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View Full Version : Workflow of Relative Scale for Objects

renderman017
02-24-2009, 07:07 PM
Hello.

I am a beginner to Maya and started working on a project for class.

I was wondering what is the workflow for creating different objects for a master scene in terms of scale? Does the modeler need to set a scale before hand or just work really big for the object to get the details, import it into the master scene and then scale down relatively to other objects.

I was reading around and read that Maya is unitless and I believe we can pretty much set our own scale per unit.

So I guess what I am asking is do we work in real world dimensions initially? How would this work for buildings?

I am trying to figure out how an animation studio like Pixar does it for their films.

My scene will consist of a room with a tv, table, sword, and a character. I can gauge visually the size since I have a small scene, but in future projects where I have tons of assets, I don't want to end up doing this for every object in the scene.
gruhn
02-28-2009, 02:39 PM
I can't speak for Maya or Pixar, but there are some concerns which should run constant.

Modern renderers that can do some fancy stuff with light have scale. Light interactions off surfaces, through participatory media etc. is affected by distance. For these renderers, your model needs to be built to real world scale. If your modeler has no scale and merely uses numbers there will be a way to translate somewhere "1 model unit = 1.414 furlongs". If in the end you are hooking to a consistent real world scale, why not start there? Avoid confusion. Something easy, like "1 model unit = 1 mm" or whatever may well suit your needs.

If you are coordinating a number of models and/or human workers you need some way to insure that everything goes together. Sure, you could build the gun, build the soldier the put both together in the scene and scale the soldier up so he looks about right next to the car and scale the gun down way way way down so it looks about right in the soldier's hand. ...

OR you could make the soldier six feet tall and the gun three feet long. Stuff haz size. Use it. Per above, if your modeller doesn't have a stated scale then make one up and use it.

There is an issue regarding breadth of scales. If you want to model things picometers long and things light years across then you'll run into trouble with the available precision in the computer. I do not know just what range is available with the numbers we use. It is "pretty darned big" though.
renderman017
03-02-2009, 05:44 AM
Hey Gruhn,

Thank you very much for providing some insight on scale. It definitely does make sense to start of with a scale and by doing so prevents some headaches in the future. Thanks again. Cheers.
Shyft
03-02-2009, 05:51 AM
i was taught, when building environments, to make a mock up of a human sized character, usually a poly cone and a sphere for a head. Dirt simple. You place copies, if necessary of that mock up next to things that require constant scale consistency, like doorframes or human size props like firehydrants or mailboxes. Beyond that you can extraploate from the scale of the human stand-in things like building stories (which i think range from 10 to 14 feet a piece, i dunno exactly.) Depends on how high the cieling is in a given floor.