Mii Editor Blog

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

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

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

The Mii Editor has been updated. You may need to clear your browser's cache to see the new features (the editor may also break if you don't in the case that some but not all of the dependant files used by the editor are reloaded causing a conflict within internal definitions). Updates include:

• Inclusion of Mii Body
• Image export size and background are retained when returning to the File screen
  
• Update of Export Preview when a new Mii is loaded
• Fixed error causing screen (tab) to change in the editor when a new Mii is loaded
• Added a simple scrollbar to the XML text output
• Most buttons now have visual feedback for when they are pressed (darken)
• Some hairstyles have been adjusted to be cleaner
• Some colors have been adjusted (i.e. the white favorite color is now less white)

I think now I need to add some more image export options to facilitate the body. I will work on that next.

Labels: beta, body, color, export, fix, gui, hair, update, xml

Progress is being made for the Mii Body. Scaling and proportioning for the body itself seems on target. Next it needs to be correctly proportioned with the head and some additional adjustments needs to be made to be able to scale the body and head back as the Mii height and weight are changed.

The shirt color will also change with the Miis favorite color and the pants will change red if the Mii mingles. When complete, these changes will be made live on MiiEditor.com along with some minor hair fixes.

Labels: beta, body, gui, hair, upcoming

I've recently been looking to bring the Mii Editor to the desktop as a standalone application. Coincidentally someone recently contacted me about doing that with another tool, but my attention has so far been focused on AIR. Despite still being in beta, AIR seems promising and I've already compiled the Mii Editor into a AIR-based standalone application. All I really need to do is port the load, save, and export options over to AIR and it will essentially be complete. When I get that working, I'll release a version for download. Chances are, however, that AIR will still be in beta then, so it will be a beta app (Mii Editor) on a beta platform (AIR) which could get a little sticky. But from what I can tell, there should be little to no problems with it.

Labels: air, beta, desktop, export, gui, upcoming

Posted an update to the Mii Editor. Changes include:

• Default Mii character now default boy (will try to provide a link loading default girl as well)
  
• Extra value for Wii ID
• Adjustable Image export size and background color (max of 999 px square)
  
• Some fixes to character rendering and Mii file format reading primarily with the nose (I think - may still need tweaking)
• Color and feature items are now highlighted for those currently selected for the Mii
• When navigating to a tab, the current feature page is where the currently selected feature exists (instead of defaulting to page 1)
  
• Fixed an issue where a random character could result in a facial feature value which was out of range; visually this has no effect but sometimes it messed up the facial features selection page

There might still be some issues with the nose; it may not be positioned correctly or values may not carry over correctly from the Wii still. I could use some help on identifying those issues, so if anyone notices anything, let me know and I will try to fix it ASAP. It's possible my Mii data for the default boy and girl are corrupt, however. I'll try to look into that later, but if anyone else can provide additional information, that could be helpful.

I also haven't looked into the image output issue for Linux. I'll see what I can do about that (and providing a Mii body) next.

Labels: beta, export, facialfeatures, fix, gui, nose, update

What am I working on? Currently I'm redrawing the eyes. Right now they're a little off and this update should fix their sizing and rotation issues. Given that there are 4 pages of eyes, this may take a couple of days.

After that I will get back to the hair, adding highlights and redrawing/repositioning where needed. I may also go in and take some creative liberties to make sure they fit ok on all head shapes.

After that will be mustaches and lip coloring followed by tweaking to finalize the preview.

After that, I will probably add final touches to the interface and push it as a 1.0 release.

I think following that I will probably create a Flash 7 version of the preview (not the editor) allowing it to be seen on the Wii. Hopefully, this downgrade won't be too hard.

Labels: beta, color, gui, hair, lips, mustache, upcoming

I added a new page which will show just a Mii character without any of the Mii Editor interface. This uses the same URL format as the URL provided by the editor (hexadecimal URL explained earlier) but does so through an alternate page, view.php. Example:

http://www.miieditor.com/view.php?mii=45e20052...

This can be used to provide a larger preview of your Mii (as this page scales with the browser). Additionally, I would like to eventually be able to provide a SWF that anyone can download and use with their own pages to show off their Mii. This, however, I won't provide until character rendering is more complete.

Labels: gui, hex, links, update, website

I just finished drawing all the hair icons and have added them into the editor. This marks the move from alpha to beta. Now I will concentrate on getting the characters to look right. This means updating more hair, updating the mouths, and correcting the sizing and rotation of characteristics.

Labels: alpha, beta, gui, hair, update

So my trip to Seattle was canceled. This means I might get more done this week than I thought.

Speaking of which, I managed to add a text field at the bottom of the editor that shows the current character's Mii URL. Using this URL will load that character directly into the editor when it's used.

Labels: alpha, delay, gui, hex, links, update, website

Many of the missing icons have now been added to the interface. I think the only set remaining are the hair icons. These might take a while given their dissimilarity to the actual hair graphics used in displaying the character. Once I get those added, I'll probably slide it over into beta and begin working on refining character rendering. The mouths could use some cleaning up and there is still a lot to be done with the hair, not to mention general positioning and sizing.

Labels: alpha, gui, update

The Classic UI Preview now supports save and image export features. XML handling is managed through a different screen, though the load option works for both Mii binary files as well as XML. Images can now also be exported in 4 different sizes.

About the only thing remaining is creating icons for the various types of characteristics. I'll try to get some of those in sometime soon, and I think once that's done, this will be in a 1.0 (beta) release. Additional features I have planned will be considered as an upgrade or a 2.0 release. Enhancements to character rendering will also be constantly improved between now and then.

The Classic UI Preview is now considered the current Alpha.

Labels: alpha, gui, update

The Classic UI Preview has been updated. It now supports most colors. The only colors not supported are favorites (since that requires an additional popup). The borders are also currently being colorized, so that will have to be eventually fixed. At least they work now. Some other minor updates were also included.

Update: I added favorite colors, and not through a popup. Instead, they're just smaller versions of the color blocks condensed to fit in that area. This was easier and works for now.

Labels: alpha, color, gui, update

I hooked in the "Classic UI" to the current character rendering and you can now use it to change most of the values: Classic UI Preview. Basically the only thing you can't change are the colors. Also, there is no load or save features in this UI yet and no icons for characteristic types. You can scroll through the pages of types available, but you can't tell what you're looking at until you select something and the preview is updated.

I did allow XML editing through the File button. This will let you bring in XML from the Alpha version, edit the character through this UI, and take it back over to the alpha to save.

More information in regards to the additional options (Mii ID and Mii MAC) can be found on the FAQ of MiiEditor.com.

Labels: alpha, gui, update, xml

Lately I've been working on the classic GUI for the editor. This is the interface that mimics the Wii interface. Eventually an alternate interface (though similar in look and feel) will be provided as well Though it's nothing you haven't seen before, here is a preview of the Classic Mii Editor Interface. Some things have changed, but for the most part, its about the same.

Labels: alpha, gui, update