Behind the Scenes: Height and Scale

Most of the models I use for my artwork come from the company Daz3d, which also created the rendering program I use. Some of the models are created by 3d modelers who work for Daz3d, while others are made by independent content creators who sell their work through the Daz3d store.

When I am working with models made by independent creators, I often encounter issues with the model's height and body proportions. The default model size for Daz3d core models (e.g., Genesis 3 Female, Genesis 8 Female) appears to be 5' 11", based on the measuring tools I have at my disposal. When the creators make models that are intended to be taller or shorter than that, they alter the body proportions appropriately but sometimes forget to adjust the model's overall scale to match the desired height.

In the first image, we see the model "Bramble" designed by a very talented content creator named Lyoness. Judging by eye, based on the size of Bramble's head relative to her body, I would guess she is relatively short. Average height (5'6") at most. Yet when I load the model into a scene file, she comes in at 5' 11" - the default base model size. Without any other objects for reference, it is hard to tell how tall she is in the scene, so let's load some other models into the scene for comparison.

Based on the Daz3d documentation, the model Khemsit 8 is scaled to be 5' 3" tall, and the model Leisa 8 is scaled to be 6' tall. If we put them in the scene alongside Bramble, you can see in the second image that her head looks too big for her body compared to the other two models. So, if I were to use Bramble in a scene at her "out-of-the-box" scaling, she would look a little off compared to other characters in the same scene.

Using the Daz3d UI, I can easily adjust a model's overall scale by means of a slider on the model's parameters tab. After moving Bramble's scale up and down a few times, I settled on 92% as making her bodily proportions look correct relative to the other two models. That brings her height to 5' 5", which is where my eye judged that her height should be. That is the scale I will use for Bramble in future scenes.

I just thought I would provide a little glimpse of the things I do "behind the scenes" in the process of creating the images for my stories :)