HOME | DD

Description
This project started off as an experimental module for a larger set, but I took it a lot further and actually finished it. It incorporates a lot of nice easy to use animation features. Do note that it was initially designed for use by ~GM34 's PTX girls so the focus was on width rather than depth so it may be problematic with motions that make deep use of the front and back stage areas.

It is packed with goodies and features not seen (probably never seen before) on other stage models. The stage features the following:

- 50' long x 10' wide (width measurement excludes fold-down)
- slider controlled opening/closing doors
- slider controlled raising and lowering (the terrain model and safety barriers will automatically adjust to the stage's height)
- combo slider
- slider controlled user customizable animated billboards
- neon lighting colors can be changed (7 different colors)
- 15 band VMD Spectrum support
- safety barriers (can be hidden if not wanted)
- slider controlled working lever
- illustrated instructions plus animation notes

Special Credit
~GM34 for putting up with me
~larkal and ~xxSoulsealerxx for help and advice with the bone facials

Additional Notes
The set does come with motion data I used when developing the project but these should be viewed as samples only and were developed for use on an earlier version. But I've included them for anyone who wants to look at them. This version actually uses a different system for some of the animation but the old motion data still works.

The billboard reads "VOCALOID" and "IN CONCERT" and not the wording as shown in the demo video. You can customize these boards and I've included the original PSD file for that purpose.

The DOWNLOAD LINK: bowlroll.net/up/dl26361

The Demo Video is here: youtu.be/SmSi1oJmFEU

The demo does a decent job of showing some of the possibilities that this stage offers so I recommend that you watch it.

Reprinted below is the additional documentation that comes with the model. It will answer most of the questions likely to arise so please read this before posting questions.

MMD VOCALOID SYSTEMS MOBILE STAGE MODULES
DESIGN AND ANIMATION NOTES

Version 2.01
October 24, 2013
Trackdancer.deviantart.com
_________________________________________________

(1) Stage Origin

The stage origin is set at 0x, 0y, 0z. This is the global origin and is common to the mother bone of all MMD models. However, this is also the fold point for the front door. Because of this, when planning to fold down/up the door it will be necessary to relocate either the stage or the performing model or the door will cut through the performer in the up position. Either move the stage forward or the performer back using their respective mother bone. You can also adjust the motion to prevent this (which was the original intention behind the design).

If the door is permanently in the open position, there is no issue.

(2) Stage Depth

The stage only has a depth of about 10 feet behind the origin, slightly more to the front. The design was originally intended for GM34's PTX Girls troupe where the width of the stage is more important than the depth. As such, there will be issues with motions that require usage of the front and back stage areas. With motions focused on the center stage there are no issues other than (1) noted above.

(3) Locating Terrain Models.

Position the terrain model that is being used with the stage along its x and z coordinates first. If the terrain is flat, it will be at the same level as the top of the stage and the grid. Once it is positioned, simply assign the terrain model to the TERRAIN bone and it will automatically be at the correct height. The sliders controlling the struts are designed to maintain this relationship so the terrain model and front safety barriers will always be at the correct height relative to the stage floor.

If the terrain is not flat, then manual adjustments will be necessary. Provisions are made to hide the safety barriers if these become problematic or they are unwanted.

Do note that this method works a lot easier with MMD 8.03. With MMD 7.39, you might have to resort to using dummy bones instead of the TERRAIN bone.

Attaching a skydome to the SKYDOME bone allows that to be rotated.

(4) Lever animation

Works best using around 50-100 frames. Do note that if you're using the area outside the stage floor, that level is below the ground plane which means you need to turn off floor physics and the shadow display.

Note also that the dance floor and front door has built-in collision physics which can be useful if you actually want to raise the stage rather than to lower the terrain.

(5) Door opening / closing animation

Recommend using 500-1000 frames to open or close the doors. Any faster than 500 frames and it doesn't look graceful. Do note that you can manually animate the door opening and closing sequences instead of using the sliders (just don't mix the two).

Also be careful when using both the OPEN/CLOSE and COMBO sliders as these have independent control over the bones (and can cause the doors to move in the wrong direction if incorrectly combined).

The COMBO slider is designed to raise the stage at the same rate as the opening of the doors (and vice versa). If you do not want the stage to rise at the same rate as the door opening rate, don't use this slider but the UP/DOWN and OPEN/CLOSE sliders instead.

You can actually use the COMBO slider to raise and lower the stage at the beginning of a performance and leave the stage in its raised position whilst closing the door using the OPEN/CLOSE slider. Just lock the positions of the sliders in the desired states at the appropriate frame(s).

(6) Animating the billboard

The billboard slider just alternates between two images. It is designed for ON/OFF usage. ie. transitions from one to another in a single frame.
Gradual transitions do not look good.

The billboards can be customized simply by changing their texture maps. These are:

banner-1.png
banner-2.png

(7) Animating the neon lights

There are 7 colors to choose from all controlled by sliders and the colors can be mixed but be careful as the system uses RGB values meaning that some color combinations will lead to black.

Suggested animation method if you wish to transition from one color to another is to transition between complimentary colors. ie. don't mix reds and greens.

It also helps to transition or set back to white before changing to the next color if you want strong vibrant colors. So for example when switching the neon colors from red to blue, at the frame of transition, reset the red neon to the off position (white) and set the blue neon on. Notice that when the base color is white, you can get more pastel shades. If darker colors are desired, you need to mix the light colors accordingly. Any combination that leads to black will darken the colors. Complimentary colors leads to other bright shades.

(8) Using Auto-Luminous instead of Object Luminous for the lights

Please edit the materials for the lights yourself accordingly.

(9) Stacked Bones

The mother, center and lower flap bone are stacked. To select the one keep clicking till you get the one you want or the easier way is to select the one you want from the Frames display.

IA (C) The 1st Place Co., Ltd.
VOCALOID SYSTEMS is a fictitious corporation that I created to flagship some of my MMD models.
Version 2.01 Oct 2013

Description
This project started off as an experimental module for a larger set, but I took it a lot further and actually finished it. It incorporates a lot of nice easy to use animation features. Do note that it was initially designed for use by ~GM34 's PTX girls so the focus was on width rather than depth so it may be problematic with motions that make deep use of the front and back stage areas.

It is packed with goodies and features not seen (probably never seen before) on other stage models. The stage features the following:

- 50' long x 10' wide (width measurement excludes fold-down)
- slider controlled opening/closing doors
- slider controlled raising and lowering (the terrain model and safety barriers will automatically adjust to the stage's height)
- combo slider
- slider controlled user customizable animated billboards
- neon lighting colors can be changed (7 different colors)
- 15 band VMD Spectrum support
- safety barriers (can be hidden if not wanted)
- slider controlled working lever
- illustrated instructions plus animation notes

Special Credit
~GM34 for putting up with me
~larkal and ~xxSoulsealerxx for help and advice with the bone facials

Additional Notes
The set does come with motion data I used when developing the project but these should be viewed as samples only and were developed for use on an earlier version. But I've included them for anyone who wants to look at them. This version actually uses a different system for some of the animation but the old motion data still works.

The billboard reads "VOCALOID" and "IN CONCERT" and not the wording as shown in the demo video. You can customize these boards and I've included the original PSD file for that purpose.

The DOWNLOAD LINK: bowlroll.net/up/dl26361

The Demo Video is here: youtu.be/SmSi1oJmFEU

The demo does a decent job of showing some of the possibilities that this stage offers so I recommend that you watch it.

Reprinted below is the additional documentation that comes with the model. It will answer most of the questions likely to arise so please read this before posting questions.

MMD VOCALOID SYSTEMS MOBILE STAGE MODULES
DESIGN AND ANIMATION NOTES

Version 2.01
October 24, 2013
Trackdancer.deviantart.com
_________________________________________________

(1) Stage Origin

The stage origin is set at 0x, 0y, 0z. This is the global origin and is common to the mother bone of all MMD models. However, this is also the fold point for the front door. Because of this, when planning to fold down/up the door it will be necessary to relocate either the stage or the performing model or the door will cut through the performer in the up position. Either move the stage forward or the performer back using their respective mother bone. You can also adjust the motion to prevent this (which was the original intention behind the design).

If the door is permanently in the open position, there is no issue.

(2) Stage Depth

The stage only has a depth of about 10 feet behind the origin, slightly more to the front. The design was originally intended for GM34's PTX Girls troupe where the width of the stage is more important than the depth. As such, there will be issues with motions that require usage of the front and back stage areas. With motions focused on the center stage there are no issues other than (1) noted above.

(3) Locating Terrain Models.

Position the terrain model that is being used with the stage along its x and z coordinates first. If the terrain is flat, it will be at the same level as the top of the stage and the grid. Once it is positioned, simply assign the terrain model to the TERRAIN bone and it will automatically be at the correct height. The sliders controlling the struts are designed to maintain this relationship so the terrain model and front safety barriers will always be at the correct height relative to the stage floor.

If the terrain is not flat, then manual adjustments will be necessary. Provisions are made to hide the safety barriers if these become problematic or they are unwanted.

Do note that this method works a lot easier with MMD 8.03. With MMD 7.39, you might have to resort to using dummy bones instead of the TERRAIN bone.

Attaching a skydome to the SKYDOME bone allows that to be rotated.

(4) Lever animation

Works best using around 50-100 frames. Do note that if you're using the area outside the stage floor, that level is below the ground plane which means you need to turn off floor physics and the shadow display.

Note also that the dance floor and front door has built-in collision physics which can be useful if you actually want to raise the stage rather than to lower the terrain.

(5) Door opening / closing animation

Recommend using 500-1000 frames to open or close the doors. Any faster than 500 frames and it doesn't look graceful. Do note that you can manually animate the door opening and closing sequences instead of using the sliders (just don't mix the two).

Also be careful when using both the OPEN/CLOSE and COMBO sliders as these have independent control over the bones (and can cause the doors to move in the wrong direction if incorrectly combined).

The COMBO slider is designed to raise the stage at the same rate as the opening of the doors (and vice versa). If you do not want the stage to rise at the same rate as the door opening rate, don't use this slider but the UP/DOWN and OPEN/CLOSE sliders instead.

You can actually use the COMBO slider to raise and lower the stage at the beginning of a performance and leave the stage in its raised position whilst closing the door using the OPEN/CLOSE slider. Just lock the positions of the sliders in the desired states at the appropriate frame(s).

(6) Animating the billboard

The billboard slider just alternates between two images. It is designed for ON/OFF usage. ie. transitions from one to another in a single frame.
Gradual transitions do not look good.

The billboards can be customized simply by changing their texture maps. These are:

banner-1.png
banner-2.png

(7) Animating the neon lights

There are 7 colors to choose from all controlled by sliders and the colors can be mixed but be careful as the system uses RGB values meaning that some color combinations will lead to black.

Suggested animation method if you wish to transition from one color to another is to transition between complimentary colors. ie. don't mix reds and greens.

It also helps to transition or set back to white before changing to the next color if you want strong vibrant colors. So for example when switching the neon colors from red to blue, at the frame of transition, reset the red neon to the off position (white) and set the blue neon on. Notice that when the base color is white, you can get more pastel shades. If darker colors are desired, you need to mix the light colors accordingly. Any combination that leads to black will darken the colors. Complimentary colors leads to other bright shades.

(8) Using Auto-Luminous instead of Object Luminous for the lights

Please edit the materials for the lights yourself accordingly.

(9) Stacked Bones

The mother, center and lower flap bone are stacked. To select the one keep clicking till you get the one you want or the easier way is to select the one you want from the Frames display.

IA (C) The 1st Place Co., Ltd.
VOCALOID SYSTEMS is a fictitious corporation that I created to flagship some of my MMD models.
Version 2.01 Oct 2013