1/144 Scale Furniture

[nscaletrain2008]

ok ... i am not and expert at this but i saw a thread on a newspaper sstand on a model RR site...and he changed the dpi on his printer...that gives you the resolution ...but even in a microscale ..i am sure you lose some..reguardless... i have done anything in paper smaller than n scale...as my printer isnt and exspensive one ...when i go micro...i usually use ..wood, paper and and needles to paint with...almost like painting on a grain of rice... that tiny..

[Plumdragon]

Hello nscaletrain :-) That is miniature work indeed :-) Very nice! As for printing, things this small always get printed at the highest possible resolution the printer will allow (and in this dumed-down modern world, that's usually a choice between 'fast', 'normal' or 'best') My ancient and now sadly defunct and sorely missed cheap printer did have the option to print at super high res....

That aside, it's interesting that you say you would find designing in larger scales problematic, I imagine that limits you a little, but I guess you have plenty of subjects to have a go at if N Gauge is your thing!

This may be my only foray into this miniature furniture world, though. I like the 1/12 scale Dollhouse subjects because I can add a lot of rich textures to the artwork, which does kind of get lost in the shrinking process! My thanks for taking an interest :-)

Plumdragon

[kcorbin]

There is an interesting point to note about creating very small scale miniatures. Our minds will if familiar with the subject matter fill in details that are not shown. Which readily translates to less can be more without the work of adding more details when creating at a very small scale. For instance you don't have to show all the mortar lines in a brick wall. It can be instead implied by a few line of mortar here and there and color blocking variations here and there indicating that there are brick shapes on the wall. Our brain then accepts it as a brick wall.

But where do you put those few indications of mortar lines so they have a strong influence in telling the story of the building? At the primary focal points of course and also in the areas to which you want to attract the viewers focus. Irregularity attracts attention therefore it is a useful tool to have variation in the surface rather than everything being the same stamped texture pattern. Also when surfaces get too busy your eyes can quickly tired of looking at the project. Finding the balance is the trick.

[Plumdragon]

Ah, interesting comments there, kcorbin :-)
The smallest designs I have done up to now are 2mm Scale railway subjects; these are close in size to 1/144, but quite a different way of working.... I do design those models at that scale, and often find that much detail which would be applied in a larger scale needs to be stripped away, as it gets fat too messy, squeezing umpteen slats or louvres or whatever into the available space (if you catch my drift)

So, I pare away the details, and whats left 'tricks' the eye into seeing a lot that isn't there - very similar, I think, to your ideas, although I do appreciate that a piece of furniture or a building would need a slightly different approach. I like the idea of 'less is more' in the tiniest models - even some bigger ones can benefit from this, although I confess to being a 'rivet counter' :-)

I tried 'shrinking' one of my 1/12 furniture pieces, and all the detail got lost.... funny how it works better with a photograph of the real thing, though. Perception is a curious thing :-)

Plumdragon

[kcorbin]

Just figure you what the smallest line width pixel size that is visible at 1:144 is. Then plan around that.

[zeawolves77]

always love the tiny bitty model :D
need patience to build and very 'efficient' in display space :D