Chapter 3: Tools & Attachments

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Tools & Attachments (Expanded) for Vehicle Concept Artists — Land Vehicles: Tracked & Articulated

Attachments turn mass into purpose. On tracked and articulated platforms, blades, cranes, dozer kits, rippers, augers, mine plows, rollers, grapples, winches and quick‑attach families are how a world builds, clears, rescues, and fights. For vehicle concept artists—on both the concepting and production sides—your job is to make these tools read instantly, couple honestly to structure, and hand off kinematics that rig, simulate, and optimize without guesswork. This expanded guide focuses on combat, utility, and construction use cases and shows how to encode decisions in the deliverables your teammates rely on.

Start with the interface

Every tool lives or dies at the interface—where loads, power, and control cross from carrier to attachment. Define:

  • Mechanical hardpoints: pin bosses, flanges, quick‑couplers, slew rings, adapter plates. Draw pin centerlines first; add bushings, greasable sleeves, and keeper logic.
  • Power & control: hydraulic circuits (supply/return/case drain), PTO shafts with guards, electrical looms with IP‑rated connectors, proportional valves and accumulators. Provide hose sizes and minimum bend radii.
  • Kinematics: hinge axes, telescoping stages, linkages (bell cranks/rockers), slewing bases, tilt/angle/pitch ranges. Plot stow → deploy → work → service poses with clearance envelopes.
  • Stow & transport: lock pins, rests, tie‑downs, boom cradles, pad latches; travel height/length limits and sightlines.

Get these right in line before you skin anything. Concept paintovers then communicate purpose; production callouts bind names to numbers.

Combat attachments

Dozer blades (breach/earthworks). A combat dozer blade reads as a reinforced moldboard with replaceable cutting edges and corner bits tied into a subframe that bypasses thin hull skins. Push arms anchor low on the hull or a glacis reinforcement; three cylinders enable tilt, angle, and pitch (T/A/P) where supported. Add ripper kits at the rear for trenching.

  • Concept tells: wide stance, thick cutting edges with bolt patterns, gusseted push arms, visible travel locks. Stage breach sequence panels.
  • Production notes: cutting edge thickness, bolt spacing, pin diameters, cylinder bores/strokes, T/A/P ranges, ground clearance at stow.

Mine plows & rollers. Plows use share arrays and skids on breakaway arms; rollers use heavy drums on swing arms with shear pins. Both need stow brackets and keep‑out zones for ERA/APS and sensors.

  • Concept tells: multi‑share rhythm or twin drums, skid shoes, deflector shields.
  • Production notes: share spacing, drum OD/weight, shear‑bolt loads, arm pivots, stow latch geometry.

Recovery kits (winches, A‑frames, cranes). Heavy winches require frame‑line pulls, fairleads, spade anchors; A‑frames or light jibs mount to reinforced sockets.

  • Concept tells: fairlead and cable path clarity, spades/ground anchors, hook blocks.
  • Production notes: line pull ratings, drum capacity, snatch block factors, anchor pad sizes, slew/boom limits if present.

Utility attachments

Knuckle‑boom cranes. Nested box‑section booms with link‑assist cylinders and hose reels; slewing ring bases with swing motors; outriggers with pads.

  • Concept tells: boom segmentation, hose guides, outrigger choreography, load chart zone decals near controls.
  • Production notes: slew ring bolt circle, luff angles, telescoping lengths, outrigger spread/pad size, hydraulic flows/pressures, hook block mass.

Augers, drills, post drivers. Flight pitch and pilot bits telegraph material; torque reactions need braces to frame rails.

  • Concept tells: visible flights, kelly bars, torque arms.
  • Production notes: auger OD/length, drive torque, downforce cylinder stroke, quick‑connect sizes.

Aerial work platforms. Baskets with harness points, interlocks, and emergency lowers; slewing pedestals on tracked carriers or articulated frames.

  • Concept tells: guardrail profiles, control panels, outrigger level indicators.
  • Production notes: basket SWL, outreach envelopes, interlock logic, pad materials.

Construction attachments

Dozer blade families.

  • Straight (S‑blade): no lateral curve; push and backfill; great for tight work.
  • Universal (U‑blade): tall, curved with large wings; carry capacity; longer cycle times.
  • Semi‑U: middle ground; common for multipurpose.
  • Six‑way (PAT): power‑angle‑tilt; read is a lighter moldboard with extra cylinder geometry.
  • Production notes: blade width/height, wing angles, cutting edge/segment bolt patterns, corner bit types, T/A/P ranges, blade skin thickness and rib layout.

Rippers. Multi‑shank carriers or single giant shanks with replaceable teeth and shank guards; mounted aft with a swing frame.

  • Concept tells: tooth cadence, massive pivot bosses, rock guards.
  • Production notes: shank spacing, pin sizes, cylinder strokes, ground penetration at full down.

Excavator quick‑attach toolsets. Buckets (tooth/edge varieties), thumbs, grapples, compactors, breakers, shears. Each tool shifts CG and needs hose/harness routing with swivel joints.

  • Production notes: pin diameters, quick‑coupler geometry, case drain requirements, breaker nitrogen charge ports, shear jaw clearances.

Skid/CTL universal attachments. Brooms, snow blowers, trenchers, graders, forks. All ride the same ISO plate; power via auxiliary hydraulics.

  • Production notes: plate angle, latch handles, hydraulic flow bands, motor displacement, chain guards.

Kinematics and load paths (draw the skeleton)

Plot pin centers and cylinder anchor points, then add linkages. Load paths must dive into frames, cross‑members, bulkheads, not skins. Slewing bases sit on flanged rings with bolt circles and drive motors. Quick‑attach plates get doubler plates and weld logic. Include weld symbols where relevant (fillet/plug) and bolt grades for critical joints. Cutaways should visualize these bones so damage and repair states have truth to build on.

Hydraulics, electrics, PTO

Route hoses with slack at extremes and rub strips; add spiral guards and hose reels for long travel. Color‑code couplers; provide dust caps. Size hoses by duty (e.g., ¾ in pressure, ½ in return, ⅜ in case drain). Show manifolds with reliefs and filters. PTOs get guards and telescoping sleeves; electrical looms use strain relief and IP67+ connectors near splash zones. Call out connector standards and pressures/flows for each tool; VFX can then place leaks and jets credibly; audio can mix pump whine and valve hiss where it belongs.

Operator visibility, safety, UI

Place work lights to reveal cutting edges, hook blocks, teeth, and pad landings; add cameras at blind arcs. Diegetic UI: load charts, pad deployed indicators, outrigger level bubbles, lock‑engaged flags, emergency stops. Apply warning colors and chevron patterns on crush/pinch zones. Concept night paintovers expose missing light cones; production boards lock candela targets and camera FOVs.

Stow, transport, and ritual

Every attachment needs a believable between‑jobs posture: blades on rests with travel locks; cranes nested with boom rests and slew locks; rippers retracted with guard pins; rollers pinned; plows folded; pads latched. Show tie‑downs and jack points. Sequence strips make rituals teachable: unlock → deploy → work → stow.

VFX & audio beats per tool

  • Blades: dust curls and gravel plumes from cutting edge; screech on rocks; hydraulic hiss.
  • Rippers: clod ejection cadence tied to tooth count; metal on rock impacts.
  • Cranes: cable “sing,” hook block knock, hydraulic luff/boom slews.
  • Rollers/Plows: drum thuds, chain clatter; sand/mud rooster tails at contact.
  • Breakers/Shears: high‑frequency dust, chip spray; percussive thump or tearing grind. Provide short clips in research packets so FX/sound sizing matches your geometry and duty.

Camera readability

At far range, the player must grasp the tool family (blade/boom/plow) and stow vs. work state. At mid range, they should parse cylinder and linkage logic; at near, read cutting edges, teeth, pads, and latch hardware. Avoid LED strips along silhouette edges that erase shape with bloom; anchor emissives at corners, hinge posts, and pad edges.

Deliverables (concept → production)

  • One‑page mission brief: tool purpose, interface family, carrier class, stow/operate sequence thumbnails.
  • Metrics sheet: tool widths/heights, reach and capacity bands, cylinder bores/strokes, pin diameters, slew ring bolt circles, outrigger spread/pad size, transport envelope.
  • Orthographics (measured): side/front/top with pin centers, hinge axes, cylinder anchors, quick‑attach geometry, hose/harness routing, stow/operate envelopes.
  • Cutaway: load paths into frame/cross‑members, manifold/valve blocks, PTO routing, structural doubler plates and gussets.
  • Exploded views: cutting edges and corner bits, ripper shanks/teeth, hook blocks/swivels, auger flights, quick‑coupler latches, hose kits, pad assemblies—with fasteners and replacement order.
  • Callouts: pressures/flows, torque/bolt grades, weld sizes, bend radii, interlock logic, lock pin sizes, lighting candela targets, safe‑zone labels.
  • Rig pack: named hierarchy (true pin pivots), range limits, constraint notes, collision proxies, VFX emitters, audio locators, mate transforms for quick‑attach.
  • Camera‑read boards: far/mid/near day/night/dust/mud/snow with “must read” annotations.

Indie vs. AAA cadence

Indie: one evolving canvas per tool (silhouette + measured ortho + kinematic diagram + sequence strip), validated with greybox rigs and placeholder FX.

AAA: gated packages—interface/kinematics lock → modeling kickoff (orthos/cutaways/callouts) → rig/FX/audio check (rig pack) → camera‑read sign‑off → kit release (standard pins, couplers, hose sets, warning labels) with change logs.

Concept vs. production mindset

Concept makes the ritual inevitable—attachments should advertise what they do before they move. Production makes it maintainable—interfaces, ranges, and service paths measured and labeled. When those halves agree, blades bite, cranes reach, and dozer kits shrug off abuse in ways players believe and teams can deliver.