"Big Drum" created 2011 by nomuse All of this product's content was created by nomuse Description: A highly-detailed and fully pose-able model of a drum kit, consisting of bass drum, toms, snare, cymbals, and drummer's throne, appropriate for a variety of music-oriented renders and capable of both extreme close-ups and full animation. System Requirements: Built in Poser 6 on a Mac and tested on PC. As some of the textures included make use of Poser's advanced material nodes, textures are not guaranteed to render properly in DAZStudio. Required Secondary Products: A sense of rhythm (just kidding!) Installation: Extract the zip file to a designated Runtime folder. Us Mac people have to extract to desktop to keep from destroying our own runtimes, but you should be familiar with that by now. The file structure uses sub-folders, sharing the outer "Princess" folder with my previous (and hopefully future) related creations. See below for file structure details. Basic Use: There are complete drum kits in the Big_Drum_Sets folder; completely set up, posed and textured. They can be dropped into a scene and dragged around by the bass (to which everything else is parented). Each free-standing drum or other element in these sets iis a separate figure and can be moved, re-posed, swapped out or deleted freely. The same figures are available individually from the Characters folder and can assembled into a custom kit of your own devising. All posing dials are consolidated into the BODY, as well as master dials for the morphs, allowing easy posing without having to click on different body parts. Several drum wrap options are available as MAT-poses in the Pose folder. There are also poses that will allow you to alternate between "used" and "new" textures for drum heads, cymbals, and the chrome fittings. In addition basic poses are provided for DAZ's Victoria 4, which can be freely used as the basis for new poses. A basic hand pose and a pair of smart-propped drum sticks are also provided in the appropriate folders. The Geeky Stuff: There are other drums out there. I made this one so I could have complete control over the setup and adjustment, so I could make extreme close-up renders, so I could swap out textures easily to change the wraps or stick a nice band logo on the kick, and so I could animate it if I chose. This is a heavy, "hero" model, not a background prop. The complete 5-piece kit weighs in at 130,256 polygons, which is the equivalent of two naked Victoria 4's. It is based on the beat-up touring kit of a friend. This original was very much a 1980's low-end kit, with the distinctive "asian" hardware, the deep toms, and a big 80's kick. This isn't some Heavy Metal set with double kick, a circle of toms, and cymbals like a field of sunflowers. I didn't care to make one drum and re-scale it ten times; instead, each tom and each cymbal is individually modeled. So, sure, you could put a snazzy wrap on it and shine it up but it will still look out of place in an high-end recording studio. And you could duplicate the toms and proliferate the cymbals but it still won't make for good stadium rock. What this is, then, is a working kit; the kind of kit you'll see in clubs and small bands and theater pits and schoolrooms and garage bands. It will clean up enough for Monterey. (Add a set of timbales and you'll be all set!) The five-piece set assembled for you in the Big_Drums_Sets folder is your basic rock kit; 2 up, one down. 22" kick with strap-drive pedal, 12" and 13" hanging toms, a 16" x 16" floor tom on spikes, hihat with chain drive pedal, 16" crash to the left on boom stand and 20" ride on straight stand over the floor tom, steel-shell snare (based on an old Adams) and of course a "bicycle seat" style throne to sit on. The four-piece is a small jazz kit; 1 up and 1 down. The 20" ride was remounted where the 13" tom was, the 16" floor tom swapped out for a 14" on a cymbal-type stand, and a wood-shell snare replaces the Adams. Everything else is the same. The punk set is your basic starter set (two hanging toms and no floor tom) after it has been kicked around for a while. Instead of proper cymbals you get a crash-ride (which as we all know crashes well for a ride, or rides well for a crash). The bottom heads are removed on the toms for a less resonant sound, and the whole thing is textured with scratched chrome, tarnished cymbals and mildewed shells. For extra street cred leave the hihat home and substitute a three-legged stool for the throne. So. All the normal motions of the hardware are consolidated into master dials in the BODY of each item. These dials include some tricky master dials for doing things like closing the hi-hat, folding up the legs on a cymbal stand, slacking the snares on the snare, or tilting the floor tom on its legs. The only caveat to all this is that BODY channels do not save into a pz2; either adjust the matching dials in the individual actors, or save as cr2 or pz3. By some careful tweaking of the other dials (hidden in most of the items) you can adapt the hardware in ways other than the original design or add even more movement to an animation. I've left translate and scale dials exposed in several of the extension tubes, for instance. In addition to realistic morphs that "dint" the heads a little on a stick strike (dead center only...what, you think I'm crazy?) there is an additional set of non-realistic morphs. Applied sparingly, they will make a a realistic animation more lively. Or you can run them all the way up to "Animusic" level. The textures extensively leverage nodes. The chrome, cymbals and wrap all make use of a reflection map: I've provided two reflection maps, the "exterior_REFLECTION.jpg" is loaded into the textures by default and represents an outdoor stage under an awning. Included in the folder is "interior_REFLECTION.jpg" which is a darker setting with just stage lights visible. If you have a distinctive scene; say a woods, or a music store, just save the default texture somewhere safe and rename your new map to replace it. The use of nodes means you can re-scale or omit the logos, among other things. Just for the truly geeky, these are "Chuin" heads (aka Remo -- and if you get that joke you are a serious nerd), and "Vrill" cymbals (all the good cymbals are from the near east and the cymbal manufacturers do go on about their secret alloys, don't they?) And of course "Coral" (nee Pearl) pedals, but that isn't clever at all. Several of the wrap textures are entirely procedural, meaning the values can be tweaked. Changing the base color is even simpler. This also means, unfortunately, that the textures will never display correctly in preview mode, and may not render at all in DAZStudio. To achieve a semblance of the "3d" look of modern drum wraps I had to create textures that react strongly to light sources. What we are mimicking here is an anisotropic surface under a glossy outer coat. The normal specular node is being hijacked for these highlights that can appear at some distance from the direct axis of a reflection; outside of these highlights, many of the wraps will appear quite dark. The outer gloss coat is simulated with reflection map (strongest on the sides away from the camera) and a special "glossy" specular node on top of the specular behavior. In some cases, then, highlights will blow out completely, arriving at and passing full white. If your highlights are blowing out so much that the drums are losing all their color or otherwise not working for your scene, you may indeed have to adjust your lights...or the textures. As a reference point, all my tests, thumbs, and many of my promos were done with a very basic lighting setup of one IBL light (using the reflection map as a texture) and one distant light, pure white, at about 70% and a fairly low angle to show off the specular highlights. That lighting setup is included in the "Light" folder. Files List: Runtime Documents Princess Big_Drum readMe.txt license.txt Templates cymbals.jpg heads.jpg shells01.jpg shells02.jpg kick_face.jpg Geometries Princess Big_Drum 14_floor_tom.obj 14_hihat.obj 14_steel_snare.obj 14_wood_snare.obj 15_crash_ride.obj 16_crash_cymbal.obj 20_ride_cymbal.obj 22_bass_1up.obj 22_bass_2up.obj kick_pedal.obj stick_5A.obj throne.obj libraries character Princess Big_Drum 14_floor_tom.cr2 14_floor_tom.png 14_hihat.cr2 14_hihat.png 14_steel_snare.cr2 14_steel_snare.png 14_wood_snare.cr2 14_wood_snare.png 15_crash_ride.cr2 15_crash_ride.png 16_crash_cymbal.cr2 16_crash_cymbal.png 16_floor_tom.cr2 16_floor_tom.png 20_ride_cymbal.cr2 20_ride_cymbal.png 22_bass_1up.cr2 22_bass_1up.png 22_bass_2up.cr2 22_bass_2up.png kick_pedal.cr2 kick_pedal.png throne.cr2 throne.png Big_Drum_Sets punk_set.cr2 punk_set.png jazz_set.cr2 jazz_set.png rock_set.cr2 rock_set.png Hand Princess Big_Drum M3_matched.hd2 M3_matched.png V4_matched.hd2 V4_matched.png Light Princess Big_Drum IBL_EXT.lt2 IBL_EXT.png Pose Princess Big_Drum Figure_Poses M3_cross_stick.pz2 M3_cross_stick.png V4_crash.pz2 V4_crash.png V4_cross_stick.pz2 V4_cross_stick.png V4_floor_tom.pz2 V4_floor_tom.png V4_snare_roll.pz2 V4_snare_roll.png MAT_poses aqua_ripple.pz2 aqua_ripple.png black_silk.pz2 black_silk.png blue_sparkle.pz2 blue_sparkle.png blue_twist.pz2 blue_twist.png champagne.pz2 champagne.png clean_wood.pz2 clean_wood.png cymbals_new.pz2 cymbals_new.png cymbals_used.pz2 cymbals_used.png gloss_black.pz2 gloss_black.png gloss_white.pz2 gloss_white.png gold_sparkle.pz2 gold_sparkle.png heads_new.pz2 heads_new.png heads_used.pz2 heads_used.png orange_twist.pz2 orange_twist.png red_sparkle.pz2 red_sparkle.png white_silk.pz2 white_silk.png Props Princess Big_Drum L_stick_M3.pp2 L_stick_M3.png R_stick_M3.pp2 R_stick_M3.png L_stick_V4.pp2 L_stick_V4.png R_stick_V4.pp2 R_stick_V4.png stick_5A.pp2 stick_5A.png textures Princess Big_Drum chrome_scratch_SPEC.jpg cymbal_BUMP.jpg cymbal_clean_COLOR.jpg cymbal_dents_BUMP.jpg cymbal_grunge_COLOR.jpg cymbal_logo.jpg cymbal_used_COLOR.jpg exterior_REFLECTION.jpg grunge_shells_BUMP.jpg grunge_shells_COLOR.jpg grunge_shells_DIFF.jpg grunge_shells_SPEC.jpg head_BUMP.jpg head_clean_COLOR.jpg head_logo.jpg head_used_COLOR.jpg interior_REFLECTION.jpg kick_pedal_BUMP.jpg knurl_BUMP.jpg leather_BUMP.jpg ridges_BUMP.jpg satin_SPEC.jpg snares_DISPLACE.jpg snares_TRANS.jpg stick_5A_COLOR.jpg throne_used_COLOR.jpg twist_SPEC.color wood_COLOR.jpg Morphs and ERC Masters: Bass adjust position of hanging toms/cymbal hit (bass and toms) cartoon hit (bass and toms) vibrate (ride cymbal only) sound hole in front head can be hidden bottom heads can be removed on toms Kick Pedal kick cycle (single ERC dial moves pedal, strap, spring, etc.) cartoon impact morph on beater head Snare adjust position, including rotating snare drum within basket slack snares with throw-off (single ERC dial) sizzle morph on snares legs fold for ease in posing hit morph cartoon hit morph Floor Tom adjust position on 16"; single ERC dial to tilt the tom on its legs on 14"; single ERC dial to fold legs hit cartoon hit Hihat adjust height, angle of lower cymbal, distance between cymbals single ERC dial to pedal closed (operates pedal, chain links, clutch) fold legs in for easier posing vibrate morphs Cymbals adjust position fold legs vibrate Throne Rotate, raise, fold legs