Mini Digger

Sevrin

First of all, let me say that the Mini Digger is a really nice piece of equipment and it's beautifully done, and the PC+ price is obv great, and I'm buying it.

With that said, it would be nice if there were an expansion with an auger and a jackhammer for when you don't have bodies to bury and graves to dig.  Hallowe'en is fast approaching, and a scare is a scare, amirite?

genaris

@Sevrin makes a point I agree with, that this model, and some other products (PC+ and otherwise) need to come with or have add-on products that include the things that aren't really available in the store but particularly useful for scenes made with the product.  I also agree the Mini Digger is a great little piece of equipment and great value if you're PC+ member, but on some types of models, using them effectively is a little hard for us that can't/don't model, when manufacturers don't think to provide the model-specific bits that make it most useful in renders.  For this model, specifically, that means: a little patch of ground terrain with ruts that match the tracks of this machine, a "scoopful" of polygons to have in the digger, since it is for ...digging.  A bit of a hole dug into the end of the ground patch which could be turned off or on would be super useful too, since the machine is for... digging holes.   

Frankly, at the PC+ price, I can see that getting carried away with accessories or extras isn't going to be popular with manufacturers maybe. (Although many of petipet's sci-fi PC+ items have LOTS of parts, accessories etc and also include hero-pieces which seem as modeling complex as this digger...)   So, I'd be fine if there were  PC+  add-on packs to add usability to models like this digger, such as I'm suggesting: dirt for the scoop, one or two patches of ground with track ruts and a hole maybe some nice credible looking dirt piles, even a piece of pavement with a piece broken open and a hole started (like underroad infrastructure repair in progress etc).   But I'd like such things to come out WHEN THE ITEM they add to debuts, because when these sorts of things aren't in the main model item, and no add-on drops with it, then I have to decide if I really want the thing I won't really want to use until and unless I get lucky and the add-ons it needs to play out it's best scenes becomes available.   

I mean, if  we buy a beautiful 3d sofa most of us have people, throw pillows , fabricshaders and blankets which we can put on the sofa. It's not a big deal if the sofa doesn't include "extras" since the things you put on a couch are available in the store and will sit on any couch.   Meanwhile, I don't have dirt or pavement shards that will correctly conform to this Mini Digger's scoop, nor a piece of ground with track-tread ruts, or a convincing-looking ground with hole dug in among my runtime; for me, that means to show this thing really doing what it's designed for... um, probably lots of postwork.   Although, being October, sure I could just pitch a body or two (or three) into the scoop, and call it a day! :)      To me, these sorts of  user considerations considerations make some products stand out for me, and leaves me admiring other products but not buying them.
   ~Gen

frankrblow

Something to try: drop some odd shaped objects into the bucket (scoop) then dForce a plane over those objects and add an appropriate shader so it looks like dirt. etc. And I grabbed the digger as soon as I saw it.

genaris

@dragonfly_2004 That sounds like an interesting trick to try out for making a dirt pile, thanks for the thought.  There's so many times I need a little dirt or sand filling in or piling up in spaces. 
   ~Gen