With a number of presentations coming up, I wanted the ability to remotely trigger my presentation slides. A quick search on eBay revealed similar remote devices at varying prices, mostly from overseas. I ordered one, but while waiting for it to show up, hubby suggested that I look into using the Wiimote as “it’s just so much cooler”.
We tried a few things…and found a solution that works.
Here’s what you’ll need to get your Wiimote to work with Powerpoint in Windows Vista:
- A Wiimote
- GlovePIE version .22 or higher
- A Bluetooth enabled PC - the standard Microsoft Windows Bluetooth stack isn’t completely compatible with the Wiimote. I ended up downloading and using BlueSoleil.
- DirectX 8.0 or higher
Once you install GlovePIE, you’ll need to set up a GLovePIE script to enable the Wiimote to function in Powerpoint. Here’s the script I’m using at the moment (just save it as a .PIE file somewhere easily accessible). As you can see, it’s really basic. I haven’t had time to play around, but there’s a lot more cool stuff you can do!
Mouse.LeftButton = Wiimote.A
Mouse.RightButton = Wiimote.B
PageUp = Wiimote.Minus
PageDown = Wiimote.Plus
up = Wiimote.Up
down = Wiimote.Down
left = Wiimote.Left
right = Wiimote.Right
At present, the Wiimote mimics the page up and page down function and up/down/left/right arrow keys.
If you want more information, check out:
7 comments ↓
Heh. A friend of mine wrote his own driver for the Wiimote, and plays quake with it.
@Philip - that’s cool! I wonder if he’s finding it easier to use than the standard mouse/keyboard controls.
And here I went and bought a new Targus wireless presenter with voice recording capability and laser pointer when I could have just used my cool Wii remote instead!
*boggle*
M :)
[…] Update 18 April 2008: You may find that your bluetooth device does not work very well. If that’s the case, download the Bluetooth Monitor for Windows Vista. You may also want to download the BlueSoleil bluetooth stack, especially if you are going to use your wiimote with powerpoint. […]
What is the Wii motes pair code? I am having trouble pairing it with my machine.
It has no pair code, you shouldn’t need to pair it.
//——————————————————————————-
// WiiMouseDpad.PIE
//
// Developer: Winko Erades van den Berg
// E-mail : winko@winko-erades.nl
// Developed: 11 February 2010
// Modified: 11 February 2010
// Version: 1.0
//
// Description: Use the WiiMote as a mouse and navigate through Dpad
// : Home is presentation mode, + is PageDown, - is PageUp
// : Button A and Home is exiting presentation mode
//——————————————————————————-
mouse.DirectInputX = mouse.DirectInputX - 15*deadzone(wiimote.Left)
mouse.DirectInputX = mouse.DirectInputX + 15*deadzone(wiimote.Right)
mouse.DirectInputY = mouse.DirectInputY + 15*deadzone(wiimote.Down)
mouse.DirectInputY = mouse.DirectInputY - 15*deadzone(wiimote.up)
Mouse.LeftButton = Wiimote.A and not Wiimote.B
Mouse.RightButton = Wiimote.B and not Wiimote.A
Keyboard.Up = Wiimote.Minus and not Wiimote.Home
Keyboard.F5 = Wiimote.Home and not (Wiimote.Minus or Wiimote.Plus)
Keyboard.Esc = Wiimote.Home and Wiimote.A
Keyboard.Down = Wiimote.Plus and not Wiimote.Home
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