Setup Wizard

This page is for anyone moving an avatar or an outfit to MingToon for the first time. It covers what the wizard creates and what you pick on each screen, in order. It takes about 10 minutes.

What is this

The setup wizard is a guide screen that opens inside the Inspector. It keeps the original and creates a separate, editable MingToon copy.

What the wizard creates:

• A new folder next to the original, <name>_MingToon
• Inside it, the prefab <name>_MingToon.prefab and the copied materials
• One copy placed in the scene. MingToon Manager is already attached to it

It does not change the original's material files, prefab asset, or scene object values. The original object in the scene is switched off after the copy is placed.

When to use it

• When you move an avatar or an outfit to MingToon for the first time. This is the recommended route
• When you want to keep the original and compare the result
• When you want a MingToon avatar split off as an independent copy

To change just a few materials in place, use manual conversion. Fine-tuning after the wizard happens in MingToon Manager.

Try it in 30 seconds

1. Right-click the topmost object of the avatar in the Hierarchy.
2. Press MingToon > Convert to MingToon....
3. You succeeded when the Make a MingToon copy screen opens at the top of the Inspector.

How to open it

Way	Target
Adding MingToon Manager for the first time with Add Component in the Inspector	That object
Hierarchy right-click MingToon > Convert to MingToon...	The selected object
Menu GameObject > MingToon > Convert to MingToon... or GameObject > MingToon > Add MingToon Manager	The selected object
Right-click a prefab in the Project window, MingToon > Convert to MingToon... or MingToon > MingToon Manager	The prefab asset
Create a copy on the Manager Start tab	The object that has the Manager
Menu StudioRaming > MingToon > Open Manager Setup	Selects the Manager if there is one; otherwise a confirmation window and then the wizard

• Opening through Add Component happens automatically only right after you newly add the Manager. A Manager that was already in a scene or prefab when you opened it, or one that came back through Undo or Redo, does not open it.
• In Play Mode the wizard does not open and makes no copy.
• If you select several prefabs in the Project window and press MingToon > MingToon Manager, each prefab gets its own wizard.

The screens, in order

The top of every step is the same.

• The title row shows MingToon and Make a MingToon copy, the language selector (한국어 · English · 日本語), and the ? help button
• Skip setup wizard at the top right returns to the normal Inspector without converting anything. After a copy exists this button becomes Close wizard and keeps the copy you made
• The step guide reads Meshes · Look · MLC · Done. If MLC is not installed the MLC step is left out and it reads Meshes · Look · Done

1. Meshes

There are three cards.

Card	What it does
Object to convert	You can change the target object. Below it shows Slots to convert: N · Keep: N
Add the face mesh	Drag in the face mesh or pick it from List. Leave it empty if there is no face
Add the body mesh	Add bare skin on the body, arms, or legs. Leave it empty if there is none

• A slot is one material cell of a Renderer. Slots to convert are the cells that become MingToon, and Keep are the cells left as they are, such as particles
• The mesh fields accept only Renderers under this target. + Add another mesh adds more, and Clear in the List menu removes one
• Materials on the face mesh become the Face role, and materials on the body mesh become Skin. If you leave them empty, only the face flag the source material itself declares is read and everything else stays Regular. Faces are not guessed from names
• If you put the same mesh in both face and body, a notice appears. In the next screen's material list, split the slots into Regular and Face
• If the target already has face and skin assignments in Manager, they are filled in beforehand
• If there is no material to convert, No supported materials were found. Choose another target above. appears and Next is off. Check again reads the list anew

Press Next at the bottom right.

2. Look

Card	What it does
Look	Pick one of Basic Toon, Hard Toon, Soft Toon. Each has a caption: Medium shadow edge, Crisp edge, Soft edge
Lighter (Low)	On gives the lighter look with depth effects off. Off gives the look with depth effects on
Color Preset	It starts as Choose colors…. If you pick none, the source colors are used
Materials to convert · N	The list of slots that will change. You set a role per slot
Items kept unchanged · N	Collapsed. It names the slots that are not converted

• The starting choice is Basic Toon with Lighter (Low) off
• In the role list of Materials to convert, the first entry changes to Face mesh, Body mesh, or Original depending on the meshes you picked, followed by Regular and Face. Clicking a slot name pings that Renderer in the Hierarchy. The list scrolls after ten rows
• If the target is already all MingToon, Already using MingToon. The copy will keep its current look. appears and the look choice and the list are not used
• Below the card there is a note: A new folder will hold the prefab and materials. Source files stay unchanged.

Go back with Back, or press Create copy. Pressing it runs these steps.

1. It creates a new <name>_MingToon folder. If the original is a prefab asset the folder goes next to that prefab, and if it is an object in a scene it goes next to that scene file. For an unsaved scene it goes directly under Assets. If the name already exists, a numbered new name is used
2. It duplicates the original, breaks the prefab connection, and copies every material into that folder as a new .mat. Materials that are not converted are copied too
3. It attaches Manager to the copy if it has none, and moves your face and body mesh choices to the copy's Renderers
4. It runs the existing conversion as it is. The progress bar changes in the order Converting materials... → Applying the look preset... → Finalizing and saving the converted materials...
5. If MLC is installed and the original has MLC settings, its lighting material groups are moved to the copy's new materials
6. It precompiles the shader variants the new materials will use. This step can take long when there are many materials
7. It saves the prefab as <name>_MingToon.prefab

The wizard does not bake mesh channels (UV4, UV7, UV8). If you need them, do it under Outline, face and height setup on the Manager Look tab. → Mesh UV Bakes

3. MLC (only when installed)

Ming Light Controller (MLC) is a separate product. When it is installed, this step appears and asks whether to add a menu for changing lighting in game to the copy. When it is not installed, there is no such step and you go straight to the done screen.

The card title is Control lighting in game? When MLC 0.1.2's auto-fit is used, the screen looks like this. Every number is computed by MLC; the wizard estimates nothing.

State	Screen	Button
The copy has no MLC	Adds a lighting menu to the copy, chosen to fit the parameter space left. and below it Used by the avatar X / Y bits, Lighting menu +N bits · Total A / B bits, Entries a / b, and the number of features left out to fit	Add lighting menu
The copy already has MLC	This avatar already has Ming Light Controller. The copy keeps its settings.	Finish setup
The existing settings do not fit	A notice appears under the sentence above	Fit to the space now (MLC fits it itself) or Finish setup

• Later skips MLC and goes to the done screen
• While it reads usage, Checking parameter usage… is shown. Recalculate under Recheck budget / Details measures again
• If even the smallest menu does not fit, it tells you how much to free. Example: Even the smallest lighting menu does not fit. Free N bits of avatar parameters to add it.
• If the avatar's parameter usage cannot be read, it is not treated as safe and nothing is added. The avatar's parameter usage could not be read, so nothing is added. Check its Expression Parameters.
• If the original has MLC settings, their lighting material groups are moved to the copy's new materials. If that fails it is not a failure; it stays as a warning on the done screen
• The MLC settings you add are saved only in the copy prefab. Nothing is written to the original

If an earlier MLC without auto-fit is installed, this card shows a preset list (Keep current settings · Everyday lighting · Save parameter space · Photo capture · Switch effects on/off). Each row shows the total after adding it on the right, and rows that do not fit are greyed out as Does not fit. The recommended row gets · Recommended.

MLC itself is covered in Ming Light Controller.

4. Done

The title is Your MingToon copy is ready.

• It shows the copy placed in the scene, Converted slots: N, and the prefab path. If you went through the MLC step it also shows MLC · Fitted to the space left or MLC · Keep current settings
• If some items need review, Some items need review. Open the conversion details below. appears. Expand Conversion details to see the report. How to read it is in Reading the Conversion Report
• Press Open Manager and the wizard closes and the copy's MingToon Manager is selected. Continue fine-tuning the look on the Look tab

What happens in the scene afterwards

The original is	The copy is placed	The original
An object in a scene	Right after the original among its siblings. Same parent, same position, rotation, and scale	Switched off
A prefab in the Project window	The currently open scene. It uses the original prefab root's position, rotation, and scale	Unchanged
An object inside a prefab editing view	An open regular scene, not the editing view	Unchanged

• Placing the copy and switching off the original are undone together in one Undo. The Undo entry is named Place MingToon copy
• The folder, prefab, and material files that were created are not removed by Undo. Delete them yourself if you do not use them
• The scene is not saved. It is only marked changed, so save it after you check
• If no regular scene is open, There is no regular scene for the copy. Open a scene and finish setup again. appears. The copy prefab already exists, so open a scene and finish again

What the copy and the original share

Item	In the copy
Materials	All copied as new files. Later edits never touch the original materials
Mesh, texture, and animation assets	Not copied; the original assets are referenced as they are
Components such as Animator and VRC Avatar Descriptor	Duplicated onto the copy object as they are
Prefab connection	Broken; saved as an independent prefab. Later changes to the original prefab do not follow

When it fails

The original stays unchanged in every case. If it fails before the copy prefab is saved, only the new folder made this time is deleted. A failure after the save (such as placing it in the scene) keeps the copy. A red notice appears at the top of the wizard. The table below lists the sentences shown on screen.

Message	Meaning and action
A copy cannot be made in Play Mode. Stop Play Mode and try again.	End Play Mode. During Play the notice A copy cannot be made during Play Mode. Stop Play Mode to continue. also appears
The materials changed. Review the refreshed list before creating the copy.	Materials or Renderers changed while the wizard was open. Check the newly read list and press again
No supported materials were found. Check the target object.	The wrong target was picked. Choose the target in step 1
Choose a face mesh from this avatar. · Choose a body mesh from this avatar.	The picked mesh is outside this target. Pick a mesh under the target again
Could not create the copy folder. Check that the folder is writable.	The original's folder is not writable. Check the write permission
Conversion failed. The original is unchanged. See the Console for the reason.	Conversion failed. Read the reason in the Console first
The original has a missing script, so the new prefab could not be saved. Remove the missing script from the original and try again. The original is unchanged.	Remove or relink the Missing Script on the original, then start over
Could not save the new prefab. Check that the folder is writable.	Check the folder's write permission
Could not place the copy in the scene. The original is unchanged.	The copy prefab remains. Check the scene state and finish again
The step did not finish. The original is unchanged. See the Console for details.	Any other exception. Check the exception type and message in the Console
The operation was interrupted. Check the created files before restarting.	A script reload happened while it was running. Check the folder that was created and start again
This object already has an open setup wizard.	Finish or close that target's wizard first

Cases that stay only as warnings:

• If the lighting material groups cannot be moved to the copy, Lighting material groups could not follow the copy. Check the material groups on the copy's lighting component. is added to the report as [MLC] and the done screen shows a warning. The copy is still made
• lossy and unsupported items in the conversion result are gathered into the same warning

When you select a prefab with a Missing Script in the Project window, the wizard appears below the importer header in the Inspector.

Limits to know

• This page was written from the code, and the screen order and sentences above are the actual strings in the source. Screen captures are not included yet
• The wizard does no mesh channel bake and no upload preparation. Pre-upload checks are done in Manager and on VRChat
• The copy duplicates the original's components as they are. How the VRChat SDK treats a duplicated Avatar Descriptor and Blueprint ID is outside what this page has checked. Check the target avatar yourself in the SDK Builder window before uploading
• A new folder and prefab are created each time you run the wizard again. Earlier results are not deleted
• A screen in progress carries on after a script reload, but if a copy was running at that moment, The operation was interrupted. above appears

More detail

MingToon Manager · lilToon Material Conversion · Reading the Conversion Report · Troubleshooting