Scale Item#
The Scale Item tool allows you to scale items using manipulator gizmos. This manipulator is bound to the R key. To scale a selection just click-drag on the cube at the extremity of the axis. The axis will highlighted in yellow when hovering over it.
Use Middle Button to scale the items through the normal plane of the selected axis. click-drag on the center cuber to scale on all axis at once. Pressing Esc while dragging cancels the action.
It is possible to hide/show the manipulator by pressing X.
Like the Select tool, it is possible to use the Scale Item to manage selections. Please refer to the Select tool for more information. This tool also offers a comprehensive set of snapping functions. For more information please refer to Snapping.
Scale Item Gizmo
To access to more options use the Tool Options widget or double-click on the tool icon in the toolbar. Using the preferences panel, it is possible to set the default behavior of the manipulator options. Go to Edit > Preferences... > Layout.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Opacity Threshold | Set the opacity threshold under which the picked item is considered as invisible and therefore not selectable. For more information please refer to Picking Transparent Items. |
| Space | Select manipulator transformation space. |
| Mode | Set the mode of the tool. When set to Scale, the manipulator gizmo scales the selection. When set to Offset, the gizmo updates the Scale Offset of the selection and when set to Pivot, the gizmo updates the Scale Pivot. |
| Skip Children | Skip children transformation update in case both parent and children are manipulated together. |
| Manipulator Interest Center | Set the position of the scale manipulator in world space when Space is set to Manipulator. |
| Manipulator Display Offset | Set a display offset of the manipulator |
| Snap Enabled | Enable scale value snapping. |
| Snap Increment | Set the snap value increment of the tool in all axis. |
| Pivot Snap Default Plane | Select default plane to snap on when mouse cursor doesn't target any items when snapping. |
| Pivot Snap Distance | Set the distance in screen space to search for nearby vertices when performing vertex snapping. |
| Pivot Snap Increment | Set the snap increment of the pivot in all axis. This basically controls the size of the snapping grid unit. |
Manipulating Item Offset and Pivots#
Using the Scale Item it is possible to edit the scale offset of the items in-place without scaling the items. Press Ins key to enter the offset edition mode. Alternatively, you can set the Mode option to Offset using the Tool Options widget. When in Offset/Pivot edition mode, axis lines are displayed as dashed lines. If you press Ins a second time, you will enter the pivot edition mode to set the scale pivot point.
It is also possible to enter the pivot edition mode by setting the Mode option to Pivot. Pressing Ins a third time returns to the Scale mode.
Manipulator Space#
It is possible to control in which space manipulators are expressed. By default, they are set to Parent to reflect the attribute values of the items which are expressed in parent coordinates.
| Space | Description |
|---|---|
| Object | Set the manipulator in object coordinates. |
| Manipulator | Set the manipulator in its own coordinates system. |
When space is set to Manipulator it is possible to manage the location of the gizmo. Pressing O offsets the manipulator to the center of the selection, M repositions the manipulator under the mouse cursor and P resets the manipulator offset.
In Manipulator mode it is also possible to access to the Manipulator Initialization group of options in the Tool Options widget which defines how the tool is initialized when the selection is changing. You can specify the initialization behavior for single selections and multi-selections.
| Single Selection mode / Multi Selection mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Unchanged | The manipulator stays in place |
| World Origin | The manipulator stays at the world origin |
| Object Pivot / Last Selected Pivot | The manipulator is placed at the pivot location of the selected object |
| Object Bounding Box Center / Selection Bounding Box Center | The manipulator is placed at the center of the bounding box |
| Object Bounding Box Ground / Selection Bounding Box Ground | The manipulator is placed at the bottom center of the bounding box |