For this project, it may be best to have 1 Maya unit = 1mm.

For example, let’s say you are working on a CG remake of The Secret World of Arriety, and for this project, the majority of the shots are to be rendered as if filmed with macro lenses. The workflow is like so:įor some projects, real-world units may not be the best working scale. Once you’ve modelled your asset to real-world units and checked this against Maya’s default scale, we can then push the model to the project, in which it can then be scaled (if need be) to better suit the project requirements.

This should be set to Linear: centimeter.

And then under the Settings catergory, you should find Working Units. In Maya, you can check the Working Units by going Windows > Settings/Preferences > Preferences. By default, our CAVE working scale for models are in centimetres, as set in Maya:įor example, if you are modelling a digi-double for George Clooney, who according to the internet is around 5ft 10 (180cm), then your model in Maya should be 180 units tall. This will ensure that your assets along with the assets of your colleagues are built and sized consistently for each project, and as assets are pushed down the pipeline, there are no issues with scale. Before working on any asset, you should ensure that you are working to the correct scale.

Vfx suite tutorial