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.
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):
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.
We will centralize our collaborative communication between the streams and this thread. Ask any and all questions pertaining to the Backhoe project here.
Thanks that takes a lot off me. I have now had 4 nights of sleep. I started working on it yesterday and pretty much redid the whole thing lol. It looks way better. Also I've no clue how to make those door hinges.
Hello friends! It's been a while, I know - sorry about disappearing like that! But it really couldn't be helped. Long story short, my computer is dead. The motherboard or the processor this time. I've been completely without a computer at all for the last couple of months; I haven't even been able to watch the streams.
I've finally gotten hold of like a third-hand laptop which is great in that at least I have the internet again, but this thing isn't remotely capable of Blendering. What this means is, I can't continue participating in the backhoe project. :(
I haven't been able to follow what you guys have been doing in my absence but if it's not too late, please feel free to use what I've made so far in any way you can; consider it CC0. I'm glad to have contributed what I did while a could and even though I can't help anymore, I'm still excited to watch the thing be finished. In a couple more months hopefully I'll be able to get a new capable system and be back in it for the next big thing here! Keep at it everyone, almost done!
We missed you jakeblended , Being without a computer must have driven you nuts...I hope you can get back into it soon!
jakeblended.....
Man, that's a bummer to hear about your tech difficulties! Totally understandable though. Thanks for letting us continue on with your part. You did an amazing job on a difficult piece of the puzzle. You will be missed. You will absolutely be credited in the final reel.
[hears Taps being played softly]
Yeah the last year and a half has just killed me with technical problems. I built that system back I think in 2014 or so, so it was definitely getting long in the tooth; but things just started dying one after the other. An SSD here, a power supply there, a video card after that. So I guess it makes sense that now something more important finally gave it up.
It's okay though, I'm saving up for a new build. I'll be back before you know it!
jakeblended You did a great job on your part 👍! I'm looking forward to see you here again with full PC power 😀!
Dear Dog Pound,
I was working on the cab. But i select a loop to dissolve and press "X". And blender gave me error "Gizmos hidden in this view". And the delete menu never comes.
Does any one know how to get rid of this error?
Thanks in advance.
rryzen7 Double-check that your "X" key didn't get remapped. I don't know where that error would be coming from.
What happens if you enable Gizmos, then press "X?"
rryzen7 I would say to open up a startup blend file and test the behavior on a simple object to see if the behavior repeats. That way you aren't compromising your model.
If there is no strange behavior on your simple setup you can Open your file and uncheck the option to Load UI so that it loads the same format that the default startup file is. See if that helps overcome the issue.
jakeblended You will be missed on this project Jakester. No doubt about it. We'll give proper homage to your contribution.
I have made some screen shots.
in the first screenshot viewport gizmos are active but some how not selectable.
In the second one at the bottom of the picture I get this error. And it is happening only in this file.
How does 
spikeyxxx know so much about Blender... What a resource you are, sir.
@theluthier in this case I just 'DuckDuckWent' 'blender error gizmos hidden' and found the bug report;)
This is the one thousand and first reply 😀! And the honour for the 1000th reply goes to spikeyxxx 😀🥇🏆!
Congratulations duerer!
I should have waited and get the 1001th reply myself.
Not only does 1001 have the beautiful factorization: 7 * 11 * 13,
but also, 1001 being 10³+1, it is closely related to 10-1, also known as 9, which is the page number!
How are they related you ask? Well, I won't bore you with all the details (higher number theory which would take too long to explain), but think of how we can test if a number is divisible by 9 by adding all the digits (this is due to 9 being 10-1) and how we can test if a number is divisible by 7, 11, or 13 by alternatingly subtracting and adding the digits in groups of 3.
(Compare that with testing if a number is divisible by 11 (10+1!) by alternatingly subtracting and addding the digits...)
Again: for me 1001 is a lot more beautiful than 1000 (which is about as boring as a number can get), especially on page 9.
