Menu Layout

After reading this page you will be able to place folders and items in the menu tree yourself, and put any MingToon material property on the menu as a material group.

The menu tree lives in the Menu Layout card of the Ming Light Controller component inspector attached to the avatar root. What this card decides is placement and inclusion only. The actual menu, parameter, and FX assets are created only on a Play Mode preview or an upload build clone.

The seven default root slots

Pressing Apply Recommended Menu places seven slots at the root.

Order	Name shown in the tree	Kind
1	Reset	Command
2	Final Output	Feature
3	Hue / Saturation Color Wheel	Feature
4	Photo Looks	Folder
5	Virtual Light	Folder
6	Master Adjust	Folder
7	Performance	Folder

What each folder contains, and which MingToon material value it drives, is in Features and MingToon Properties.

An item whose name you have not edited yourself keeps a default name that MLC recognizes, so changing the language setting changes the displayed name too. Once you edit a name, that name stays exactly as you typed it regardless of language.

Eight slots per page

The root row of the card shows the current root item count as Root (n / 8). A VRChat Expressions Menu shows at most eight slots on one page, so anything past the eighth root slot is not visible on the avatar.

If you are about to pass eight

Group related items into a folder. A folder takes only one slot at the root. This eight-slot limit applies inside folders too.

The four item kinds

The + Item button can add four kinds.

Kind	What it does	What it can hold
Folder	Creates a child page	Holds no control at all
Feature	Exposes catalog features on the menu	One or more features
Material Group	Exposes a registered material property	One material group
Command	Runs one predefined MLC command	One command value

Each kind can hold only its own content. Putting a control directly into a folder, or putting a material group or a command into a feature item, is rejected by validation. Putting an item underneath something that is not a folder is rejected as well.

A command item enters the final menu only when the feature it drives is enabled. The condition for each command is in the Commands section of "Features and MingToon Properties" in the related pages below.

Adding and moving items

1. Select the avatar root and open the Menu Layout card in the inspector.
   • This is correct. The top of the card shows a Root (n / 8) row with the tree below it.
2. Press + Item at the top of the card and choose one of Folder · Feature · Material Group · Command. To put it straight into a specific folder, use the add button on that folder's row.
   • This is correct. A new row appears at the bottom of the root (or of that folder).
3. Drag a row to reorder it or to move it into another folder. To send it to the very bottom of the top level, drop it on the Move To Bottom Of Root area below the tree.
   • This is correct. The row lands where you dropped it, and the n / 8 number on the root row updates to match.
4. Click the name field to edit the displayed name.
   • This is correct. Only the name changes; the feature, group, or command the item points at stays the same.

If two items in the same folder end up with the same order number, or an item is left with an empty name, The menu tree cannot be edited: ... appears above the tree and editing is blocked.

Excluding with the checkbox

The checkbox in front of each row is a switch that takes that item out of the final menu and the parameter cost. The placement stays in the tree.

• Turning off an item removes just that item.
• Turning off a folder removes the folder and everything inside it.

If you want to cut cost but expect to use something again later, turn the checkbox off instead of deleting it. Turning it back on saves you from rebuilding the placement.

The Advanced folder ships turned off

The tree that Apply Recommended Menu builds has an Advanced folder under Master Adjust, and that folder is created with its checkbox off. Inside it are three folders: Brightness · Light Response · Color Grade.

That is because the default catalog does not contain the features this folder uses. To use it you have to do two things together.

1. Turn on Advanced Catalog in the Advanced Options card of the inspector.
   • This is correct. The Enabled Features count in the Budget & Validation card goes up.
2. Turn on the checkbox of the Advanced folder in the Menu Layout card.
   • This is correct. The folder is included in the final menu and the Synced Bits value rises.

Check the budget first

Every advanced catalog item is a radial. Each one you enable adds synced bits and parameter entries, so check the Budget & Validation card after enabling them.

Registering a material group

A MingToon material property that is not in the catalog can still go on the menu. The entry point is right-clicking that property in the material inspector.

1. Confirm the avatar root has a Ming Light Controller component on it.
   • This is correct. Without one, registering shows Add a Ming Light Controller component to the avatar first, or select its avatar root before registering this property.
2. Select a MingToon material and right-click the label of the property you want to expose in the inspector.
   • This is correct. A Ming Light Controller entry appears in the context menu.
3. Choose Ming Light Controller > Register Selected Materials or Ming Light Controller > Register All Avatar MingToon Materials.
   • This is correct. A Custom Controls folder appears at the root of the menu tree (if it was not there already), and a material group item named after the property is added inside it. That folder is turned on automatically.

These are the property types and conditions you can register.

Property type	How it registers	Range used on the menu
Float	One item as-is	Widened to cover both the current value and 0~1
Range	One item as-is	The range declared on the slider
Color	Split into R · G · B · A components	Widened to cover both the current value and 0~1
Vector	Split into X · Y · Z · W components	Widened to cover both the current value and -1~1

Colors and vectors require you to pick one component. That is why the right-click menu splits into per-component sub-entries. Conversely, Float and Range cannot take a component suffix.

Register Selected Materials works only on materials saved as project assets. If the only things selected are targets with no stable asset ID, it is rejected with No project material with a stable asset ID is selected.

If the same property in the same scope is already registered, This property is already registered in 'group name'. appears and nothing is registered twice.

Material group settings

Selecting a material group item in the tree shows that group alone in the Selected Item Settings card.

Item	What it does
Group Name	Changes the name only. The registered materials and property binding stay intact
Property	The material property this group drives
Members	Either All avatar MingToon materials, or the material list you selected when registering
Menu Control	Off creates no menu or parameter and applies only the Fixed Value below
Saved	On keeps the last value after the avatar reloads
Synced	Off changes the value on your screen only and uses no synced bits
Fixed Value	The value applied to every target material when Menu Control is off
Auto Page	Splits generated items into child pages when they exceed eight slots
Remove Group	Removes this registration only. The materials themselves are unchanged

Apply Recommended Menu · Start With Empty Menu

The two buttons at the bottom of the card change placement only.

• Apply Recommended Menu — restores the placement to the default recommended structure. Per-feature settings are preserved.
• Start With Empty Menu — clears all placement. Feature settings and material group registrations are preserved.

When the tree is empty the card shows The menu is empty. Add items with '+ Item' or apply 'Recommended Menu'.

What survives removal

Deleting a row from the tree deletes that placement only.

What you deleted	What goes with it	What stays
One item row	That placement	Per-feature settings, the materials themselves
One folder row	The folder and every placement inside it	Per-feature settings, the materials themselves
A material group item	That placement	The group registration itself (delete it separately with Remove Group)

To clear settings saved per feature, use Reset to Catalog Default (one feature) or Reset All Overrides (all of them) in Selected Item Settings. Neither of those touches menu placement or the materials themselves.

Related Pages

• Component Inspector
• Features and MingToon Properties
• Build and Upload
• VRChat
• Troubleshooting