Mii Editor Blog

In the last post, I mentioned a potential issue which could threaten the practicality of the new, soon-to-be-unleashed feature. I think I've narrowed down the cause and will be able to work around the issue. Actually, it appears only to happen during development and wouldn't be an issue during playback on the web. However, I have still implemented a solution which should prevent the error (an issue with the Flash Player) from becoming an problem - at least in regards to this newest feature. If it happens anywhere else, that could be a different problem.

I have no idea when the new feature will be released, but it's nearing completion so you might not have to wait too long...

Labels: beta, error, fix, upcoming

This is the current error that is blocking my latest and greatest next feature (yet to be disclosed IF it ever sees the light of day). Turns out, someone told me that this error occured for them with the current (or an older) release of the Mii Editor as well. The sad part is, I don't think it's my fault. Instead I think this is an error on the part of the Flash Player.


This message is supposed to come up as a result of a timeout that lets the user escape from a possible infinite loop encountered in the programming of the currently playing Flash movie/application. The default timeout for this is 15 seconds, meaning it would take 15 seconds of an unresponsive Flash movie (caught in an infinite loop) before this message would be seen. Clicking yes would force the looping script to stop while now would let you continue the loop hoping that it will eventually stop looping on its own. In my current, local build, when testing my new feature, this error pops up without any loop and with the Flash Player completely responsive up until the very moment the dialog appears. Hmm, that's not supposed to happen.

I would like to think this error does not happen for the current build of the Mii Editor. However, if it has (or does) for you, I would like to know. Just fill out a bug report or post a comment below with as much information you can about what you were doing, how long you were doing it and what happened when you dismissed the dialog (if anything). Hopefully I can figure out what causes this and workaround it so this dialog won't accidentally appear when it shouldn't.

Labels: beta, delay, error, gui, upcoming

This latest update focuses some on character rendering. There are also some enhancements to the downloadable version including drag-drop support and file association of .mii files with the editor so opening a .mii file will open the editor showing that character.

Additionally, and this was something that was lost since very, very early versions of the editor, Mii Editor will now remember your last Mii and reload it when you go back to the editor later.

Probably one of the more noticable visual improvements is pants color. Admittedly, I mistakenly made the mingle option show a favorite pants color (red) when mingle does not affect the pants color at all (I was just excited just to have pants ;). New pants colors are based off of David Hawley's Mii pants observations. To be honest, I am not entirely sure how accurate these are (I tried to get gold pants on the Wii from this but could not) so it may take some tweeking to nail down... and who knows, maybe the Mii Editor isn't interpretting the Mii id's correctly on its end.

Also special thanks to miicharacters.com (and as always miiplaza.net) for providing me with some mii files with screenshots to do some comparisons with.

Labels: air, beta, desktop, fix, pants, update

One of the most common issues received from the contact/bug report form is that the Mii Editor screen is Flashing. This happens when your version of the Flash player is not new enough to support the editor (this is Flash's default reaction to such an occurence - as expected) - this including trying to use the editor from the Wii since it's browser does not have a new enough version. I try to indicate in many places, including the contact form, which version of the Flash player is required. Granted, I don't expect everyone to know what version they are using (though the main page has a link to find out) so I mentioned this behavior in th FAQ. I guess I should have known better since a lot of people don't check it and seem to just send off the form anyway. It's human nature.

Anyway, that led me to pull up my pants and take action. What I've done is implemented a catch screen which should now prevent the Flashing should an older version of the Flash player be detected along with a link to the page where the newest version can be downloaded. Ideally, this is something I should have done earlier, but as with the rest of us, I didn't want to bother ;)

Labels: contact, error, fix, gui, links, update, website, wii

I've included a new option in the Image export to omit the Mii body. This will let you create avatars of just the head as was the case prior to the update including the body.

Along with this, I've changed the "Transparent" option to instead say "Background" so when checked, the background color is used, and unchecked it is not (PNG export only). Both of these options are under the "Display" settings.

Labels: body, color, export, gui, update

I developed the XML format for the Miis with two things in mind: Ease of use and scalability. With XML, you get a text format which is easy to read and modify. That in itself makes the format easy to use. People can easy take a Mii XML file and modify it to their own liking using a simple text editor.

With scalability I wanted something that I wouldn't have to worry about modifying continuously over time should the need arise. As a result I took into consideration what possibilities the XML format might need to account for. One of those was the pie in the sky possibility that the Mii Editor might one day also include a Mii Plaza capable of maintaining any number of Mii characters on your computer. To be able to let you save those characters into a single file, the Mii XML was organized to facilitate more than one Mii character even though the Mii Editor can currently only edit one.

Then you have XSL – a style sheet format for XML. The Mii XML uses an XSL style sheet to convert the XML into an HTML page for viewing your Mii XML files. Unfortunately, because of security restrictions, an XML file on your hard drive or a different domain should not be able to access the XSL style sheet used on the MiiEditor.com web site. As a result, this almost makes having the XSL useless as I didn't figure people would copying the XSL for their own use and modifying the XML to point to their version (which you can do to make it work), but I figured I would keep it around in case it was ever needed. Similarly, the XSL transformation to HTML uses a simple version of the Mii Editor to display Mii characters in a preview. Because I thought no one was using the XSL I never kept up with updating this version which currently breaks the preview.

Apparently I was wrong.

So in the next day or so, I will try to update the preview file so it will work with XML + XSL. I don't know how well it will work since a few things have changed since it did work, but we'll see what can be done about it. Thanks.

Labels: upcoming, update, xml

There was a backend file on the server that was not updated for the new PNG export. That should be fixed now and the PNG export should now work.
Thanks Spud for pointing that out.

Labels: export, fix, update

The new Mii Editor is now live. If you have used the Mii Editor before you may need to clear your cache as older assets will prevent the editor from working correctly, though I hopefully have resolved that issue in this update (?). Other updates include:

• Lip colors (finally!)
• Updated an eye icon
• Lowered freckles
• Character is now in full view on the first "General information" tab
• Versioning is available on the main File screen
  
• Updated the Image Export
• You can now export as PNG(!)
  
• Background color can now be set and can be transparent for a PNG export
  
• The Mii can be zoomed in the view using the Zoom slider
  
• The Mii can be moved in the view by clicking and dragging in the view
• The downloadable AIR version of the Mii Editor has been updated to this version
• It now supports drag and drop for Mii binary and XML files
• File uploads for XML should now work for the AIR version as well

The drag and drop feature I implemented litterally this morning, so it may not be 100% - and to be honest, I didn't really test this build much at all so there could be potential issues. Anything found I will try to update as quickly as possible, just let me know.

Labels: air, beta, binary, color, desktop, export, fix, gui, lips, update, xml

There is an update for the editor on its way. It includes an improved image export now allowing you to get a fuller view of your Mii as well as change background color.

I have also received some reports about the freckles being offset, so I have lowered them a bit - hopefully about to the right spot.

There are some other minor fixes in there as well. Once posted I will try and point them out (if I remember them).

Labels: color, export, facialfeatures, fix, upcoming, update