Scale Entities

Use the Scale tool to increase or decrease an entity's dimensions in your model.

When scaling components, all the geometry (lines, surfaces, points) and elements (nodes) contained in the selected components are automatically scaled.

Since scale factors act as multipliers or divisors, they cannot be zero, and a factor of one produces no change in the corresponding direction. Decimal factors are acceptable and can be helpful when converting a model to different units of measurement.

Non-uniform scaling can distort meshes and models. Uniform scaling can distort meshes if only some of an entity's nodes are scaled.

  1. From the Home tools, click the arrow next to the Move tool, then select Scale.
    Figure 1.


  2. Choose an entity type using the selector on the guide bar.
  3. Select the entities to scale.
  4. Optional: From the guide bar, select the origin and/or systems. If nothing is selected, then the global 0,0,0 origin is selected by default.
    Figure 2.


    Click in the microdialog to manipulate the scaling origin with the Move tool. If you do not move the node for the scaling origin, the global coordinate system's origin is used.
  5. Define the scaling factor.
    1. From the microdialog, click to perform minus scaling or toggle it off to perform positive scaling.
    2. Enter a scaling factor for uniform or non-uniform scaling.
      A positive factor of 1.5 will produce an 150% the size of the original.
      Important: Entering the scaling factor only accepts the value; it does not execute the operation.
  6. On the guide bar, click Scale.
    Your selections are retained until you exit the tool or reset your guide bar selections.