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Is there any benefit in moving from mm to cm for archiviz?

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Luke:
Just wondering if there is any derived benefit of changing my workflow in max from mm to cm?
I've worked in archiviz for 13 years and just always used mm, but after reading around I've noticed that a lot of ppl are using cm...?

aaouviz:
I use mm too. From some light research I don't think I've ever read anything that says one is preferred over the other.

I think it's simply a matter of choosing something and sticking with it; being consistent.

I'd love to hear others opinion on the topic though. I often think we need some sort of 'formats and conventions' specified for our industry. This is something we're lacking.

dj_buckley:
CM is a happy medium for the range of scene scales you come across in Arch Viz.  From smaller interiors to larger exteriors.  There were some issues with zooming (not sure if they still exist), for example if set to M you couldn't zoom into an object close enough to get smaller details.

I'm using CM, these days and haven't had any viewport issues for a while.

PROH:
Hi. It's all about scene scale. Max is a single-precision program (like most DCC's) and therefore can't calculate very large numbers precise. That means, that the further away from drawing origin (0,0,0) the less precision.

That's the reason Max warns you if the scene is to far away from drawing origin, and that's why it's impossible to draw a straight line far away from 0,0,0.

So use the system unit that fits your need:
City scale - meters
Interior scale - cm
Product scale - mm

Also remember that Max has two unit settings: 1) System Units, and 2) Display Units. All behind the scene calculations are done in System Units, and most UI measures are following the display Units.

NB - When using meter as System Units you should set decimals to 4 to keep precision down to millimeters.

Hope it helps

NicolasC:
Great summary, PROH :)

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