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Stretching


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I read the previous requests for a how-to on an equivalent to the ACAD stretch tool but I can't get the solutions to work. The Resize tool (and it's dragging coounter part) do stretch the objects selected in the direction you want but they also resize below the fixed point and do not hold the original shape within the object. Ex. I have a window with five long lines between two jagged end lines. All I want to do is select one end and the middle lines and move them to be longer/shorter in the middle without changing the end line parameters. (Note: This is a basic example but you get the point.)

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If you are just trying to extend the length of the lines, selecting all of them in conjunction with the 2d selection tool will do the trick. Select all of the lines, cursor over one end of any line and drag in the direction you want to extend them too.

If that is not what you want, please explain in further detail.

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The 2d selection tool.

Select the objects you want to expand and drag over.

If there are things other than lines, you may need to do it individually with this tool.

There are also parametric constraints that might assist you in this. A detailed explaination of them is included in the VW user's guide

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Hello

Select hat you want to stretch

Pick the reshape poly tool

Drag a rectangle around what you want to stretsch

Drag to where you want

If you need more accuracy, enter x and y values with 'tab'. Validate even zeos.

It's exactly a stretch tool as in acad.

Doesn't work with groups and symbols.

I don't know for 3d.

Regards.

Francesco

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Hi. That doesn't quite cut it. I have a library of pre-drawn images that I need to be able to use in various drawings that will require some resizing for each use. But I don't need to resize in all directions - I'm not looking to scale. I need to be able to stretch the designs. For example, I have a built-in that is 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide. I need to maintain the 5 feet tall but make it 4 feet wide while keeping all other relationships equal (ex. I have a 6"x6" detail in each upper corner that I want to keep 6"x6") How can I accomplish this?

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quote:

Originally posted by arthur&l?on:

Hello

Select hat you want to stretch

Pick the reshape poly tool

Drag a rectangle around what you want to stretsch

Drag to where you want

If you need more accuracy, enter x and y values with 'tab'. Validate even zeos.

It's exactly a stretch tool as in acad.

Doesn't work with groups and symbols.

I don't know for 3d.

Regards.

Francesco

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I tried the selecting and polygon edit tool. Wow! This is exactly like the stretch command in Acad. I have been using VectorWorks for 6 years now and needed that solution. Katie, why have you not published that in any of the other stretch message boards? You keep on giving other solutions, but that is certainly the best.

Thank you Arthur&Leon!

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I guess I didn't understand the original question. Especially since there have been several different people here asking the same thing.

The 2d reshape tool is to change vertices or to move vertices - reshape objects.

I was under the impression the person wanted to extend the left set of lines further to the left to stretch the whole box.

The 2d reshape tool would not have been a good tool for that. The resize cursor would have been ideal.

Parametric contraints are good for stretching, but in a different connotation also.

So WHY didn't I give you the answer you wanted in the first place? Because the way the ORIGINAL problem was explained, that's what I understood it as. That is why I repetedly asked exact information and desciptions. Not to mention there are several ways to do many things in the program. I think your problem was different than resizing or lengthening something.

*shrug*

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Selecting certain objects and using the resize tool does work well, similar to stretch in ACad. Moving windows within walls is easily done via this method. If I could add to the wish list, though, I'd ask for more positive snapping to points, in addition to the dot that appears next to the cursor when over a snap point.

All the best,

Philip S. Wheelock, Jr. AIA

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Katie asked whether I'd elaborate on "positive snapping"...

OK. If you've used AutoCad, you probably know that one of it's strengths is stretching. What I like about it is when the cursor finds a snap point, it latches onto it, even if you continue to move the mouse slightly. In VW, you get a dot and a snap point identifier (center, point, etc) and it works well 98% of the time, but the cursor doesn't literally snap to the point. I just have to be more careful when stretching to ensure accuracy than I normally would in AC.

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If the cursor isn't snapping to the correct point, you may need to adjust your snap grid.

The snap grid is made of snap points also. Sometimes you may get a "point" cursor and you could be snapping to that.

* I've never used AutoCad, so bear with me. I have it here and I know how to do some things like dimension, open files, change units, create additional pages, etc. but that's about it.

[ 09-30-2002, 11:49 AM: Message edited by: Katie ]

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Katie:

Try using the stretch command in Acad (Select objects then hit: "s" + "Return) to see what I mean. As I said earlier, VW stretch works very well, it's only that Acad's implementation is a bit crisper. This isn't any big deal so I'm not in complaining mode. Replicating Acad's stretch command isn't on my major wish list - that's reserved for viewports (croppable layer links). That will be a huge production time saver. :-)

All the best,

Philip S. Wheelock, Jr. AIA

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Okay, that stretch command was a big tricky to do. I didn't understand that I needed to type something in like single or something.

Now i see how the 2d reshape tool is like stretching in AC.

the term "stretch" to me, means like taking silly putty and pulling it apart. You aren't changing the basic shape of it, you are just stretching it like a piece of elastic. The term reshaping seems much better for that description. But I guess that's why we are considered "an easy program to use".

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