Are there any kind of somewhat user-friendly editing/creation tools available for creating custom channel banners?
I'd like to create custom animated channels from scratch. I know you can just use CustomizeMii to replace the .tpl image files of an already made channel but that is quite limiting in terms of customization since the layout and animation of the channel banner are already set. I also found Sifjar's old tutorial on how to use the program "benzin" to translate the .brlan and .brlyt files of a channel WAD into .xml files which you can then edit via a text editor. I tried this and it gives me complete customization possibilities but it is also very complicated and tedious when you want to create a complex animated banner from scratch.
Has anyone ever come up with a nice and somewhat easy-to-use theme-creator-type program which utilizes a graphical interface of some kind to do your layout and all your animations in and then it just prints out your .brlan and .brlyt files at the end? I just can't believe all those really cool custom made channels with their complicated animations you see on here (like the ones in @XFlak "Top Wii Channels" thread) have been made using a text-editor editing a .xml file.
If anyone knows of such a tool or any other helpful advice on how to make the process of creating custom channels with custom banner animation a little bit less tedious, please let me know.
Thanks everyone and have a good one!
Edit: I just found "Wii Layout Editor". It somewhat works and has a graphical interface. It still is very limited in what you can actually do with it though and not a whole lot better than just editing the .xml generated by "benzin". It can also only edit the layout file (.brlyl) , so no animation editing (.btlan file), which is the main thing I'm after.
Edit2: Quick update for anyone who might also be interested in this topic. On my search for .brlyt / .brlan editing tools i came across a really interesting github project called "Switch-Toolbox" by KillzXGaming (since i'm a new user i'm not allowed to post links yet but you can easily find the github page by googling for "Switch-Toolbox github").
Contrary to the name it is an editor for many formats used by Nintendo consoles and not just the Switch. It even supports .brlyt / .brlan files according to their wiki and seems to have a nice looking interface to layout a design and to animate in. Even has a animation editor to work with from looking through the wiki. I tried it out and was able to load the .brlan file of a custom Wii WAD in it and the Switch-Toolbox opened it just fine. Sadly i didn't get much further than that since the program has problems linking the corresponding .tpl texture files (even though i can view them individually just fine in Switch-Toolbox so they must be supported somehow).
Obviously Wii-related stuff isn't the main focus of this Switch-Toolbox program (even though some people have asked for Wii support in the "Issues" section on their github) and it is flagged as "experimental" for a reason but i still find it to be quite an interesting project and potentially useful in the easy creation of custom Wii banners with cool animations in the future. And it seems to be still in very active development.
Anyway just wanted to share my findings for anyone who might be interested in this like i am. And if by random chance some code-wizard on here comes along, finds this and suddenly feels the overwhelmingly strong urge to fork the Switch-Toolbox github and use its code to make it into a fully fleshed out Wii custom banner creation tool all the better
.
Guess it's just wishful thinking...
I'd like to create custom animated channels from scratch. I know you can just use CustomizeMii to replace the .tpl image files of an already made channel but that is quite limiting in terms of customization since the layout and animation of the channel banner are already set. I also found Sifjar's old tutorial on how to use the program "benzin" to translate the .brlan and .brlyt files of a channel WAD into .xml files which you can then edit via a text editor. I tried this and it gives me complete customization possibilities but it is also very complicated and tedious when you want to create a complex animated banner from scratch.
Has anyone ever come up with a nice and somewhat easy-to-use theme-creator-type program which utilizes a graphical interface of some kind to do your layout and all your animations in and then it just prints out your .brlan and .brlyt files at the end? I just can't believe all those really cool custom made channels with their complicated animations you see on here (like the ones in @XFlak "Top Wii Channels" thread) have been made using a text-editor editing a .xml file.
If anyone knows of such a tool or any other helpful advice on how to make the process of creating custom channels with custom banner animation a little bit less tedious, please let me know.
Thanks everyone and have a good one!
Edit: I just found "Wii Layout Editor". It somewhat works and has a graphical interface. It still is very limited in what you can actually do with it though and not a whole lot better than just editing the .xml generated by "benzin". It can also only edit the layout file (.brlyl) , so no animation editing (.btlan file), which is the main thing I'm after.
Post automatically merged:
Edit2: Quick update for anyone who might also be interested in this topic. On my search for .brlyt / .brlan editing tools i came across a really interesting github project called "Switch-Toolbox" by KillzXGaming (since i'm a new user i'm not allowed to post links yet but you can easily find the github page by googling for "Switch-Toolbox github").
Contrary to the name it is an editor for many formats used by Nintendo consoles and not just the Switch. It even supports .brlyt / .brlan files according to their wiki and seems to have a nice looking interface to layout a design and to animate in. Even has a animation editor to work with from looking through the wiki. I tried it out and was able to load the .brlan file of a custom Wii WAD in it and the Switch-Toolbox opened it just fine. Sadly i didn't get much further than that since the program has problems linking the corresponding .tpl texture files (even though i can view them individually just fine in Switch-Toolbox so they must be supported somehow).
Obviously Wii-related stuff isn't the main focus of this Switch-Toolbox program (even though some people have asked for Wii support in the "Issues" section on their github) and it is flagged as "experimental" for a reason but i still find it to be quite an interesting project and potentially useful in the easy creation of custom Wii banners with cool animations in the future. And it seems to be still in very active development.
Anyway just wanted to share my findings for anyone who might be interested in this like i am. And if by random chance some code-wizard on here comes along, finds this and suddenly feels the overwhelmingly strong urge to fork the Switch-Toolbox github and use its code to make it into a fully fleshed out Wii custom banner creation tool all the better
.Guess it's just wishful thinking...
Last edited by tcmt,
