def setCommonInput(configObj, createOutwcs=True):
    """
    The common interface interpreter for MultiDrizzle tasks which not only runs
    'process_input()' but 'createImageObject()' and 'defineOutput()' as well to
    fully setup all inputs for use with the rest of the MultiDrizzle steps either
    as stand-alone tasks or internally to MultiDrizzle itself.

    Parameters
    ----------
    configObj : object
        configObj instance or simple dictionary of input parameters
    imageObjectList : list of imageObject objects
        list of imageObject instances, 1 for each input exposure
    outwcs : object
        imageObject instance defining the final output frame

    Notes
    -----
    At a minimum, the configObj instance (dictionary) should contain:
        configObj = {'input':None,'output':None }

    If provided, the configObj should contain the values of all the multidrizzle parameters
    as set by the user with TEAL. If no configObj is given, it will retrieve
    the default values automatically.  In either case, the values from the input_dict
    will be merged in with the configObj before being used by the rest of the
    code.

    Examples
    --------
    You can set *createOutwcs=False* for the cases where you only want the
    images processed and no output wcs information in necessary; as in:

    >>> imageObjectList,outwcs = processInput.processCommonInput(configObj)


    """
    # make sure 'updatewcs' is set to False when running from GUI or if missing
    # from configObj:
    if 'updatewcs' not in configObj:
        configObj['updatewcs'] = False

    if not createOutwcs or not configObj['coeffs']:
        # we're probably just working on single images here
        configObj['updatewcs']=False

    # maybe we can chunk this part up some more so that we can call just the
    # parts we want

    # Interpret input, read and convert and update input files, then return
    # list of input filenames and derived output filename
    asndict, ivmlist, output = process_input(
            configObj['input'], configObj['output'],
            updatewcs=configObj['updatewcs'], wcskey=configObj['wcskey'],
            **configObj['STATE OF INPUT FILES'])

    if not asndict:
        return None, None
    # convert the filenames from asndict into a list of full filenames
    files = [fileutil.buildRootname(f) for f in asndict['order']]
    original_files = asndict['original_file_names']

    # interpret MDRIZTAB, if specified, and update configObj accordingly
    # This can be done here because MDRIZTAB does not include values for
    # input, output, or updatewcs.
    if 'mdriztab' in configObj and configObj['mdriztab']:
        print("Reading in MDRIZTAB parameters for {} files".format(len(files)))
        mdriztab_dict = mdzhandler.getMdriztabParameters(files)

        # Update configObj with values from mpars
        cfgpars.mergeConfigObj(configObj, mdriztab_dict)

    # Convert interpreted list of input files from process_input into a list
    # of imageObject instances for use by the MultiDrizzle tasks.
    instrpars = configObj['INSTRUMENT PARAMETERS']
    # pass in 'proc_unit' to initialize unit conversions as necessary
    instrpars['proc_unit'] = configObj['proc_unit']

    undistort = True
    if not configObj['coeffs']:
        undistort = False

    # determine whether parallel processing will be performed
    use_parallel = False
    if util.can_parallel:
        # look to see whether steps which can be run using multiprocessing
        # have been turned on
        for stepnum in parallel_steps:
            sname = util.getSectionName(configObj,stepnum[0])
            if configObj[sname][stepnum[1]]:
                use_parallel = True
                break

    # interpret all 'bits' related parameters and convert them to integers
    configObj['resetbits'] = interpret_bit_flags(configObj['resetbits'])
    step3name = util.getSectionName(configObj,3)
    configObj[step3name]['driz_sep_bits'] = interpret_bit_flags(
                                        configObj[step3name]['driz_sep_bits']
    )
    step7name = util.getSectionName(configObj,7)
    configObj[step7name]['final_bits'] = interpret_bit_flags(
                                        configObj[step7name]['final_bits']
    )

    # Verify any refimage parameters to be used
    step3aname = util.getSectionName(configObj,'3a')
    if not util.verifyRefimage(configObj[step3aname]['driz_sep_refimage']):
        msg = 'No refimage with WCS found!\n '+\
        ' This could be caused by one of 2 problems:\n'+\
        '   * filename does not specify an extension with a valid WCS.\n'+\
        '   * can not find the file.\n'+\
        'Please check the filename specified in the "refimage" parameter.'
        print(textutil.textbox(msg))
        return None,None
    step7aname = util.getSectionName(configObj,'7a')
    if not util.verifyRefimage(configObj[step7aname]['final_refimage']):
        msg = 'No refimage with WCS found!\n '+\
        ' This could be caused by one of 2 problems:\n'+\
        '   * filename does not specify an extension with a valid WCS.\n'+\
        '   * can not find the file.\n'+\
        'Please check the filename specified in the "refimage" parameter.'
        print(textutil.textbox(msg))
        return None,None


    # Build imageObject list for all the valid, shift-updated input files
    log.info('-Creating imageObject List as input for processing steps.')
    if 'in_memory' in configObj:
        virtual = configObj['in_memory']
    else:
        virtual = False

    imageObjectList = createImageObjectList(files, instrpars,
                                            group=configObj['group'],
                                            undistort=undistort,
                                            inmemory=virtual)

    # Add original file names as "hidden" attributes of imageObject
    assert(len(original_files) == len(imageObjectList)) #TODO: remove after extensive testing
    for i in range(len(imageObjectList)):
        imageObjectList[i]._original_file_name = original_files[i]

    # apply context parameter
    applyContextPar(imageObjectList, configObj['context'])

    # reset DQ bits if requested by user
    resetDQBits(imageObjectList, cr_bits_value=configObj['resetbits'])

    # Add info about input IVM files at this point to the imageObjectList
    addIVMInputs(imageObjectList, ivmlist)

    if createOutwcs:
        log.info('-Creating output WCS.')

        # Build output WCS and update imageObjectList with output WCS info
        outwcs = wcs_functions.make_outputwcs(imageObjectList, output,
                                              configObj=configObj, perfect=True)
        outwcs.final_wcs.printwcs()
    else:
        outwcs = None

    try:
        # Provide user with some information on resource usage for this run
        # raises ValueError Exception in interactive mode and user quits
        num_cores = configObj.get('num_cores') if use_parallel else 1

        reportResourceUsage(imageObjectList, outwcs, num_cores)
    except ValueError:
        imageObjectList = None

    return imageObjectList, outwcs