With the release of Whorld 1.7, all the components of the WiiWhorld project are now available to the general public. What this means is that you can now install and play with WiiWhorld in the privacy of your own home, provided you have the following:

- Nintendo Wii Remote (Wiimote) controller (you do not need the Wii console, just the controller)
- A computer that runs Windows and has a Bluetooth adapter

The following free software:
- MIDI Yoke (or other virtual MIDI port)
- GlovePIE
- Whorld 1.7 or higher
- the WiiWhorld script for GlovePIE

Installation
Install MIDI Yoke if needed. You will need a virtual MIDI port to receive MIDI commands from GlovePIE.

Set your default MIDI port in Windows. You can find (or change) the default MIDI port in Windows under Control Panel > Sounds > Audio > MIDI Music Playback. I set mine to “MIDI Yoke NT: 1″.

Open GlovePIE. Load the WiiWhorld.PIE script. Do not click “Run” just yet.

Open Whorld. Go to View > Options > MIDI. Select your default Windows MIDI device. The MIDI device shown in the Windows control panel should now match the MIDI device selected in the Whorld options.

Establish a Bluetooth pairing between the Wiimote and your PC. The exact process for this varies depending on your Bluetooth stack, but essentially you will be adding the Wiimote as a new HID (Human Interface Device). To make your Wiimote discoverable to your computer, you must hold down both the “1″ and “2″ buttons on the Wiimote throughout the pairing process. If asked for a passkey, skip it - the Wiimote does not use a passkey. For more detailed instructions on pairing your Wiimote, go here.

Once the Wiimote is paired, go back into GlovePIE and launch the WiiWhorld.PIE script by clicking the “Run” button. If everything is connected properly, you will know right away, because the debug box to the right of the “Run/Stop” button will show a bunch of moving numbers. These numbers are the raw data coming in from the Wiimote. If the numbers aren’t moving, stop the GlovePIE script, select Troubleshooter > Bluetooth Fix from the GlovePIE menu, and then run the script again.

Once you have succeeded in getting the GlovePIE script running, return to Whorld. The WiiWhorld script is written to work with the default MIDI settings in Whorld, so you should see some interesting things happening right away. If you want to edit them, Whorld’s MIDI settings are found under View > MIDI Settings.

All of the buttons and controls of the Wiimote and Nunchuk are mapped to various functions within Whorld - play around a bit until you get the hang of it, and then try your own!

You can change the Whorld parameters affected by the WIimote in two ways - by changing the MIDI settings in Whorld, or by stopping the GlovePIE script, editing the settings there, and then relaunching the script. In GlovePIE, “midi.byteControl21″ corresponds to continuous controller 21, and so forth.

Here’s a list of some of the mappings in the WiiWhorld script - what does what:

Wiimote
X rotation = Global Rotate
Z rotation = Ring Sides
X rotation + B = Rotate (not global)
Z rotation + B = Ring Spacing
Down = Fill mode
Up = Outline (use with Fill)
Left = Reverse
Right = Mirror
A = Random Patch (only works if a playlist is loaded)
Plus = more Rings
Minus = fewer RIngs
Home = Panic
(reducing the number of rings increases performance and prevents slowdowns. “Panic” resets all parameters to a less processor-intensive state, like a reset button)
1 = Enable Hue Loop
2 = Rotate Hue (use with Hue Loop)

Nunchuk
X Rotation = Speed
Z Rotation = Zoom
X Rotation + Z = Global Star Factor
Z Rotation + Z = Global Pinwheel
Joystick X = Origin X
Joystick Y = Origin Y
Joystick X + Z = Global Line Width
Joystick Y + Z = Global Ring Sides
C = Pause

This initial mapping was designed to be responsive and easy to play with out of the box - it is just a small taste of what is possible with different combinations of controls and parameters in Whorld. More experiments to follow - if you come up with your own script, let me know and I’ll post it here.

Full documentation on the GlovePIE scripting language can be found in the documentation.rtf file that comes with GlovePIE. More information about Whorld’s MIDI settings is available in the Whorld help docs.