Models, Scale, and Height
I’d like to do a bit of opinion-gathering on a dilemma I’m having regarding the heights of gang members, and how I’ll depict them in the future. Please read on and give me your thoughts!
The Context
As I sort through models and import them into Blender (the 3D modeling software I use), I’m realizing that, within a certain range, it seems like slight differences in scale are lost. I hadn’t noticed the issue at first, as I had assumed that the models of all gang members/NPCs of a given gender were the same height as a game design convenience - easier to animate, share clothing across NPCs, etc. However, as I attempted to import some of the horse models, I realized that The Count (Dutch’s tiny Arabian) and Brown Jack (Bill’s huge Ardennes) were importing as the same size. That’s a problem to troubleshoot all on its own, but it’s brought me back to a different issue:
The Problem
The gang members’ models may be of identical height in the game engine, or may initially import into Blender at an identical height, but regardless of whether the identical heights are a side effect of game design convenience or a loss of scale data during import, it does not make sense for every gang member of a given gender to be the same height. That’s just not how heights work, and while the game itself might have made differing heights hard to implement, the way that I’m handling this project will allow me to give different gang members different heights without too much trouble (I think).
Possible Solutions
I leave everyone at the height they import as. All men in the gang remain identical in height, and all women in the gang remain identical in height. Less realistic, but involves less meddling.
I take a little time and create some height variation within the gang. This would be almost exclusively headcanon-based, as I believe Javier is the only character with a height firmly stated in either RDR1 or RDR2 (he’s 5′8″).
End Thoughts
I’m leaning toward option 2, just to make things a touch more organic, but I’m curious what folks think I should do here. Let me know which option you prefer in the comments/tags, and if you want to share your height headcanons on top of that, please, go wild. :)