Stretch an object made of a series of extrudes

[AlanW]

Hi,

How can you reduce the width easily of an object made up of a series of extrudes, like a cup'd say without individually reducing each part of the cup'd one at a time.

have tried the reshape tool.

Thanks

[CipesDesign]

Depending on the exact shape, you might try to Group all the objects, then use one of the 9 handles (grabbing the middle handle on any given side should allow stretching or shrinking of the length without altering the width or thickness). With extrudes it it sometime important to be in the appropriate straight-on view (e.g.: top/plan or left, etc).

[Benson Shaw]

What's a cup'd? Post an example?

Another idea to explore:

•Convert to Mesh (may involve ungrouping, composing, solid addition or other steps)

•Marquee or Lasso (with the Selection tool) vertices which need to be moved

•Drag to new location. Guide objects may be helpful.

-B

[AlanW]

A Cup'd is short for a cupboard. a wardrobe etc.

Peter thanks for your comments, unfortunately when you group the object and stretch the object all the components enlarge.

So I solved this by grouping all the parts that needed to be longer, then moved the sides that were parallel to the stretch direction so they did not increase in thickness.

[CipesDesign]

Alan, yes exactly the way to do it. Just out of curiosity, have you used the cabinet plug-ins that ship with VW's? Or I believe there is an add-on product that goes even further. Because these are parametric objects, all that's needed is to change the dimensions in the OIP and everything behaves as expected. Unfortunately, the native VW's cabinets are very basic, and may not be suitable for custom (or fussy) projects. One way to work around that is to start with a VW's cabinet, then Ungroup it and fiddle with the parts. Of course the resulting parts are never going to parametric again (after Ungrouping) so some thought needs to given to the procedure...

[AlanW]

Peter,

Yes have done this which is good for the basic units but eventually the design will involve high end joinery so the extrude option and building the cabinet in 3d exactly the way a joiner will make it I found gives me the best result and I don't mind stretching the pieces separately but other staff ask why cant I do it in one go, so I keep asking and searching. Maybe its something that can be added to the next VW update. Especially now the 3d capabilities are so good.

Regards

[CipesDesign]

Alan, I totally understand! If you haven't already seen/used it, check out InteriorCad (a VW's add-on). I haven't looked at it in a few years so I can't really endorse it. But it might be worth a demo. Take Care! P

[AlanW]

Great Thanks, will do.