PaintMii

Automates drawing images in "Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream" using a SwiCC or 2wiCC device controller. This tool allows you to convert PNG images into in-game artwork automatically.

This tool is not 100% complete; there are still a few things I'd like to change or add, but as it stands right now, it works just fine.

Note

This was tested using the Welcome Version of Living the Dream. I do not have a copy of the full game at the moment. To my understanding, the Mii creator is identical between the full game and Welcome Version, so I expect things to just work. Please alert me if something goes wrong.

Important

Tomodachi Life does not natively have semi-transparent colors; it is EXTREMELY recommended that you ensure that whatever image you are using does not make use of them, otherwise you may get some unexpected results in your import. (Alternatively, you could use --quantize to not only reduce the number of colors in your image, but also remove any semi-transparent pixels.)

Warning

There are a couple of limitations with PaintMii:

1. Tomodachi Life runs at 30FPS; as such, the game can only receive inputs so fast. Currently, PaintMii presses and releases buttons at roughly 35ms, which is slightly slower than the time it takes to render a single frame at 30FPS (roughly 33ms). Because of this, images may take a while to recreate. For example: the crunch bar I showcased with a earlier build of PaintMii took roughly 2+ hours. There is no way to send controller inputs faster than this.
2. Due to using the D-Pad for all of its inputs, it is impossible to be 100% accurate with the color range. It's theoretically possible to send left stick inputs to reach 100% color accuracy but I feel it's unneccessary to pursue it. As it stands, PaintMii is already able to get very close to a target color to the point that it's hardly noticable.

Requirements

• A SwiCC or 2wiCC device connected to your Nintendo Switch
• A Nintendo Switch with "Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream" installed

Installation

1. Download the executable for your OS in the releases page
2. Connect your SwiCC/2wiCC device to your computer

Usage

Basic Usage

PaintMii <image.png>

Advanced Options

PaintMii <image.png> [options]

Options:

• --timing MS - Button press/release timing in milliseconds (default: 35)
• --quantize N - Quantize image to N colors before drawing (1-32)
• --dry-run - Show estimate without connecting to device

Note

You realistically shouldn't have to adjust timing, but it's here in case for some odd reason you're experiencing dropped inputs which will lead into a desync.

Examples

# Paint an image with default settings
PaintMii myimage.png

# Paint with 16 colors
PaintMii myimage.png --quantize 16

# Preview before painting (dry run)
PaintMii myimage.png --dry-run

# Slower painting speed (50ms timing)
PaintMii myimage.png --timing 50

Supported Image Formats

• PNG
• JPG/JPEG
• BMP
• Other formats supported by PIL

Troubleshooting

Device not detected:

• Ensure the SwiCC/2wiCC is properly connected to both your PC and Nintendo Switch (or Switch 2)
• Verify the console is powered on.

Contributing

You are more than welcome to submit issues or pull requests to improve the project. I'm sure there's still plenty of room for optimization. (For example, the painting algorithm I chose is probably not the best one, but was the one I thought worked the best for how I wanted it to work.)

Notes

• The paint editor has resolution limitations; images may be automatically resized
• Drawing time depends on image complexity, color count, and timing settings
• Use --dry-run to estimate painting time before committing to the full operation

Credits

• KnFLrPn - Creator/Author of the SwiCC and 2wiCC
• Tomodachi Life community