Adjusting Distance to a Mesh or Rig

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‌Adjusting Distance to a Mesh or Rig

If you are pinning a mesh or rig as part of an initial lineup, especially as part of an existing camera solve, you may need to adjust the distance from the camera to the mesh or rig, while preserving the visual size. This is pretty essential if it is a moving- camera match.

To adjust scale and distance of a mesh/rig simultaneously,

 select the mesh or the root object of the rig (never the mesh of a rig!),

 go to the 3-D panel,

 select a quad view or other view configuration that gives you a good view of the depth of the mesh/rig and where it is supposed to be located,

 select the Scaling tool on the 3-D panel,

 hold down the ALT/command key, and then

 drag the uniform scaling spinner up or down to simultaneously adjust scale and position.

As you adjust the spinner, you may want to hold down Control to get a finer motion. (Shift for gross, control for fine is standard behavior for spinners.)

Alternatively, you can do it in a 3D viewport and panel, by turning on the selection lock, scaling tool, then dragging in the 3D viewport to scale starting from the camera as the pivot point. (This is the same technique for rotating a mesh around any point or object.)

Either way, you may also find the shadow helpful in gauging the mesh's position on the ground plane, as it moves.

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