Field Chart

The Field Chart node displays a traditional animation field chart, which allows you to position elements in the Camera view. The Field Chart node doesn't export. If you want to export a field chart, use the Grid node—see Grid.

Field Chart Properties

Parameter Description
Name Lets you rename the node.
Drawing
Size

Adjusts the number of units in the grid (field chart). The grid size will always be a 4:3 ratio, as per traditional animation standards. The gird is available in 12 or 16 fields.

Opaque

Inserts a white background behind the grid and covers everything else behind it. By default, you can see through the grid.

Antialiasing
Antialiasing Quality: A smoothness (antialiasing) setting applied to the final rendered image.
Low: No antialiasing
Medium Low: Basic antialiasing
Medium: Improved antialiasing (blurs the textures)
High: High quality antialiasing (does not blur the textures)

Higher quality images require more time to render and more system memory. Choose a lower quality if you are rendering a pencil test.

Antialiasing Exponent: Controls the size of the area around the final image edges used in the antialiasing process. A higher value uses less area, resulting in sharper edges, while a lower value uses more area, resulting in softer edges. If the Antialiasing Quality value is set to Low (no antialiasing) or Medium Low, this value is ignored. Values: Between 0 and 1.
Alignment Rule

The alignment rule selections are intended to deal with drawings that were created on paper of a different size or orientation from the default alignment rule (set up in the Scene Settings dialog box) or imported bitmap images. The drawings are then scaled to match the Harmony alignment rectangle. Note that alignment rules are not based on the camera frame, but on the scene frame. Refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn more about scene alignment and scene settings.

Left: The default alignment for drawings; aligns the drawings to the left side of the scene’s alignment rectangle. Harmony scales the drawings to match their height to the alignment rectangle of the scene.
Right: Aligns the drawings to the right side of the alignment rectangle. Harmony scales the drawings to match their height to the height of the alignment rectangle of the scene.
Top: Aligns the drawings to the top of the alignment rectangle. Harmony scales the drawings to match their widths to the width of the alignment rectangle of the scene.
Bottom: Aligns the drawings to the bottom of the alignment rectangle. Harmony scales the drawings to match their widths to the width of the alignment rectangle of the scene.
Centre Fit: Centers the drawings.
Centre Fill: Centers the drawings and then scales them so the width or height fills the available space.
Centre LR: Aligns the drawings in the left-right centre of the alignment rectangle. Harmony scales the drawings to match their height to the height of the alignment rectangle of the scene.
Centre TB: Aligns the drawings in the top-bottom centre of the alignment rectangle. Harmony scales the drawings to match their widths to the width of the alignment rectangle of the scene.
Stretch: Scales the drawings so they fit within the alignment rectangle of the scene. This is particularly useful for images that you will manipulate with a Quadmap node. If the drawings in the Quadmap node do not have the same aspect ratio as the alignment rectangle of the scene (from the Scene Settings dialog box), the handles on the quadmap will not appear on the corners of the image, making it difficult to manipulate the quadmap. In this case, you would set the drawing layer of the quadmap images to Stretch to make the handles appear on the corner of the image. This can have the effect of distorting the images, but it is not an issue with images that will be distorted through the Quadmap node anyways.
As Is: Leaves the drawings aligned as they are.
Centre First Page: Aligns the centre of the first part of a standard pan cel with the centre of the field chart.
Turn Before Alignment

Turn Before Alignment: Rotates the drawings in the selected element 90 degrees to the left before scaling and aligning them according to the alignment rule, and before performing any offset, rotation or scaling for the element or peg. This and the Alignment Rule are intended for drawings that were created on paper of a different size or orientation than the other paper in the scene, and requires alignment so they are treated accurately.

Depth

Overrides the order of cables in the node system to determine the forward/backward order in which this element is rendered. The Z position value overrides the depth value.

Position
Animate Using Animation Tools

By default, the grid can be animated using the same parameters as a peg, but you can disable this feature so the field chart remains in place. You can connect it to a peg to animate it or move it.

When this option is deselected, you cannot move the layer in the Camera view using the Transform and Advanced tools. This prevents you from accidentally displacing or modifying a layer.

Position

3D Path: Lets you use a 3D path function to animate an element.

Separate: Lets you independently edit the different coordinate fields.

Path (x) Axis: Lets you type in a new East/West coordinate corresponding to the desired position.

Path (y) Axis: Lets you type in a new North/South coordinate corresponding to the desired position.

Path (z) Axis: Lets you ype in a new Forward/Backward coordinate corresponding to the desired position.

Scale

Locked: Resizes the element while keeping its ratio. The X and Y axes scale proportionally

Separate: Resizes the element allowing to modify the ratio (squash and stretch).

(x) Axis: Lets you type in the horizontal scale value.

(y) Axis: Lets you type in the vertical scale value.

Scale in Fields: Instead of using the standard scaling units, when this option is enabled, images are scaled using field units, based on the traditional animation field chart.

Angle Z

Lets you type in a degree value for the rotation angle. Note that you can enter values greater than 360 and -360 degrees. If you enter 720, the object will rotate twice.

Pivot

(x) Axis: Lets you type in a new East/West coordinate corresponding to the desired position.

(y) Axis: Lets you ype in a new North/South coordinate corresponding to the desired position.