Change Scale Units

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1

Is there a way to change the scale unit from percentages to specific metric values? For example, to scale the diameter of a face to increase with 2mm instead of guessing what percentage it should increase with. At the moment my scale only allow me to, for example, increase by 1.1 or 1.5 etc.

2

Hi and welcome !
To scale diameter of a face, use simply dimensions.
But perhaps I have not understood your request.
See screenshot.

screen1
screen11920×1564 108 KB

3

Thanks for your reply Jean-Philippe. I am still new to Shaper3D and this is probably a rookie mistake, but the scale dimensions I’m talking about are the option you get when choosing the scale option. See the screenshot.

Scale Option
Scale Option940×508 223 KB

4

To change the diameter of a cylinder in Shapr3D, you can follow these steps:

  1. Select the Cylinder: Click on the cylinder to select it.
  2. Edit Sketch: If the cylinder was created from a sketch, you can edit the original sketch. Double-click on the sketch in the Items Manager to open it.
  3. Modify the Circle: Select the circle that defines the base of the cylinder. You can then change its diameter by either:
  • Dragging the circle’s edge to resize it.
  • Entering a specific value for the diameter in the dimension box that appears when you select the circle.
  1. Finish Sketch: Once you have adjusted the diameter, finish the sketch. The cylinder will update to reflect the new diameter.

If the cylinder was created using a different method and you need to change its diameter, you can use the following steps:

  1. Select the Cylinder: Click on the cylinder to select it.
  2. Use the Scale Tool:
  • Go to the Transform menu and select the Scale tool.
  • Choose the Uniform Scale option to ensure the diameter changes proportionally.
  • Click on the cylinder to select it for scaling.
  • Instead of using percentages, you can use the Distance option if available, to specify the exact amount you want to increase or decrease the diameter by.
  1. Direct Manipulation:
  • If the cylinder has a face that you can directly manipulate, select the face.
  • Use the Push/Pull tool to adjust the diameter. You can enter the specific value (e.g., 2mm) to increase or decrease the diameter.
  1. Edit Feature:
  • If the cylinder was created using a feature like Extrude, you can edit the feature directly.
  • Select the cylinder and look for the feature in the history or items manager.
  • Edit the feature and change the diameter value directly.

If these methods do not apply to your specific situation, please provide more details about how the cylinder was created, and I can offer more tailored instructions.

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5

Thank you, this helps a lot. I’ll try out all those options and see what works best. Do you know how I can get the “distance” option when using “scale”? Is there some place where I can change the settings for the scale tool?

6

In Shapr3D, when you use the Scale tool, there is no direct “distance” option available by default, as scaling typically works based on a percentage or factor, not a specific distance. The Scale tool is primarily used to resize objects by a factor rather than specifying a distance of change.

However, if you want to scale objects and control the distance, here’s a workaround:

  1. Scale by Factor: Use the Scale tool to scale your object by a factor (like 2x, 0.5x, etc.). This will uniformly scale the object.
  2. Use Dimensions: To control the size more precisely, you can use direct numerical input after scaling. You can go back and edit the specific dimensions of the object to ensure it matches your desired distance.

As for customizing settings for the Scale tool specifically, there is no dedicated place in Shapr3D where you can modify or add a “distance” option for scaling directly. You can access the scale tool from the Transform menu, but the controls remain factor-based.

For precise modifications like setting exact distances, you might prefer using other tools such as Move/Translate to position objects or manually adjust the dimensions via direct input.

7

Scaling to an exact dimension is easy using simple math.
For example, you have a diameter of 12mm and you want it scaled up by 2mm, or a new diameter of 14mm. in Scale, use the numeric keypad like this- 14 divided by 12 =. The Scale tool will show the percentage as 1.16667.

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