Why do imported .bvh characters move away and fall apart when I apply Scale (Ctrl A)?

Could anyone please tell me why imported .bvh figures move away and fall apart when I apply Scale, using Ctrl A?

The character moves around as expected until I apply Scale.

Did I do something wrong during motion capture, or during/after import into Blender?

EDIT: The problem seems to be due to the fact that the characters is huge (perhaps 50 x the desired size) when it’s imported, which means I have to scale it down. I have tried to scale down in Object as well as Edit mode, but that doesn’t make any difference.

SOLVED - kind of:

If I scale my character UP, so it fits the armature, instead of scaling the armature DOWN, there’s no problem.

Except that I had designed a dozen characters, props and buildings at a certain and very precise size (down to centimeters), and now I need to rescale everything to fit the imported .bvh.

So, kind of solved…:yes:

Have you tried to scale down the armature, then applying scale?

Yes - that’s exactly what I did.

As soon as I did that, the character completely ‘freaked out’.

As far as I can see, armatures just can’t be scaled. (Or, more precisely: They can, but Scale can’t be applied later on without unwanted consequences.)

It’s a drag, but the correct procedure seems to be to scale the character up instead.