Scaling Of A Rectangle Not Working?

Altair Forum User

Latest Mac version.

 

Fire up Evolve. Make a rectangle. Bring up scale and select. I want to scale it in one direction only, say X. It says there is construction tree data area and it cannot be changed. Say what? I just created it! I've done nothing to it since its creation.

 

So I look for the construction tree and there isn't any history data. So I resize it. I don't see history... creation followed by resize.

 

OK... what am I missing?

 

mark

 

Altair Forum User

More specifically I can only scale it and it maintains it's ratio. I can't 'stretch' in one axis only due to the construction tree data (or so it says).

ArjunA_22390

Hi Mark,

 

The scaling for all objects 'with history' is uniform. i.e Any object with history cannot be scaled along a single axis.

To do scale along one axis, the object's history has to be deleted or collapsed as we call it in Evolve.

 

In you case, select the rectangle and press 'C' or Go to Edit-Collapse construction tree. This will pop up a new window that asks you for a confirmation. On deleting the construction history, you will be able to scale it along X,Y and Z separately.

 

A tip: When you select any object in Evolve and hit scale, if you see all 3 handles X,Y, Z in Yellow color, it means you can only scale it uniformly.

Once the construction history is deleted, you will notice that the X,Y and Z handles for scaling appear in different colors. This depicts that the object can now be scaled on 3 separate axes.

 

Hope this helps,

Thanks,

Arjun

Darren Chilton_21533

Hi Mark,

 

Just an additional note to what Arjun said.  If you just want to change the dimension of the rectangle, you can just select it, press the spacebar to go into edit mode and drag any one of the sides, or change the dimensions numerically in the Modeling Tool Panel on the right.

 

Thanks,

Altair Forum User

Thanks all!

 

mark

Altair Forum User

That isn't quite what I had in mind. Using collapse appears to make a rectangle lose its 'rectangleness'. I need to be able to play with it as one.

 

Let me describe what I'm doing. I'm created a mortise (a hole) and tenon (a tongue that sticks into the hole) joint. Let me explain it geometrically.

 

Make a big rectangle say 100x100. Extrude it to some thickness. Make a rectangle on the surface, say 6x40. Trim the 6x40 half way into the material. Great you have a mortise. A tenon will go into that... except that it doesn't fit if the CAD design is run on a CNC machine. Why? The corners of the 6x40 have materials in them because the cutters - end mills - are round. There is a half radius of material in the corners.

 

The common solution to handle this is a 'dog biscuit' which is hidden under the material that has the tenon. The I've always done it - in other packages in the past - is to make a rectangle via snaps that is 6x6. One at each end of the 6x40. Now scale in direction perpendicular to the 40 direction and make it a bit more than half a tool diameter - the center of the rectangle is pinned.

 

Making the 6x6 in Evolve was trivial. The scale didn't go as I expected. The 'C' for collapse history appears to make the 'rectangleness' disappear, only a curved surface remains. I want the rectangle to remain. So I need to create it without scale... and so I'm experimenting with how to do that cleanly. Any suggestions?

 

mark

Altair Forum User

Yes, I know I can snap one of a diameter of a circle to the corner, radius it properly and then extrude it to get what I need. I'm trying to understand how to do some things - to build a tool kit - so I can do what I need to do efficiently. Lots to learn here.

 

Thanks ahead of time. Still want to know about the rectangle question.