Collab 2020: Modeling Heavy Equipment (Backhoe)

Collaborations
Kent Trammell

Accomplishing a BIG project TOGETHER

Starting in March 2020, I began a large stream project to model a comprehensive, highly-detailed Caterpillar 434E backhoe. Please watch the first stream (first 3 minutes of abridged version at least) for an overview.

It's a straight-forward project of building a complex model over an extended period of time. The spin on the project is that I want your help to accomplish it! If I build some parts and you build some parts, we will finish this thing much quicker. Plus the contribution format will include reviews, the potential of having your piece(s) assimilated into the final model. Not to mention large quantities of XP are at stake 🤑

NOTE: This is an involved project reserved for Citizen members.

Collaboration Details

The general idea is that I kickoff stages of the project via live stream, which is typically once per month. For the time in between streams, you choose a piece of the backhoe and apply what you learned from the stream to that piece. For example, the first stream covered initial block out. So between stream 1 and stream 2, your job is to pick a piece and block it out.

This is the repeating protocol for each Assignment Period (between-streams):

  1. Signing up for pieces of the model. I will be maintaining a Google Sheet to organize piece selection and grading. Following this URL will give you the ability to comment. The sheet is sectioned vertically and color-coordinated with a backhoe image. To sign up for a piece, right click on an empty cell below your desired piece section and click "Comment" (CTRL + ALT + M). Comment your name or username and I will fill it in officially as confirmation.

    Remember that it is OK for multiple people to model the same piece. But lets try to have at least one person assigned to each piece before doubling up.

    2. Project file structure. We're going to use Google Drive as a means to sync a single working directory among all contributors. See this thread about details and how to get set up.

    3. Submitting your piece for review. Exactly one week before the next stream is scheduled to be broadcast, your piece is due. In the "Attempt" cell of the spreadsheet, paste a download link to your .blend file via Dropbox, Google Drive, or equivalent hosting service. This will earn you at least 10 XP each week.

    4. Review. On stream I will review each submitted piece and decide which will be assimilated into the master model (in the case of multiple submissions of the same piece). The purpose of the review is to generate feedback for you work and advice for improvement.

    5. Assimilation. If your piece makes the cut and is assimilated into the master model, your name / username will be added to the object in Blender. You will go down in history as a definitive contributor to this epic backhoe model!

    Once the model is completely done, I plan to render a short demo reel showing off the model and crediting all contributors. It should be a rewarding conclusion to all the work we will do!

Assignment Prompts

I will reply to this thread after each stream with a [big] assignment post denoted by a  📣 emoji in the title. There I will clarify instructions about each Assignment Period.

Online Resources

Reference Images

Livestreams


This is THE thread

We will centralize our collaborative communication between the streams and this thread. Ask any and all questions pertaining to the Backhoe project here.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Crap dostovel I must have missed that. I just wanted the bevel modifier there "for now" because it makes it so easy to go in and change simple shapes. I can pick what I want to bevel and what I don't. I can always apply the bevel mod at any time and then it is just a subsurf.

    But you and @spikeyxxx are right. Maybe I just need more"holding edges.

    Haha I am feelig like ketre now. Like a noob amongst pros. Can I join your Team Karen?

  • spikeyxxx replied

    blanchsb 

    Maybe I just need more"holding edges.

    But holding edges at the right place!

    I will have a go at it tomorrow, if dostovel doesn't come up with the perfect solution before that;)

    I think trying to tweak this to get the result you want, is like trying to fix a broken vase with tape; it might look okay, but the structure will be awful.

    I'll just start from scratch (on this specific part) knowing what I(/you/we all) want as result!

    That will give cleaner topology and therefor cleaner  result.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Ha! Million Dollar Question. Where is the right place for the holding edges haha. Yeah. Complex yet simple shapes give me such a hard time. I spend way too long on them. Thanks guys for the assistance. If anything I am learning what not to do and what to do to get results I want.

  • adrian replied

    blanchsb If I understand correctly I think this is what yo are looking for.

    Added some edge loops and changed the settings on the Bevel Mod.

    Changed from percentage to offset at 0.1 and from weight to angle and adjust the angle until it looks good, ended up at 60d. 

    With this just need to keep an eye on the rest of the model, but usually its just a matter of adding edge loops or changing the angle of the face slightly by moving  edges by literally fractions.


  • adrian replied

    blanchsb or maybe this is what you meant after rereading:

    As you can see I added more edge loops to help define the shape of the cylindrical shape and scaled on the local x and y. same settings for the Bevel Mod as I suggested earlier, minus the other loops I added previously. It's all about the angles. Hope this helps.

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    @adrian2301  Yeah your second image is closer. Everything except for the part on the top where the cylinder meets the square. That top needs to remain circular and only the side remains the square.


    Yeah, how did you "scale" the extra lateral loops on the cylinder to make it circular (did you just "eyeball it" while scaling in the local X and Y)? 

    I'm hoping for a precise solution as opposed to "eye balling it" haha. But yours and Spikey's are really more like what I am trying to get at.

    When I make those extra loops using Ctrl R they don't magically turn into a circular cross section and the sub-div now makes them appear even more-so like an octagon. Hope that makes sense? I guess I could bust out some of my engineering math to move them precisely but I was hoping for a modelers approach haha.


    Maybe starting over with a circle cross section with more edge loops would help give more geometry. Maybe the limits of the basic shape 8 sided shape are being pushed beyond their ability?

  • spikeyxxx replied

    Or,    

    just a late night test....

    far from perfect, but...

  • Parker Bourassa(pfbourassa) replied

    I've done some things that seem janky to wrangle edge loops.

    Are these okay? Is there a better way to handle these situations?

  • adrian replied

    blanchsb I eyeballed it but if you want to be more precise , with the loop tools add-on loop select a ring of verts and click on circle ( loop tools add-on), for the top squarish part  I would vertex snap to line up with the others. I see now on spikeyxxx 's post , I didn't include that edge when I scaled out . But I would say more geometry is required or  at least one edge loop as spikeyxxx has done on that face to define the shape.

  • spikeyxxx replied

    I do not know, what exactly you want to achieve, but this doesn't look right to me (but who am I to judge...):

    In red: a vertex that doesn't make any sense to me; no matter where you put it, it will always make a concave quad:

    in blue are the 5-sided poles. We try to avoid those and although that is not always possible, it looks like you've got too many of them and at non-planar points...I don't know what is happening at the purple question mark (yes, it's supposed to be a question mark!)

    Not sure about the green 3 sided pole, might be ok, or not?

    In short: there is a better way to do this, but it is not clear to me what exactly you want to do...



  • Parker Bourassa(pfbourassa) replied

    spikeyxxx My goal is to keep those holding edges to keep the shape, and just fill in the gaps. 

    There's a weird mix of concave and convex shapes all really close together.
    I used GG to make sure that the blue vertex was directly in the middle, and neither face would be concave.

    Here's my second attempt at this section. I'm not sure it's much better.

  • Karen Trevino(ketre) replied

    Waves at everyone...yall so good :)

  • shanr replied

    Hi guys Here is a image of my wheels 

  • shanr replied

  • shanr replied

    dostovel 

    spikeyxxx 

    @theluthier 

    aadrian2001 

  • shanr replied

    sorry there 

  • shanr replied

    sorry there 

  • shanr replied

  • Omar Domenech(dostovel) replied

    blanchsb Ok Blanch, here's the link of my part of your part, it's called Blanch Part. Kinda of a hard part your part.

    Link:

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Nc7P0RQ3lAdfU4bSq2YwdZDZqd9wYUHo?usp=sharing


  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    spikeyxxx is this a 6 sided pole I am seeing? That actually looks decent on the sub-div though!