Rotate and scale

Rotate

Rotate (QQ) turns the selection about a center point. It takes three clicks: the center, a starting direction, and the end direction.

1. Select what you want to turn. If nothing is selected, Rotate takes the thing you click first.
2. Press QQ. A ring follows the pointer, showing the plane you will turn in.
3. Click the center of rotation.
   • On the ground or in empty space, the ring lies flat (blue): the turn is about a vertical axis, like turning a building on its site.
   • On a face, the ring lies in that face's plane: the turn is about the face's own direction. Click on a wall to turn something about a horizontal axis.
4. Click a point that sets where the angle starts, for example along an edge of the thing you are turning.
5. Move the pointer around the center. The angle shows in the tip and in the value box (Angle). It clicks into steps of 15° when you get close to one.
6. Click to finish, or type the angle in degrees and press ReturnEnter: 90, 45, -30.

Positive angles turn counterclockwise, seen from the side the ring faces.

Like Move, rotating part of connected geometry twists the faces attached to it. Group things first to turn them whole.

Scale

Scale (SS) resizes the selection evenly in all three directions, about a point that stays put. It takes three clicks too.

1. Select what you want to resize. If nothing is selected, Scale takes the thing you click first.
2. Press SS.
3. Click the point that stays put, for example a bottom corner.
4. Click a reference point. Its distance from the first point counts as 1×.
5. Move the pointer toward or away from the first point. The factor shows in the tip and in the value box (Scale).
6. Click to finish, or type a factor and press ReturnEnter: 2 doubles the size, 0.5 halves it.

Scale to an exact size

To make something an exact length, work out the factor: new length divided by current length. The value box does not do arithmetic, so work it out first: to make a 3.6 m wall 4.2 m long, 4.2 divided by 3.6 is about 1.1667, so type 1.1667. Select the edge first to read its current length in Entity info.

Fix an import that came in the wrong size

OBJ files have no unit, so a model drawn in millimeters comes in 1000 times too big. Select the imported group, press SS, click a corner, click any other point, and type 0.001. For a model drawn in inches, type 0.0254.

Things to know

• Scale is uniform only: there is no stretching in one direction and no grips on a box around the selection. To make a box longer in one direction, push/pull its end, or move its end face.
• Scaling a group or component changes the copy you scaled; other copies of a component keep their size.
• Press EscEsc before the last click to cancel.