Scaling an Original Model

[photojoe]

I'm trying to design original spaceships, but I'm having trouble with Scaling to human size. The weapons either look like toys or they are too small (out of proportion with the ship).

Does anyone have design tips for keeping things in scale?

Joe

[evil_genius_180]

Doesn't your 3D software allow you to click on the object properties and select the world and object scales? If you can, pick whatever scale you like (feet, meters, etc.) and make both the world and object scales match. Then you're going to have to design everything by the numbers to make sure the scale make sense. That's the only way I know to do it.

[photojoe]

I mean keeping things in scale with human proportions. I can get the shape right, but the details keep going sideways.

[evil_genius_180]

Yeah, what I said should work for that. For instance, if you have a 1.84 meter (about 6ft) figure, you just need to figure out how large a detail would look next to said figure and build it within that scale. It takes a little math (I keep a calculator handy when I'm modeling) but it's doable.

[kageryu]

In some old model sites I used to see a lot of "cardboard cutout" human figures used to scale objects. Basicly a flat, planar mesh shaped like a human, for scale only. If your modeller supports layer, keep it in a BG layer for reference, or build your model with it, then delete the reference cutout. I suggest this for those of us who are "numerically challenged" or lack the proper patience to do it the proper way ;)

[evil_genius_180]

Also, most 3D software comes with freebie objects, including at least 1 proportioned figure. If it didn't come with your software, you should be able to get one from any of a number of sites to help you scale things. I've used the freebies that came with my software lots of times (along with the mathematics) to get scales on chairs and whatnot right.

[Taranis]

what software do you use ....?

[Warrior]

Take the figure and a window from the mesh for him to stand behind/in front of, then scale to that :D

[evil_genius_180]

Ah, but to do that you'd still need to know the dimensions of the window. ;)

[photojoe]

Currently using Rhino, just that my weapons look so fake.

[Warrior]

Ah, but to do that you'd still need to know the dimensions of the window. ;)Nah. You don't. It's easy to scale the Voyager with Janeway standing in a window without know the window dimensions ;)

[Warrior]

Currently using Rhino, just that my weapons look so fake.
Depending on the level of detail on the rest of the mesh, this may just be a case of using good textures on the weapons.

[evil_genius_180]

Nah. You don't. It's easy to scale the Voyager with Janeway standing in a window without know the window dimensions ;)

That's one example with tons of reference material out there. Without knowing the dimensions of the window, try to scale the Enterprise from the new movie to a person just using the windows. (if you could, you'd be everyone's hero since there's a heated debate over the size of that thing) I don't think you really could.

[Warrior]

Have a mesh of it handy?

[evil_genius_180]

There are a couple at SFM.

[kageryu]

I feel you, I have this scaling problem a lot. Though I consider myself a very decent pencil & paper artist, I usually don't do a lot of measuring, and I hate doing engineering style layouts to make the transition to 3D easier...I gotta work on it. I usually just kind of wing it. For scaling weapons, you can often use another weapon as a point of reference in size too.

[ChristopherT]

I had problems with this when I first got into Anim8or. I was so bad at scaling that I completed an entire run of models (TOS Starfleet) before I realized that the master mesh was 2x normal size. Everything after that had to be overscaled to match.
When I got to TMP era, I resized all my projects to actual size. Now I have an application that converts .3ds files to .msh files, it tells me the size of the mesh in meters for the X,Y,and Z axises. It allows me to scale the mesh up and down as needed.

Generally, I find the hardest thing about scaling a model is finding correct dimensions to begin with. Popular ships like Enterprise are fairly easy to find a consensus on dimensional figures. Not so familar ships are harder to find.

ChristopherT

[Lord Ravensburg]

I build alot of original ships... What I do is first decide what the ship is for, and how the basic physics of the universe work.. IE, FTL drives, sub lights stuff like that, that will help to determine how much mass you need and how big things should be... Like EG said, it takes some math... Next I draw some basic shapes out to get where I like it... then I draw out some detailed side views to the scales based on the math... but I always draw out a scale box first so I know what 2 meters looks like. When I get the general dimensions and the general flow of the design worked out on paper, I start the 3d scaffold. I draw out a 2 meter tall by 1 meter wide by 1 meter deep scale box. Then work out from that the basic dimensions based on my side view sketches... Is this the best way to do it... I don't know.. but it's how I do it.... just make sure that you use your scale box, and match it up against your details and such as you build.

Here you can see a side view sketch of what would become the victory class... notice the scale box by the bridge...

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/th_concept6.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/concept6.jpg)


Here you can see the basic shape coming along and the scale box.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/th_wip_Basicshape_scaleRef1.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/wip_Basicshape_scaleRef1.jpg)

Here you can see details starting to take shape.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/th_wip_froward_Greebls_scaleRef1a.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/wip_froward_Greebls_scaleRef1a.jpg)

Here is a shot further up the spine of the ship... You can see I have created a copy of my scale box and am using it in scene to match the detail scale with the rest of the ship.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/th_wip_froward_Greebls_scaleRef6d.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/Lord_Ravensburg/wip_froward_Greebls_scaleRef6d.jpg)