why is seemingly every character the same height?
Toobis
Posts: 965
I just had a rather odd question; so you can purchase Daz characters which are based loosely or entirely on movie/game characters for prettymuch any generation and I find while the likenesses with them are spot on when opening them up in Daz, the height is always inaccurate. The question I have is why? for example you could put a G8F celebrity character in your Daz library that is known for being 5 foot 2 the real world and once it comes up their height is not correct and they'll be 5 foot 11 or something close. Why is this? do the original creators of these characters avoid adding accurate height? anyones insight would be nice.
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A short answer is so that your figure can use all the props, vehicles, and environments straight out of the box. I have a nephew who is 6'6" (1.98 m) who can vouch that the world is designed for people of a certain height range. The artists are also aware that the user can adjust the height if they need a specialty height. Finally, there isn't any accurate information about celebrity height; there is a sexist saying that actresses lie about their age and actor lie about their height. The current governor of California once visited my workplace and i was in a few feet of him. He is 6'3" and, since I have people in my family who are that height, I can agree. the previous governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has a published height of 6'2" but is more likely 5'11".
couldn't the all the props, vehicles, and environments be used straight out of the box even if the height was adjusted more accuratley also? I don't see why it would make a difference.
Do you have examples of this? At least a few lookalike makers are incredibly scrupulous about matching the (stated) height of celebrities, to the point that it's often used to verify whom the figure is modeled after. It wouldn't be surprising if others were less scrupulous about that, and some clearly idealize the character according to their preferences.
I gave the example of Arnold Schwarzenegger; it would be easy to go through the history of actors from the very short Alan Ladd to Robert Redford (Brad Pitt did a film with him and commented on how Redford resented standing on the apple crates to film with hiom eye to eye). I think creators try to use widely published citations of actor's heights but the data is very unreliable. So the question is do you use a stated height which is likely wrong or do you let the costomer adjust the height if it is an issue for them. The results are probably fairly different for male and female characters since there is less incentive for women to lie about their height (they can just discreetly wear flats under long dresses like former wives of Tom Cruise while he wears lifts).
Ah, i realize that I didn't answer the question you asked... there are a few Sigourney Weavers in the various stores (for example, https://www.daz3d.com/revel-hd-for-genesis-8-female); she is about 5'11" while I have never seen on tht matches that height.
Thx for the input so far. What do you think the best way to decrease a G8F characters height is by reducing the main scale or? I feel if I just reduce height then their legs will not be proportionate and will be shorter.
I would use whatever resource you are using as the stated height of the character, measure metrics, and total scal to adjust to the height you want.
so reduce the main scale yes?
Yes, that will keep things proportional...
ok thankyou for all your info :)
I would tend to use the proportion sldiers for Genesis 9, and similar for older figuers, since shorter people and taller do not simply represent different overall scales. I don't have a link to hand, if it is still up, but DavidGB did have a chart with suggested settings for some figures.
It depends entirely on the model. Sometimes the proportions are just completely different instead of a base height added. Daz Originals seem to be all over the place. Sometimes it's only the base height changed (like Cheyenne's normal form) while others have a unique proportion (like Snow Queen). HID tends to make celebrity lookalikes and he takes care to make sure their base height is accurate to the person.
Snow Queen has proportions that aren't visible in the shaping pane. She's 177cm without any increase to her height-and that equates to a unique shape. Any model with her body will transform into someone taller and slimmer. Cheyenne is the Gen 9 base height of 169cm or so, once you set her height to 0.
Even for all the weird critters I make I try to keep the size basically the same, even if the character is a giant troll, or a tiny gnome.
The reason for this is simple, it is because everyone has a different idea of what size they want these creatures to be in their renders, and it is easy enough to scale them up or down to whatever size you want.
All that really matters when we make characters is that the proportions make sense for the character, then they can be scaled to any size without issues.
Normally, if all things were simple, I would agree with you but I suggested my approach because I figure that the customer is buying the character because they are happy with the proportions but just want to adjust the height. If they want a pudgier or splindliet figure then the proportional height dials would be a better choice. I find I buy based on what looks good to my eye.
There are some characters that are bigger and smaller. Also, there are pre-packaged body morph sets here and other places for painlessly adjusting character size and proportion. Many characters are similar size, but not all are same size.