Moon looks too small in 3D model I'm not sure if this is more a question for a 3D graphics forum, but I'm trying here first in case the answer has more to do with astronomy than 3D.

I am creating a model of the Earth and Moon in a piece of 3D software. To avoid the enormous scale of using real-world sizes, I am using a 1000:1 scale ratio.

These are the dimensions I'm using:


Earth radius = 6,371 m
Moon radius = 1,737 m
Distance from Earth to
Moon = 384,400 m


Since I have scaled everything equally, I would assume that the proportions of things would look accurate, but the moon looks very small indeed.

Here is a quick render from a camera placed just above the surface of the Earth, looking out at the moon:



The camera's focal length is 24mm, which I understand to be relatively similar to the human eye. I was expecting the moon to look similar in size to how it looks when you look up at it in real life but, as you can see, it's a tiny little dot.

Is there something obvious I'm missing here, or some explanation for this discrepancy?
I decided to answer because the role of perception is not yet taken into account.

The way we see is not only dictated by the optics of our eyes as cameras. It depends on how the brain elaborate or interprete the signals.

It is well known but still surprising that a finger at arm length can accommodate something like seven to ten moons (if not ten to thirteen, I can't look right now). Still, it quite possible that asking a person (not aware of that) something like  "how many moon can you cover with a finger?" we get an answer such as "may be half" or " one? two? Tell me...".

Specifically to Moon:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion

Photographing the Moon with a smartphone or a point and shoot camera we get things like this picture (3.5 mm, aperture 2.6).

The moon looks much smaller in the photograph than as seen in reality. The result does not look too dissimilar from the pic posted by OP.
(Let me add that my photo was cropped a bit, so the native size of the moon is even smaller).

All this is to say that whatever is aimed at giving a feeling of realism should consider perception of reality rather then size of reality.

This is done in Stellarium and many others sky viewing apps where a "realistic" option is used to alter the angular size of the moon paradoxically away from reality. I.e. the moon is arbitrarily scaled up to fit our common perception. 

I think this is what the OP is dealing with.

PS I am pretty sure that my pic has been uploaded. For some reason it does not appear to be the case. If necessary let me know. By the way it was a house with sky and a small than commonly perceived Moon ;)

Per this comment here is a cell phone image with a horizontal FOV of about 60°. However in this pic the moon is not that small. I suspect the brain still enlarges it as it is down at horizon and trees are close :)