La Dolce Vita Grand Piano questions
kyoto kid
Posts: 40,575
...has anyone purchased this yet?
From the promos it appears to be a rather accurate model of concert length grand piano that could well fit my needs. The keyboard is correct (full 88 note compass starting at Sub Contra A with the proper layout of the sharp/flat keys).
My two concerns are how the interior and keyboard/pedals are modelled.
As the description mentions that the lid can be raised, so does it include the traditional cast iron plate (frame or "harp" as it is sometimes called), dampers, soundboard, and strings inside? This is important as for concert scenes the lid is usually open with interior visible.
Second are the Keyboard an Pedal trap large singular meshes or are the keys (and pedals) are individually modelled (like in Ness' harpsichord)? If so I can take it into a modeller to rig them there if need be.
This would save me a fortune over the only other authentic looking Concert Grand Piano model I have seen is on Turbosquid, is fairly expensive, and not in Daz/Poser format.
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I just bought and installed this so I will try and grab a few shots for you.
Here's a snapshot of the piano.........the only moving part is named top cover and is just a solid surface under it. I removed color so could see "inside" sadly there is nothing to see!
...thank you.
Looks like I'll have to keep waiting as for my story there are scenes that take place on recital and concert stages where the lid open (normal thing for piano concerts) and the frame/strings would be very visible. Really not thrilled about having to drop 125$ on an untextured .obj.
I really wish Ness would come out with one.
Oh looks like the score support and keyboard cover also open and close. I did try to export the piano obj in hopes it could be UV mapped but no luck......it's probably just me not knowing what to do with pp2 files. Maybe I'll go have a look in geometries folder. I did find a nice piano image showing full interior in fairly good resolution so if you can figure out how to get an obj out of Daz you may be able to fake it with a texture map and a transmapped primitive set at an angle to mimic the lid.
...the thought crossed my mind however it would look a bit strange at different angles other than straight down as it would be flush with the rim of the case rather than sunken in.
I still might get it as it would do OK for straight side views and close ups at the keyboard. So is the keyboard just one single mesh or are the keys separately modelled?
Another option would be the old Ballroom Expansion set — the piano included is just a prop, nothing moves, and I don't know how accurate it is but it does have an interior. There's a gussied-up baroque-style expansion to the expansion as well, but it looks a bit garish to me...
Just in case:
This set contains also a Grand piano with posable keys and pedals.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/musical-instruments/90725#
...I have The Ballroom (had the set for quite a while and use it for some scenes at the Grande Estate) The piano is a nice parlour grand (and also used in a couple scenes) but not the type found on the stage in a venue like the Royal Albert Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, or Salle Gaveau in Paris.
I've seen the Musical Instrument bundle both in the link and the one here here in the Daz store, as well as have the Ready Piano set from Rendo but unfortunately the proportions of the grand Piano in all these are not accurate (though Ready Piano does include a nice vertical and electric piano).
Granted, it is difficult when one has spent years studying the instrument form both a performance and design/construction aspect. I would have no issue paying even a "Stonemason" price for a properly detailed authentic looking model of a full sized concert grand similar to a Steinway Model D or Bösendorfer Model 290 Imperial (both which are common in Europe where my story takes place).
125$ for an untextured & unrigged .obj at TS, that's too much.
Depending one how it's built, it should be possible to select the polygons of the top surface, bevel them in a bit to create a rim, then down to create a recess for the image of the inner workings - you'd need to be careful in your choice of modeller, so as not to destroy the existing UV mapping, and you'd need to map the new geometry (probably a simply cylinder map of the vertical sides, and a planar map of the base for the image of the works).
A google search yielded some very nice straight on images of piano interiors like this one.
http://www.coachhousepianos.co.uk/catalog/product/gallery/image/111/id/56/
When trying to use UVMapper to get a texture map for the piano I get an out of bounds message, no idea what that means or how to fix it......oh well like I said I'm no expert in texturing and mapping, best of luck in finding a suitable product for your project!
Depending one how it's built, it should be possible to select the polygons of the top surface, bevel them in a bit to create a rim, then down to create a recess for the image of the inner workings - you'd need to be careful in your choice of modeller, so as not to destroy the existing UV mapping, and you'd need to map the new geometry (probably a simply cylinder map of the vertical sides, and a planar map of the base for the image of the works).
...my modelling skill is pretty much nonexistent at this point. Until I get more confident with Blender I have no way to do UV mapping as the free UV Mapper app crams everything together on one viewport often overlaying parts the template sections on top of each other which makes it hard to select a certain portion of the UV map.
...here's an end on view from an old WIP I did for a book cover challenge (that was never finished) using Ness' Harpsichord. This would not look right with a simple 2D map for the interior.
So the one in The Mansion - Music Room is too archaic for you?
http://www.daz3d.com/the-mansion-music-room
It has movable keys and a fully modeled interior. I'm not sure if the scale is the same as a modern grand piano. It would be easy enough to change the texture, though.
Hi Kyoto
Is this any good for you
http://archive3d.net/?a=download&id=73dba7ba
I haven't downloaded it but I remembered your search when I saw it.
There seem to be a few in that category
http://archive3d.net/?category=227
...don't have the MAnsion Music room at mearly 40$ a bot out of my budget. The piano in this collection is actually very nice (too bad it wasn't released on its own) but again would be suitable for the estate's music room where character's mother has quite a collection of old instruments (including a Willis Residence pipe organ and the Broadwood piano that Chopin performed on for his UK concerts).
@ The ones at Archive 3D
most are again the smaller parlour type grands save for one which has a brown case (easy to retexture) proper keyboard, and the interior frame/strings. When I clicked on download though I got a page that was a total mess of unrecognisable symbols and not the standard "Open/Save To" pop up.
When I looked at the information page again all models there are in .3ds/.gsm (the latter which I never heard of before) which will not work in Daz or Poser. Pity, that was the first really nice free one I've seen that would work.
If it's literally .3ds, and not .max, all you should need to do is open it in a modeller and then save as OBJ.
Edit: if you are looking at the one I think you are, it's in .rar format instead of .zip - grab the free 7Zip and you should be able to download and open the file, at the moment I suspect you don't have an archiver that can handle .rar and it's probably treating it as a text file instead.
I've had that problem before on a couple of download sites. I think it's something to do with the site not being set up properly to transmit the file type, so your browser doesn't know what to do with the file it's getting and assumes it's text. Easy workaround: just right-click and use "Save Link As..." or whatever equivalent your browser uses.
Only gotcha: I'm not sure if this will work if the download button uses a javascript to grab the right file and toss it at you. On the gripping hand, I don't think many places still use that trick any more.
...already have 7Zip as a lot of freebie WWII aircraft and cars I have are .rar zips.
So all I need to do is take it into Blender save it as a .obj and that's it (well probably also have to re rig the moving parts again)? I thought I had to use stuff like Poseray & such to work with models in .3ds format (or is that .max?) I do know that Bryce and Carrara can import .lwo because I've done that before.
I use poseray for anything I've downloaded from that site, and I've never had any problems downloading anything in Firefox/Waterfox on WinXP and 7, so I'm notnsure about that. Hope it is something that you can use
...OK the icky page was definitely due to my former (yes former) bad connection. Got my new cable modem working and initialised, went to the site again clicked on the download link and pow! the download popup appeared and three (yes three) seconds later I have it.
lots of pianos on Google Sketchup too btw
downloaded his one
My Carrara retexture and render a bit sucky though
I added some strings
I've often used Bryce to convert 3ds files.
Just an import in/export out ... and well, it would need a little work but the keys look nice.