3. Click the Stretch button on the Modify toolbar.
The command line displays the Select objects prompt, with a warning to use the Crossing or CPolygon object selection mode:
Select objects to stretch by crossing-window or crossing-polygon...
Select objects:
4. Specify a crossing selection box that encloses some, but not all, endpoints of the lines.
Figure 6-9 shows a sample crossing selection box that completely encloses the two vertical lines on the right side of the figure. This crossing selection box cuts through the four horizontal lines, enclosing only one endpoint of each.
You specify a crossing selection box by picking a point, moving your mouse to the
5. Press Enter to end object selection.
AutoCAD displays the following prompt.
Specify base point or displacement:
6. Specify a base point by object snapping to a point on an existing object or by typing absolute X,Y coordinates.
This step is just like Step 5 in the Move procedure earlier in this chapter.
AutoCAD displays the following prompt.
Specify second point of displacement or <use first point as displacement>:
7. Toggle ortho mode on and then off by clicking the ORTHO button on the status bar; try moving the cursor around first with ortho mode on and then with it off to see the difference.
Figure 6-9 shows what the screen looks like as you move the cursor around with ortho off.
8. Toggle ortho mode on and then specify the second point — usually by using direct distance entry, object snapping to a point on an existing object, or typing relative X,Y coordinates.
This step is just like Step 6 in the Move procedure earlier in this chapter. After you pick the second point, AutoCAD stretches the objects. Notice that the Stretch command moved the two vertical lines because the crossing selection box contained both endpoints of both lines. Stretch lengthened or shortened the four horizontal lines because the crossing selection box enclosed only one endpoint of each.
The Stretch command takes some practice, but it’s worth the effort. Draw some additional kinds of objects and practice stretching with different crossing selection box locations as well as different base points and second points.
The commands in this section — ROtate, SCale, ARray, and OFfset — provide other ways (in addition to Move, CoPy, and Stretch) of manipulating objects or creating new versions of them. The procedures for each command assume that you’re familiar with the object selection and editing precision techniques presented in the Move, CoPy, and Stretch procedures (see the previous sections in this chapter).
The ROtate command “swings” one or more objects around a point that you specify. Follow these steps to use the ROtate command:
1. Press Esc to make sure that no command is active and no objects are selected.
2. Click the Rotate button on the Modify toolbar.
3. Select one or more objects and then press Enter to end object selection.
AutoCAD prompts you for the base point for rotating the selected objects:
Specify base point:
4. Specify a base point by clicking a point or typing coordinates.
The base point becomes the point about which AutoCAD rotates the objects. You also have to specify a rotation angle:
Specify rotation angle or [Reference]:
5. Specify a rotation angle by typing an angle measurement and pressing Enter.
Alternatively, you can indicate an angle on the screen by moving the cursor until the Coordinates section of the status bar indicates the desired angle and then clicking. If you choose this alternative, you will need to use ortho mode or polar tracking to indicate a precise angle (for example, 90 or 45 degrees) or an object snap to rotate an object so that it aligns precisely with other objects.
After you specify the rotation angle by typing or picking, AutoCAD rotates the objects into their new position.
If you read all my harping on drawing scales and drawing scale factors in Chapter 3, you may think that the SCale command performs some magical scale transformation on your entire drawing. No such luck. It merely scales one or more objects up or down by a factor that you specify. Here’s how it works:
1. Press Esc to make sure that no command is active and no objects are selected.
2. Click the Scale button on the Modify toolbar.
3. Select one or more objects and then press Enter to end object selection.
AutoCAD prompts you for the base point about which it will scale all the selected objects:
Specify base point:
AutoCAD does not scale each object individually around its own base point (because most AutoCAD drawing objects don’t have individual base points). Instead, AutoCAD uses the base point that you specify to determine how to scale
4. Specify a base point by picking a point or typing coordinates.
The base point becomes the point about which the objects are scaled. AutoCAD prompts you for the scale factor:
Specify scale factor or [Reference]:
5. Type a scale factor and press Enter.
AutoCAD then scales the objects by the factor that you type, using the base point that you specified. Numbers greater than one increase the objects’ size. Numbers smaller than one decrease the objects’ size.
Changing the drawing scale factor of a drawing after you’ve drawn it is a tedious and complicated process in AutoCAD. In brief, you need to change the scale-dependent system variables described in Chapter 3, and then scale some, but not all, drawing objects. You don’t scale the real-world geometry that you’ve drawn, because its measurements in the real world remain the same. You do scale objects such as text and hatching that have a fixed height or spacing regardless of drawing scale factor. (The SCALETEXT command can help with this operation. See Chapter 9 for more information.) Because of these complications, try to make sure that you choose a proper scale and set up the drawing properly for that scale before you begin drawing. See Chapter 3 for details.
The ARray command is like a supercharged CoPy: You use it to create a rectangular grid of objects at regular X and Y spacings or a polar wheel of objects at a regular angular spacing. For example, you can use rectangular arrays to populate an auditorium with chairs or a polar array to draw bicycle spokes. The following steps describe how to create a rectangular array, which you’ll probably do more often than creating a polar array:
1. Press Esc to make sure that no command is active and no objects are selected.
Alternatively, you can select objects before starting the ARray command and thereby skip Step 3.
2. Click the Array button on the Modify toolbar.
The Array dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 6-10.
Figure 6-10: ARray makes duplicates of objects in a rectangular or polar pattern.
