Token Scale - Exact or Exaggerated?

[Tailz Silver Paws]

I've been trying to keep my scale measurements spot on, but when I compared to some tokens I found that my human tokens were small when compared to how other tokens seems to take up most of a 5ft square.

So I thought I might show how I am working out my scales and see what people say.

I have been working on a principle of so many pixels per so many inches. And I was planning on using two scales, a close up scale with a higher level of detail to use in small areas (like in rooms or buildings), and a larger scale for outdoor maps.

Here is a chart, with a 5ft square containing an average human token.

At first I was thinking of using the 1:1 scale for indoor maps, and the 1:2 scale for outdoor maps. But since I made my chart to see what the detail looks like – I changed my mind and might use 2:1 as the indoor scale and 1:1 as the outdoor scale.

I was considering the 3:1 scale for indoor maps, but then I think the maps would only be too large, especially in file size. I then thought, well since I am aiming to mostly do World War II material, how about the tanks. Here is a sample render of a Panzer II and an M4A3 E8 Sherman at 2:1 scale and then 1:1 scale.

The tokens would be quite large and I wonder if they would end up too large. But then I also wonder if my to scale people tokens will feel a little too…small…skinny… compared to some other tokens.

[richvalle]

I like the 2:1 indoor / 1:1 outdoor idea.

Nice tanks!

rv

[kepli]

I agree, the 2:1 ones are certainly big enough for indoor maps.

Out of curiosity, what size do you use? 100pix per inch (5 foot) for 2:1 scale?

[Fade]

Just out of interest, and nothing to do with scaling, do you make two tokens for one tank, one for the body and one for the turret? So you can effectively rotate the turret?

[heruca]

I'm OK with slightly oversizing top-down PC and NPC tokens, because they look a lot better large, so the 2:1 scale gets my vote. But tanks or other vehicles I would want exactly to scale.

[Tailz Silver Paws]

Heruca wrote:

I'm OK with slightly oversizing top-down PC and NPC tokens, because they look a lot better large, so the 2:1 scale gets my vote. But tanks or other vehicles I would want exactly to scale.

I agree, but I am aiming to have everything to scale.

Fade wrote:

Just out of interest, and nothing to do with scaling, do you make two tokens for one tank, one for the body and one for the turret? So you can effectively rotate the turret?

Yes I do, one token is the body of the tank, the other is the turret section so you can turn it around.

Kepli wrote:

I agree, the 2:1 ones are certainly big enough for indoor maps.

Out of curiosity, what size do you use? 100pix per inch (5 foot) for 2:1 scale?

Nope, I use a scaleing math that relates directly to the scale listed.

eg: 2:1 is 2 pixels per 1 inch. thus 24 pixels is 1ft.
So a 5ft cube in the scale measurements I use are:

3:1 = 180 x 180 pixels.
2:1 = 120 x 120 pixels
1:1 = 60 x 60 pixels.
1:2 = 30 x 30 pixels.

The scales I plan to use are in bold.

[heruca]

The scales you're planning to use sound perfect.

There's a color disparity between the tanks and their turrets. Easy enough to fix. Or is it intentional?

[Tailz Silver Paws]

The scales you're planning to use sound perfect.

There's a color disparity between the tanks and their turrets. Easy enough to fix. Or is it intentional?

What you might be picking up on is the shadow around the turret, I have been putting a shadow effect on the tokens to help lift them out from whatever maps they are put on. I did this also with the turrets.

[heruca]

Actually, the Panzer turret is darker than the Panzer body. And the Sherman turret is a yellower green than the body.

[Tailz Silver Paws]

Actually, the Panzer turret is darker than the Panzer body. And the Sherman turret is a yellower green than the body.

Hum... could be that because the objects were slightly closer to the light when I rendered them the difference in light lightly changed the tone....