CompuServe Thread

Ok, ok, ok…. First of all, where are the DPS guys? All this stuff should be in the docs. I don't have them (shame on me) so I don't know if it is or not. If you type PARDRV -? you will get a list of all available commands with a brief description of what they do. PARDRV will accept "all" commands at once in the command line if you want to. It is not true you can only enter one option at a time. In order to import frames out of animation (rotoscoping), you need to set PARDRV to Targa mode (-T) and, if using IFL's, set the Increment Flag to "File" (-I:FILE). By the way, you can use either "-" or "/". A note about IFL files. They cannot contain path names nor drive letters. Just the filename and extension. The images and the IFL should be in a directory mapped to your "IMAGE PATH". So, here is a list of PARDRV options and what they mean: -A[nimation] Set input to Animation Mode. As opposed to "Still" mode. Every frame sent to the PAR will become an animation. If the filename matches an existing animation file, it will be added to that animation. If the name is unique, a new animation will be created. If the given name matches that of an existing "Still" file, an error will be returned. -B[uffer]:xxxx Set input buffer size (in kbytes). If operating from the command line (i.e. using dos COPY command) PARDRV will dynamically allocate the necessary memory to convert the images. When running from Windows, 3D Studio, or any other application that allocates all available memory, these buffers must be preallocated. The default size is good enough for 752x480x24. If larger images are used or 32 bit images are used, you have to specify a greater buffer. -E[xport]:F/0/1 Export mode (Frame, field 0, or field 1). When copying a file out of the PAR to your hard disk, use this option to specify if you want both fields (the default), just field 0 or just field 1 (if only a single field is exported, it is duplicated in order to keep the resolution). This is necessary for images with movement as the fields are going to be different. -F[rame]:xxxx Set frame number. When exporting images and the "Increment flag" (below) is set to "On", there must be a way of telling PARDRV which frame will be the next one to go out if you want something different. It defaults to Zero when it starts and goes up as the frames are incremented. When the number reaches the number of frames present in the animation, the count wraps around back to zero and starts to go up again. -I[nc]:ON/OFF/FILE Increment frame number. This will determine which frame of an animation is sent out when you copy a "Targa" file out of the PAR to your hard disk. If set to "Off", you will always get the first frame (or frame zero). If set to "On", you will get the current frame (starts at zero) and a counter gets incremented for every subsequent read of that animation. If set to "FILE", PARDRV will use the number embedded in the file name as the frame number desired for export. This is what's used for IFL's files. -O[RDER]:x Field Order (1/0). Determines the order of the fields in the incoming image. -P[AR] Set output to PAR format. As opposed to "Targa" format. This is the native format used by the PAR hardware. You will notice two types of file. .ANI (for animations) and .STI (for stills). The size reflects the real size of the files (as opposed to Targa mode where the size reflects the size of a single frame). This is (normally) only used for archival purposes as there is nothing out there that will read these things. -Q[FACTOR]:xx Set QFactor (0..23). Self explanatory. -S[till] Set input to Still Mode. As opposed to "Animation" mode as described above. -T[arga] Set output to TARGA format. As opposed to "PAR" format described above. The frames will be converted to Targa on the fly as they are copied out of the PAR drive. -U[nload] Remove driver from memory. Self explanatory. -V[erbose] Display additional status. Use this to find out what is the current setting being used. Notes: "xx's" above must be replaced by a numeric value. It is incorrect to use one of those options without a numeric value. ——————————————————————————- This oughta do it for you… -Alan