Item Creation Help

You will need to physically rotate your item in real life. You can't simply just rotate the picture in an image editing program. You will need to do this for all 4 angles as well. Please watch the introduction video to see how we rotated our item and took pictures of it.

You will also want to make sure that your images are properly being rotated. The red lines on the tiles in the item creator indicate which side is the front. Use these as a point of reference as you are placing your images around the item. Your item should also rotate in a counter-clockwise fashion (follow the red line on the item template).

Lastly, the item should be rotated in a manner such that you can see all 4 angles of the item. For example, you would see the front and the back side of an item (not just the front side several times).

Another common mistake with item creation is uploading random pictures. We realize that many users may want to upload random pictures to their MiniHomes. This is fine, but not as an item. If you would like to do this, please see our help section on how to add images to your MiniHome.

Your item appears to be floating in the MiniHome because it was not positioned within the tiles during the item creation process. You can adjust the position of the item by adjusting the y offset value when you are positioning your images.

If you cannot move your image down any further, please try cropping away all whitespace from the edges of the item. You can do this by selecting the Zealous Crop option in GIMP and the Trim option in Adobe Photoshop.

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Your item may be too big for MyMiniLife because it is not scaled properly to fit with the other items in the system. When you are creating your item using the item creator, please look at the other items in the MiniHome. These will help give you a sense as to how big your item should be. For example, your MiniMe is a 1x1 item. It is also not very big. If you are creating an item that a person could hold in real life, then the item shouldn't be much bigger than the MiniMe's hand. It may also be helpful to look at the walls in the MiniHome and scale your items this way.

Any camera will do. Honestly. You do not need a very advanced DSLR camera in order to create items for MyMiniLife! Point and shoot cameras work very well. We recommend (but don't require!) using a tripod when taking pictures for your items. You can find these online or at your local electronics shop for under $10 if you look hard enough.

We recommend using a tripod for your camera, but if you don't have one you can still take pictures. You should set up your camera in an isometric projection for best results. Because MyMiniLife is an isometric world, your pictures should be in the same format. This is not very hard to do, you just need to think about your images in an isometric view. As an example, take a look at the following image:

Here we can see an isometric cube with the angles drawn out. As you can see, this is a perfect rectangular hexagon. If you do the math correctly, you will see that the angle from the back lower corner to the top upper corner is at an angle of about 35°. This is the angle at which you should take your pictures at. You can measure it, but approximating will also work.

In the above image, you can get a more accurate sense at which angle you should take your pictures at. Again, it's crucial that you set up your camera in a top-down perspective. If this is not done properly, your item will not look correct in your MiniHome.

A green screen is not required, but we recommend using one so you can crop out your image more easily. You don't need to use green either; your screen can be any color you want.

Green screens are very easy to set up. The easiest way to set up a screen is to use an old bed sheet. Just make sure that it is a solid color. If you don't have a sheet, then you can go to the local fabric store and purchase one for cheap. You may also use poster board if you don't want to spend a lot of money. You should hang the sheet up and make sure there are no wrinkles in it. A wrinkly sheet is difficult to mask out when you're cleaning up your images. Also, make sure that you place the sheet underneath the object as well.

A well-lit object and surroundings are the best conditions for taking pictures. In our case, we want to make sure their is plenty of ambient light so that the colors of the backdrop don't bleed into the item. If you have poor lighting conditions, the items may have a green glow (if you were using a green screen). To counter this, make sure there is plenty of light in front of and behind the item. We also don't recommend using the flash on your camera because in most cases, the foreground is the only area that captures the light.

If you're curious about the wattage of the bulb that you should be using, flood lights will work the best, but are not required. Most sources recommend using 500 or 600 watt bulbs, but these may be overkill if you're just taking pictures.

There are several different types of image editing software out there. Currently, we are only supporting the following two image editing programs, but there are plenty of other options available:

• GIMP: This is a free and powerful image editing program that is available on all platforms. Windows and Linux based users will find the download page here and Macintosh based users will find the download page here.
• Adobe Photoshop: This is one of the leading commercial image editing programs available for Windows and Macintosh based platforms.

For the purpose of this help section, we will be using GIMP 2.4 and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

When you are cropping your image, make sure that you erase all of the external artifacts so that you are left with only your item left in the image (plus some background color).

• GIMP: You will need to use the Rectangle Select Tool (). Draw a box around your image. Click on the Image dropdown from the top. Select Crop to Selection ().
• Adobe Photoshop: You will need to use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (). Draw a box around your image. Click on the Image dropdown from the top. Select Crop.

Adding transparency to your image is an extremely crucial step in item creation. The reason for transparency is so that your item will not have any background on it. Read below on how to add transparency to your images.

• GIMP: Right click on your image. Choose Layer, then choose Transparency, and finally choose Add Alpha Channel ().
• Adobe Photoshop: Click on the Layer dropdown from the top. Choose New and then Layer From Background... On the dialog that pops up, press OK. This will convert your layer from a background layer to a regular layer. In Photoshop, regular layers automatically have transparency in them.

Deleting the background and removing all of the green screen (if you used one) is another important part of item creation. This step allows you to see the transparency that you just created.

• GIMP: You will need to use the Fuzzy Select Tool (). Make sure you turn antialiasing off. If you leave it turned on, you run the risk of accidentally selecting part of your item. You can experiment with the threshold level, but if you have a pretty big contrast in colors between your item and background, you can set this value pretty high. Hold on the SHIFT key and click around the image. It will select all of the background. When you are finished, you can press the DELETE key.
• Adobe Photoshop: You will need to use the Magic Wand Tool (). You can find this in your tool palette on the left. It is grouped together with the Quick Selection Tool (), so you may need to expand this tool group to find it. You can experiment with the tolerance level, but if you have a pretty big contrast in colors between your item and background, you can set this value pretty high. Hold on the SHIFT key and click around the image. It will select all of the background. When you are finished, you can press the DELETE key.

There are a few different ways that you can scale your image down, but we recommend the following methods:

• GIMP: Click on the Image dropdown from the top. Select Scale Image... (). You can type in the new Width and Height values for the image here. Make sure that you leave the chain lock selected so that you maintain the image aspect ratio.
• Adobe Photoshop: Click on the Image dropdown from the top. Select Image Size. You can type in the new Width and Height values for the image here. Make sure that you leave the chain lock selected so that you maintain the image aspect ratio.

We recommend using smaller values for your images for easy uploading and manipulating in the Item Creation system.

Currently the item creation system only accepts PNG and GIF formats. This is because these are the only two image formats that support transparency. Most users will have JPEG images from their digital cameras, but if you go through the clean up process, you can easily save them into another image format.

The first thing you need to do is take four pictures in an isometric view plane. Refer to the section above on taking pictures and how to get the best looking items. Once you have taken your four pictures, you will be able to upload them to the system.

The first step of the Item Creator is all about uploading images. Click the "Add file(s)" button at the bottom and search for the four images that you took of your item. When you are ready to upload, click Upload file(s) and the upload process will begin. When it is finished, it will automatically move you to the next step.

Note: If you need to upload more pictures, you can always return back to the Upload Images section by clicking on the "Step 1" tab at the top. All new images will be added to the list on the Create Item step.

We recommend using smaller images as they will be quicker to upload and easier to work with when you’re building your item. For example, a good size to work with for a 1x1 item would be 400px by 300px (height by width).

Currently, we are only supporting PNG and GIF images. This is because these are the two main image formats that support transparency. Without transparency, your items could potentially look very bad. We may add support for additional image formats in the future.

You simply just need to click on the image in the selector at the top and this will automatically try to fit the image into the item view. We recommend using smaller images as they will be easier to upload and easier to work with when you're building your item.

Note: If you want to replace an image in a view, you can easily do so by just clicking on a new image from the selector at the top.

First, you will need to choose what size item you will be creating. A 1x1 item will take up only 1 block in your MiniHome whereas a 3x2 item will take up 6 blocks in your MiniHome. You can experiment with different sizes to figure out what size works best for certain items, but remember to try to keep the item's size accurate. As a frame of reference, your MiniMe can be viewed as a 1x1 item.

There are 3 main variables that you need to change for each image. They are as follows:

• X offset: This is the offset in the x direction. Modify this value to move the image around in the horizontal direction. If you decrease the value, the image will shift left. If you increase the value, the image will shift right.
• Y offset: This is the offset in the y direction. Modify this value to move the image around in the vertical direction. If you decrease the value, the image will shift up. If you increase the value, the image will shift down.
• Size: This is the size of the image. We limit your image to be within certain bounds (not wider than the size it is designed for and not higher than the height of walls). If you decrease this value, the image will become smaller. If you increase this value, the image will become larger.

The rotation buttons will allow you to move to the next view of the item. You need to use these to add images to all four views of the item. The zoom buttons don't affect the final item that is created. They are there to help you move the images around the item.

You get this error because you haven't picked an image for each view of the item. Remember, you need four images in order to create an item. Try rotating through the item again to make sure you have an image on all four views.

The final step of item creation is to modify all of the attributes associated with this item. This is where you will create a name, description, and set a price among other things. Listed below are all the values that you will be able to modify:

• Name: This is the name of the item. Please choose a very descriptive name for your item. An item with the name "chair" might be very difficult to find for other users.
• Description: This is the description of the item. Try to think of something clever to type here. The better the description, the more people will want to buy your item!
• Tags: These are common tags that you will be able to use to search for items. You can search through tags in the marketplace by clicking on an individual tag name. When you search for an item in your MiniHome, it will search names, descriptions, and tags.
• Personality: Here, you have up to 6 points that you can spend on changing the personality of your item. You may spend them in any category as you wish. To do so, move the slider bars to the appropriate category.
• Category: This is the category in the marketplace in which your item will appear. Please select the correct category for your item. The Doors and Windows categories have been temporarily disabled.
• Stackable: This will determine if this item can be placed on top of another item or if another item can be placed on top of it.
• Price: Perhaps one of the most important parts of creating an item, the price. You make a percentage off of each item that gets sold in the marketplace. However, keep in mind that an item with a very high price might not sell a lot, whereas an item with a very low price might sell like hotcakes.
• Private: If you check this box, the item will not appear in the marketplace. You can change this value later on if you want to add it to the marketplace. Please note, that currently all items must be reviewed before they will be accepted into the marketplace.

Note: Bolded entries are required when you create your item.

Easy! Go to this page: My Items.

We do not allow users to update the name, description, or price of their item freely. If you would like to update one of these, please send us an email at items@myminilife.com. In the email, please include the id of the item and what you would like changed. We will review it and will update it as soon as we can.

Currently, there are two things that you can edit about your item:

• Height: This is the height of the item in pixels. The item creator will automatically calculate the height for you, but occasionally it is incorrect. The height of the item only matters when it is stackable. Stackable items will use this value to determine where they are placed on top of an item.
• Public/Private: If the item is private, then only you may purchase the item. If it is public, others may find it in the marketplace and buy/sell it as well.

You may delete your item as long as it hasn't been verified yet. Once an item has been verified, it can no longer be deleted.

Your item may have been deleted because it has been considered copyrighted material and removed from the site. If you believe this was done in error, please send an email to items@myminilife.com and we will take a look into it.