the document

Restore button


Scroll bars

Displayed at the right and bottom edges of the document window.  The scroll boxes inside the scroll bars indicate your vertical and horizontal location in the document.  You can use the mouse to scroll to other parts of the document.

<< Describe the actions of the various parts of the scrollbar, according to how they behave in your application. >>


Size command (System menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can size the active window with the arrow keys.

After the pointer changes to the four-headed arrow:

1.	Press one of the DIRECTION keys (left, right, up, or down arrow key) to move the pointer to the border you want to move.

2.	Press a DIRECTION key to move the border.

3.	Press ENTER when the window is the size you want.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Drag the size bars at the corners or edges of the window.


Move command (Control menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can move the active window or dialog box with the arrow keys.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+F7


System Minimize Command
Minimize command (application Control menu)

Use this command to reduce the <<YourApp>> window to an icon.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the minimize icon [image] on the title bar.

Keys:	ALT+F9


Maximize command (System menu)

Use this command to enlarge the active window to fill the available space.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the maximize icon [image] on the title bar; or double-click the title bar.

Keys:	CTRL+F10 enlarges a document window.


Close command (Control menus)

Use this command to close the active window or dialog box.

Double-clicking a Control-menu box is the same as choosing the Close command.

Note:  If you have multiple windows open for a single document, the Close command on the document Control menu closes only one window at a time.  You can close all windows at once with the Close command on the File menu.

Shortcuts

Keys: 	ALT+F4 closes the Field Assembler window


Restore command (Control menu)

Use this command to return the active window to its size and position before you chose the Maximize or Minimize command.


Switch to command (application Control menu)

Use this command to display a list of all open applications.  Use this "Task List" to switch to or close an application on the list.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+ESC

Dialog Box Options

When you choose the Switch To command, you will be presented with a dialog box with the following options:

Task List

Select the application you want to switch to or close.

Switch To

Makes the selected application active.

End Task

Closes the selected application.

Cancel

Closes the Task List box.

Cascade

Arranges open applications so they overlap and you can see each title bar.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Tile

Arranges open applications into windows that do not overlap.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Arrange Icons

Arranges the icons of all minimized applications across the bottom of the screen.


No Help Available

No help is available for this area of the window.


No Help Available

No help is available for this message box.

<< If you wish to author help specific to each message box prompt, then remove the AFX_HIDP_xxx values from the [ALIAS] section of your .HPJ file, and author a topic for each AFX_HIDP_xxx value.  For example, AFX_HIDP_INVALID_FILENAME is the help topic for the Invalid Filename message box. >>


Reassembling Field Rendered Images

Field Rendered Images are images in a sequence of images designed for video playback on NTSC devices. Each field, or image, contains only 1/2 of a full frame, and each field is stored in a separate file. Rendering images in this manner can be helpful when designing animations that will be played back on NTSC devices. However, to view these images on a computer screen, or to transfer them to certain other computer programs, you need to reassemble them into full images. When this happens, you end up with 1/2 as many files, and each file has twice as much data.

?	Select File-New Sequence from the main menu.

?	Click on Define… on the line that reads Input Field Sequence.

?	The Define Sequence dialog should appear. Click on Browse… and choose the first file for your animation.

?	After choosing the file, the Define Sequence dialog should automatically update its fields with the correct information for your animation. The first few filenames that will be read appear under Sequence File Names. Click OK to complete your sequence definition. For more help on this dialog, see Define Sequence.

?	Click on Define… on the line that reads Output Frame Sequence.

?	Another Define Sequence dialog will appear. You can choose Browse… and choose a directory and name to use. If you include a number in this name, it will be used as the first frame number. If you edit the Filename field directly, the '#' symbol indicates where the frame number will be positioned. As you change the options, you can see how the name will change under Sequence File Names.

?	Click on Go to begin assembling the images.


Define Sequence Dialog

This dialog is used to describe which files to use for a sequence of files, either for input or output.

Filename	This specifies the base name for the files. Frame or field numbers will be inserted wherever the # symbol appears within the name.
Browse	This allows you to select a file. Once a file is chosen, it is examined for numbers. The first number in the name will be replaced with a # symbol. All of the other fields will be set based on the formatting of the number, and the existence of other files.
Pad with Zeros to [] decimal places.	If this is checked, the frame/field numbers will be zero padded to the number of decimal places specified in the following edit field. The edit field is only enabled if this option is checked. For example, if this option is checked and the edit field is set to "4", the number "1" would appear as "0001". This option is checked automatically if you select a file with a number that starts with a zero (0). The edit field is set to the number of digits in the number.
Start Frame	The first number to use when reading or writing files. When a file is chosen using Browse, this is set to the number in a file name.
End Frame	The last number to use when reading or writing files. If this is set to zero (0), this will run until no more files are found, or when there are no more files to write. When Browse is used to select a file, this will be set to the number of the last file found that matches the criteria.
Increment	Specifies how much to increment the number for each frame or field. Generally, this is 1. If Browse is used, it looks for files following the initial file up to an increment of 10, and sets increment accordingly. If you use an increment greater than 10, you will need to set your fields manually.
Sequence File Names	This area displays the first few and the last filename that will be used. If End is set to zero (0), 100 is used as an example.
OK	Press the OK button to accept the changes and continue.
Cancel	Press Cancel to abort any changes you have made.


Using the Command Line

You can run Field Assembler from the command line or from a batch file and have it automatically assemble sequences of images and automatically exit. To run using the command line, you must give FieldAssembler.exe three parameters:

FieldAssembler  EvenInputSequence.# OddInputSequence.#  OutputSequence.#

Even/Odd InputSequence.#	Specify the files for the image sequence you wish to convert. You can use the # symbol to indicate where the frame numbers are, or the number for the first file. If you use the # symbol, the first number will be zero (0). If the numeric increments are 10 or less, this will automatically find all images in the sequence. This parameter should specify the full path to the files.

OutputSequence.#	Specify the name of the output sequence. You can use the # symbol, or the number of the first frame, just as you would on the input sequence. Increment will always be 1.

Running from the command line in this manner will bring up the Field Assembler Window, assemble the images, and close the Field Assembler Window.

If you wish to run from a batch file, and not continue until the assembly is complete, you can write it using the Start /WAIT command:

Start /wait FieldAssembler EvenInputSequence.# OddInputSequence.# OutputSequence.#