If music be the food of Second Life…

2007-03-16

play on!

I'm overjoyed — Suzanne Zeluco delivered a custom PIANOFABRIK CONCERT GRAND PIANO MODEL D (that's impassioned enthusiasm!) in my favorite watermelon colors. She made the wood grain green, reuploading replacement textures for where they simply couldn't be retinted (as there were other colors involved which had to be left untouched), and was soooo friendly when I asked her how to get it working. I gush over great customer service.

Suzanne Zeluco makes classy pianosPlaying a piano made by Suzanne Zeluco

This is a fantastic addition to my collection of pianos crafted by esteemed Residents of Second Life, including:

For more musical fun, check out the search results for "piano" on SL Exchange and SLBoutique. Make music, make merry!

Pianos in SL — the really fine ones — are hard to make because of the curves in the frame. I don't think getting the textures to align precisely is a realistic goal, but that doesn't discourage hardly souls from taking a shot at it. One drawback is when using that "jigsaw-style" method of adjacently placing prims (e.g., a square next to a cut cylinder wedge to create the bends 'round the back), when exposed to light, you get different illumination, making for what can appear to be an uneven surface. But it looks like the most we can make do with now, so I'll gladly consider pianos to be a challenging example of how to push the build tool limits, and point to Suzanne's Pianofabrik line of how well it's been done to date.

And then I went at it and modded my joie nouveau further, adding subtle directional grain texture to impart a greater personal sense of depth to this instrument. I've really been feeling in the mood for some virtuosity lately.

This piano, whose base white model I used for the cover of solo piano 2, has a variety of goodies, like:

  • Being able to animatedly close the lid, top, and put down the music stand (a must when I want to change from performance to display "mode)".
     
  • Both single and duet benches; I just had to tilt the bench slightly diagonally to reflect how I play a piano offline.
     
  • Apparently there are custom poses, I think I can sit on the top but I haven't tried it yet. (I always think of that hot number, "Fever", when it comes to being atop a piano.)

Exquisite and elegant! OK okay, finding myself inspired…

Playing the Piano 1 Playing the Piano 2 Playing the Piano 3 Playing the Piano 4

Future feature suggestion to benefit aspiring SLiberaces: an even prim-heavier version that has elevated prim keys instead of a flat texture. (As mentioned, I previously got that idea from Cottonteil Muromachi's piano.) Possible future project: figure out how to get my piano recordings into it to wholly make it mine!

*glissando*

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SZ Designs
2007-10-07 at 1:20 PM UTC

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Jazzman Jibilla 2007-10-23 at 12:14 AM UTC

Hey Torley…I'm a fan of your blog here and your tips of course…and would like to extend you an invitation to see my nearly completed 3 note piano action model at Aswang where it meets Belphegor (I can never remember the numbers) couple of big trees on the lawn, beside the church, uphill from the water and the condos. The only place with fairly large piano keys too.
I am a piano tech in the rl so it seemed to be my best bet as a first substantial build. What it needs is some scripting to make the mechanism work and simulate as closely as possibly a real piano action. If you had any suggestions in that direction they would be gratefully received.

Torley 2007-10-27 at 11:44 AM UTC

@Jazzman: Thanks for the heads-up, I like to see physical models within Second Life. I'll make a note of the location (note, hee hee!) but if you have a landmark to send me, that'd be even better. A long time ago, I know Oneironaut Escher made a giant piano with keys depressed when your avatar stepped on them. He's still around; perhaps you might want to ask him? I don't know who else is interested in this field.

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