With the architecture work it feels fairly important to work at true (1x) scale.
Some of the models and shaders I have built up for the still life work are at arbitrary (large) scales
Normally both worlds are separate but occasionally I might want to bring an object from my still-life library into an architectural model.
I’m considering rescaling my still-life objects to 1x also but I can see that this will entail some work on mending broken shaders etc.
I’m happy to do this but is it a good idea?
How important is scale in Blender ?
Is Blender able to handle everything from a building to a small insect (say) in a single scene?
Scale is as important as the amount of time it will save you to not have to tweak and adjust things later. I try to model everything to scale, it’s not really any more difficult than doing it at arbitrary scales and it save time later.
Blender can support a pretty wide range of scales while maintaining good enough precision. I model everything in inch (1 blender unit = 1") scale, And I have never had any difficulty with scenes (tradeshow booth renders for big shows like E3) up to 100’x200’. Other than it being a little more difficult to navigate, blender seemed to handle it just fine. I have small screws with details < 1/32" in the same scene as 150’ wide conference room structures. I will say that the viewport performance does degrade as you increase the clipping distance, you can see wires through objects and the like, but nothing too extreme.