miniatures scales

[arkantos_cg]

dear all...

what is the best scale for miniature to shoot? i mean if i have a building with tall of 100 meter, what is the best scale i can use to make a miniature for it?

thanks for co-operation :)

[Mars United]

I think the answer is "the bigger the better". I don't think there is a perfect "scale". The reason to build a model is because it is cheaper and easier to blow up/move around/modify than the real thing, and it is more accessible (probably more reasons). But, the bigger your model, the more detail you can apply and therefore the more realistic it will look.

Also, someone pointed this out to me on a recent project: You may need to use a special lens if you are going to match the model to real life, as with a green screen effect. BUT, I'm not sure about that. The idea being that if you're using a 50mm lens, but you're filming a 10% scale model, is the lens still going to look like a 50mm lens and match with the 50mm lens you shoot your "real" subject with. ???

[kyle.presley]

I think the answer is "the bigger the better". I don't think there is a perfect "scale". The reason to build a model is because it is cheaper and easier to blow up/move around/modify than the real thing, and it is more accessible (probably more reasons). But, the bigger your model, the more detail you can apply and therefore the more realistic it will look.

Also, someone pointed this out to me on a recent project: You may need to use a special lens if you are going to match the model to real life, as with a green screen effect. BUT, I'm not sure about that. The idea being that if you're using a 50mm lens, but you're filming a 10% scale model, is the lens still going to look like a 50mm lens and match with the 50mm lens you shoot your "real" subject with. ???


you can do one of two things:

A. You can scale the lens, don't know the equation to do so though.
B. Scale the distance from lens to subject.

If you scale the distance, there is no need to scale the lens. If you scale the len there is no need to scale the distance. It's easier to scale the distance than it is to scale the lens. Depending on how close to the model you wanna get, it may be necessary to scale the lens because of macro focus issues. Don't forget to add fog on the set of the miniature to simulate atmosphere. Hope this helps.

[GenJerDan]

But, the bigger your model, the more detail you can apply and therefore the more realistic it will look.

On the other hand, the bigger the model, the more detail you have to apply.

On smaller ones, you can get away with "greeking" the details. (Assuming you're not doing any closeups, of course.)

[arkantos_cg]

thanks alot for the information :) but i have another question: can i shoot miniatures with a miniDV cam? i mean something like panasonic PV-GS80. can i shoot with it? i am sure the quality will never be the same as a high end equipments but i just wanna try my miniatures. i heared about lenses called miniature lenses for miniDV is it related to the subject?

[Mars United]

Why not try and see what it looks like?