does keeping the real life proportions but not using real units make any difference?

#1

Hello everyone,

I’m wondering while modeling especially in Maya, If I don’t use actual height and width of the object that I’m modeling would cause a problem?

for example, a table let’s say is 45cm. And while modeling I use 4.5 cms. and there is chair next to it, which is 70cm. I use 7.0 cm instead. Will it cause any problems? Polygon size will be same. The reason I want to do this is because of my graphic card. I have Ati Rodeon 6750 512MB graphic card and when I have a model which is 300 cm, I can only view quarter portion of it. That’s why I decided to divide the actual size by 10 or even 100.

What can be the consequences for the animation or rendering stage? and/or any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

#2

No, it shouldn’t matter. It’ll only become an issue if you’re sending your files to another piece of software (say, a game engine) that is more scale dependent.

That being said, I’m almost certain the problem you’re having with clipping isn’t your graphics card, it’s the clip plane setting in Maya (which is really small by default). Try increasing both the near clip plane and the far clip plane (under the camera shape node) by a factor of ten.

#3

Mr Baker, thanks for your answers. Adjusting Near and Far Clip Plane works like a charm.

#4

Wouldn’t it matter at least somewhat if you’re going to light things or work with shaders such as sss shaders?

I’m not quite sure I understand what you meant by:

I have Ati Rodeon 6750 512MB graphic card and when I have a model which is 300 cm, I can only view quarter portion of it.

Why can you only see a quarter portion of it? Is it out of the safe-frame or something?

#5

Unless your scene is absolutely massive, or incredibly tiny, I would recommend building things to the proper scale.

If you plan on using shaders that require real world scale, or any FX that will need real world values, like gravity, it’s going to make things a lot easier.

If you don’t plan on going any further than just modeling and texturing, I would encourage you to build things to the proper scale anyways, it’s a good habit to get into :slight_smile:

#6

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