Another Dose Of Wii - asblabs.wiimote

(yeh, the awful puns continue...)

Found an incredibly useful set of classes from here:

http://www.asb-labs.com/blog/flash-gaming-classes-wiimote-wiiflash/

Amongst other fun things you can:

1. Point the Wii Remote at the screen and use it to move a cursor object around the stage.
2. Control individual LEDs on the Wii Remote - a bit pointless, but very very fun I suppose.
3. Register if a certain combination of buttons has been pressed. Intended for use in game programming, however, there are a dozens of other uses for this ablity apart from gaming...

...back later!


MA

3 Shades Of Wii... and Johnny Lee

(that's pun #2 up there... guaranteed to get much worse as this project progresses)

Below is a list - which I shall build up - of all the software that I've found, and will subsequently fiddle with and document in a fair amount of detail... but very briefly -

(note: if the software is for use with a PC then I'll assume that BlueSoleil is running and a connection between the Wii Remote and PC has been established)

glovePIE - script driven software that runs on a PC that senses all the movements from the Wii Remote including the accelerometers. The most flexible solution with a high learning curve.
(http://carl.kenner.googlepages.com/glovepie)

WiiCade - this is a Flash API that allows you to create a Flash application with Wii Remote control other than mere pointing and clicking, more buttons are supported, intended to be run through the Wii Internet Channel.
(http://labs.wiicade.com/index.html)

WiiFlash - Probably the most exciting out of the lot because it allows you to directly access the Wii Remote from Flash using actionscript. It's also possible to connect and differentiate between up to 4 remotes and nunchucks. The major downside is that there isn't currently any access to data from the accelerometers on the Remote. You also have to run a piece of software called WiiFlash Server that may require you to update your .NET framework, although it runs transparently and doesn't need any configuration.
(http://www.wiiflash.org/)

Johnny Lee - OK, so he's not a piece of software but it would be stupid to be writing this without mentioning his research. Lee has come up with many ideas for implementing the technology inside the Wii Remote including an interactive whiteboard and many small 3D experiments that have to been seen! Anyway, his work has become quite an inspiration for my project - if only in terms of the innovations...
(http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/)

Thaaaaaat's all folks...

MA

Wii Things Amuse Wii Minds...

Phew! After a little while, I'm back with my account of my Wii little adventures (that's pun #1...)

In the past, there have been many systems, gizmos and gadgets released that have incorporated some sort of pointing device. To cut to the chase, none have proven so sucessful, at least on such a widespread scale as the 'Wiimote' used as the primary control device for the Nintendo Wii games console.

There are sensors to detect movement in all directions, including the speed (or rather acceleration) of those movements. The remote can also sense it's tilt and pitch. The main use of the remote however, is to point at the screen and interact with various elements presented on the television. To achieve this, a series of infrared LEDs are placed above or below the television. The remote has a camera built in to it's point that senses the position of the infrared LEDs and interprets this information as a position for a cursor etc. on the screen. Yes, that so-called 'Sensor Bar' that is placed on your TV doesn't sense a single solitary atom of information... all the communication is between the Wiimote and Wii using Bluetooth!

Anyway - the point of me waffling about the Wii Remote is that it's possible to use all it's functionality with a PC!

The best part is that it's actually a relatively simple process to make the connection between Wiimote and PC.

You need the following (links at the end of the post)...

1. a Wii Remote
2. an actual Nintendo Wii OR a wireless sensor bar - you need this for the pointing aspect of the remote. However, you could even use several candles if you wanted to!
3. Bluetooth connectivity on your computer (I'm using a PC with Windows XP for the record...)
4. BlueSoleil - this is the software that will actually detect and pair your Wii remote to your computer
5. glovePIE - finally, this is the software that reads the information from the Wii remote's sensors and provides appropriate feedback - in this case, through mouse movements and mouse clicks!

The only thing that remains is to tell glovePIE what you want it to sense from the Wii remote... The most reliable (but by no means the only) code I've found for controlling the mouse so far resides here:

http://www.wiili.org/index.php/GlovePIE:Carl%27s_IR_Mouse

Just paste all that code into the glovePIE code view and press the 'run' button at the top! ...and Bob should be your mother's brother...

I shall return when I've managed to write some of my own code for glovePIE :)

Links...
http://www.wiiprojects.org/bluetooth.html - useful for setting up BlueSoleil
http://carl.kenner.googlepages.com/glovepie_download - glovePIE download page
http://www.wiili.org/ - everything else you'll need to know for research and scripts for glovePIE