Virtual perspective and the measurement system

When using the building tools, we are presented with measurements in meters(m) both in the input boxes and on the grid when moving an object. A meter, for those not familiar with the metric system, is close to a yard(approx. 9 tenths of a meter).

Now the issues I want to raise, which I think concerns everyone who considers them self as a content creator, are the following:

Firstly, is the world constructed in such a way(ie content or infrastructure placed by the lindens before resident creation takes place) that resident created objects would seem proportionally correct and in perspective? example: These measurements are being followed by a serious content creator; he is building a car and knows from real life what the dimensions are, so he follows the metric guides. His accurately crafted car would be blown out of perspective on a road that is small and out of proportion to his measurements, or perhaps while he's driving past lamp posts which were modeled too big, his car would seem dwarfed against its surroundings.

Secondly, SL has existed long enough for content creators to fill the world, and thus set up a "standard" of proportions. Why? Because people tend to measure things in relation to other objects, and so the "real" standard of measurement might NOT be that of the building system, and we are living in a virtual world of distorted perspectives.

"Yes, it's a creative environment and perspective is meant to be distorted" you might say, however if you want to build something extraordinary, you should first know what "ordinary" is, otherwise your build will simply lose that which makes it different. This is why perspective is so important, especially in a creative environment.

So let's get a discussion going here, and hopefully get the input of LL as well about the implications of perspective in this virtual world of ours.

- Some of the things we can discuss:
The "standard" of people's avatar sizes and how it affects your builds.
Your thoughts on the sizes of buildings, transport and furniture.
The size of the environment in relation to your builds.
The accuracy of LL's measurement system in relation to SL.
The accuracy of LL's measurement system in relation to avatar sizes and proportions.

I'd love to hear some intelligent input on this topic, because after all, in a world that is entirely virtual, perspective is one of the most important visual factors for successful human interaction.

This was discussed at length last January:

/8/4b/162764/1.html

So it can't be discussed again? Surely someone has something to add since last January. I am not any expert at all in building but I do like to tinker with it and would love to hear input from people more experienced or better than I am.

Oh.........and I did read that thread back in January. But I'm still interested. Just because that one thread was discussed for two pages does not mean all the intelligent insight and ideas were exhausted.

So sorry! Did not mean to stop discussions. I thought it might be a starting point for further discussion, that is why I put the link in. There are still earlier posts about this and it might be worth linking them up as well.

It would take a very determined group of people to alter the status quo with new designs. Need to make it so that the taller av looks out of place.

Two aspects I can think of is that a two floor house might have 5 M ceilings so that a 10 x 10 wall could be used for both floor walls. Not many rl houses have 5 M ceilings. 3 M would be much more normal, but that might interfere with camera angles and tp landings.

Because ceilings are so high, houses need more sq m floor space to look normal.

Hope this redeems my last post!

Hahaha...........you're redeemed Ed. I guess my post did sound rather blunt.....I'm sorry too.

Most of the distortion in perspective in SL is due to the camera angle I agree. Even 3 meter ceilings are a little high for the average real life house (by about 1/3 of a meter........or 1 foot for us Americans ). When I build my houses (I don't sell them) I make the celling 7 meters so I don't have the camera stuck in the ceiling all the time.......and my avi is somewhere around 5 ft tall........what's that? 1.6 or 1.7 meters?

I'm not sure what can be done without adjusting the camera angle........which would put your own avi's head in the way all the time.

But assuming an avi is somewhere close to realistic in height, the example of a SL car built in a true scale should work.......in my mind anyway.