I have been trying to locate a tutorial on scaling part of a model in just one direction but what ever i try it seems to scale the complete element.
Say in my model I have a piece of wood that 5cm x 10cm x 180cm, all I want to do is to scale it just in a single direction, i.e. 6cm x 10cm x 180cm.
I can only seem to scale the entire wood, i.e. if I change the 5cm to 6cm is scales all the dimensions up which is not what i am after, I then have to try and scale it down using the extrude tool, tried the scale tool but it is just not as easy as the extrude tool.
I am using 2016 Pro, cannot use anything newer as it wont run on my laptop.
To scale in one direction only, use a scale handle in the middle of the side of the scale box instead of a corner or edge.
If you want to scale about the center, hold the Ctrl key while scaling.
Sometimes the Scale tool is not appropriate for changing the dimensions of a part. For example, if that piece of wood has tenons on the ends, scaling would result in the tenons getting scaled by the same factor as the overall length. Usually that’s not what you want to happen. Instead of using Scale, you can select the end of the board including the tenon and then use the Move tool to move it the required distance.
I have tried this but it seems to take ages to get it to the right size, i.e. I scale it, then I have to re-measure it, then scale it again, and then re-measure it, it seems hit and miss and I can never seem to get it to the right size, is there a way to start to scale it and then say enter 6 so that it will expand it to be 6cm wide ?
Start the scale operation, let go of the mouse and type 6cm and hit Enter. You need to add the units or the number is a scale factor. If you were to use Move instead, you would enter the change in dimension instead.
No there isn’t if you omit the units when you type your input.
6 [Enter] results in scaling by factor 6
6cm [Enter] results in 6cm between where the grips are, the box you resized.
It’s better to get into the habit of completing the scale before entering the length because if you want to use " for inches you need to press the Shift key which interrupts the process.
