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A Question of Scale


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I wonder if there is a mathematical genius out there who can help.

 

We are familiar now with forced perspective so that the illusion of distance can be created in a very small space.

 

My query is, in a way, covering much the same ground. I remember, as a child, being taught perspective in Art lessons and how lines are drawn to the ‘vanishing point ‘ to create a 3D effect in a two-dimensional drawing.

 

Can anyone please tell me how to calculate a notional distance? Thanks to Shapeways and the designers who post on there, it is possible to buy many things in a number of different scales. 

 

I am attempting to build a standard gauge/ narrow gauge layout, based on the Western Front in World War 1. The layout has a depth of only two feet, and my backscene will simply show distant devastation behind some low-relief buildings. I would like to have an observation balloon in the far distance and would very much appreciate any input on choosing a scale.  I am tempted to go for 1:600 or1:700, as these are much more affordable, but would it look ridiculously tiny?  I suppose the balloon might be three or four miles away.

 

Any suggestions gratefully received!

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Thanks, rodshaw.

 

PV, I did wonder about that and you are probably right, but then I got side-tracked by the perspective question and whether there is any kind of mathematical formula that one can use. I am rather fascinated by maths, even if I don’t understand a lot of it and have forgotten even more!

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You might be able to figure things out using a protractor and trigonometry.  Put yourself standing a few feet away from a very long, repetitive building and figure what angle goes to each division between windows. Once you get a pattern, you may be able to extrapolate to a long distance off.

 

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The problem with modelling perspective is that it only works from one viewpoint.

That’s fine if you limit the layout such that you can only use one viewpoint but that might be difficult, I don’t know.

 The best examples I’ve seen of this kind of thing were by Jack Nelson and then only in magazines from the ideal viewpoint! There was a superb “picture” type of layout at Warley a few years ago, inspired by one of the Dutch masters and being a “picture” albeit in 3D, this was very effective.

Not wanting to be negative, just trying to illustrate any potential problems.

Cheers,

John.

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15 hours ago, Bandicoot said:

Thanks, rodshaw.

 

PV, I did wonder about that and you are probably right, but then I got side-tracked by the perspective question and whether there is any kind of mathematical formula that one can use. I am rather fascinated by maths, even if I don’t understand a lot of it and have forgotten even more!

On the same tack: Another interesting topic is scale colour. Colour 'lightens' with distance. Thus the paint straight from the tin is the 'correct' shade, but applied to a model, viewed from a scale 100 feet away, appears too dark? 

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9 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

On the same tack: Another interesting topic is scale colour. Colour 'lightens' with distance. Thus the paint straight from the tin is the 'correct' shade, but applied to a model, viewed from a scale 100 feet away, appears too dark? 

It also gets more blue in it. There used to be a screensaver for Windows computers of receding mountains and each one got progressively more blue and less red in. Of course that's not mentioning the affects of early morning, midday and evening light. The sky also lightens towards the horizon and, I think, gets a deeper blue the closer it is to right angles away from the sun. Just don't fully trust any pictures in holiday brochures, I used to work on them and we definitely messed around with the colours:rolleyes:.

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8 minutes ago, simonmcp said:

It also gets more blue in it. There used to be a screensaver for Windows computers of receding mountains and each one got progressively more blue and less red in. Of course that's not mentioning the affects of early morning, midday and evening light. The sky also lightens towards the horizon and, I think, gets a deeper blue the closer it is to right angles away from the sun. Just don't fully trust any pictures in holiday brochures, I used to work on them and we definitely messed around with the colours:rolleyes:.

I seem to recall a discussion about scale colour on models. The up shot was a small quantity cream coloured paint was added to loco body paint to lighten the shade slightly? 

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The answer is that it depends.

 

Without any change in scale, things will get vanishing small when they are at infinity. What you want to do is bring the point where they get vanishing small nearer to the view. How much nearer? If you want that to be 20 foot away, then every foot reduce the scale by 5% for every foot away. If you want it 100 foot away, reduce it 1% per foot.

 

I would say it is more important to be consistent that anything else.

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