In Sketchup, how do I change the length of one side of a rectangle?

[Roger Farmer]

I"m sure this is a very simple question, but I can't find the answer clearly explained.

In Sketchup, I drew a rectangle, then added dimensions to it. Everything worked fine so far. But now if I use the tape measure to change the length of the rectangle, Sketchup changes the width also because it scales the entire object. But I don't want to change the width, only the length. Can anyone tell me how to change the length of a rectangle that I have already drawn, but NOT change the length also? Thanks in advance for any response.

[Dave Richards]

Use a left to right selection and select the end of the rectangle you want to move. Then use the Move tool to extend the length. Type the added distance and hit Enter. Presto!

Edited to add a couple of sketches. This is more complex than your rectangle but I wanted to show that you can apply this technique to more complex geometry. The yellow part was selected with a left to right selection (Arrow tool) and then the selected part was moved with the Move tool.

[Roger Farmer]

Dave, thanks so much for your response. I had some confusion but finally figured it out. First, I didn't understand what you meant by "left to right selection" instead of just "selection." In any event, I simply used the Select tool, selected my rectangle side, then selected move.

But then the second confusion point occured because to get the dimensions correct, I had to enter the amount of CHANGE required in the VCB (Value Control Box), not the absolute length that I wanted. Furthermore, to move one direction required a minus sign in front of the number, but to move in the other direction required NOT having a plus sign.

So my final question at this point is whether there is a way to enter the absolute dimension size in the VCB, not the CHANGE required, when changing the size of a rectangle (although by now I am working with a box with faces)?

Thanks again for your response.

[Dave Richards]

You can't enter the absolute dimension but you can place a construction line (look at the help files on construction geometry and the Tape Measure tool) at the approriate distance from the opposite end and then snap the Move tool to the construction line when moving the end of the rectangle.

As to the left to right selection, that's basically dragging a selection box with the Selection tool (arrow) from left to right which only selects segments which fall totally inside the selection box. A right to left selection selects anything that is even partly inside the box. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

This resizing thing works with your box and faces, too.

Glad to help.

I'm off to surgery for awhile. If you have more questions I'll see if I can get back to the Creek this evening.

[Todd Burch]

Man Dave - you're slipping!

Roger, you can enter exact dimensions, but you have to use the Scale Tool.

Let's say you have a piece of plywood 4' long across the x axis (red axis), 12" wide (green, y axis) and 3/4" thick (z, blue axis).

Now, let's say you want it 3' long instead.

Select the whole thing. Activate the Scale Tool. Zoom in to grab the green box on the center of the end. Left click and make the ply shorter, any amount. Then, type 3' and press enter. Viola!. If you just type "3", it will become 3X as big. You have to enter the foot sign (and/or inch sign).

Todd

[Roger Farmer]

Thanks Todd, for the additional suggestion. I will try it shortly.

I also wanted to say that I discovered that a minus sign (-) in front of a number in VCB is a direction TOGGLE, not a direction indicator. That means if I enter (I think I have this right) in the VCB, first -1", then 2" then 3", then the measurement changes by 6" in the opposite direction. If I enter 1" (without the minus sign), then 2" then 3", then the measurement changes by 6" in the current direction. It took me an hour to figure out what it was doing. I suppose it's documented somewhere but it wasn't obvious to me.

thanks again for all the help.

[Dave Richards]

Todd, you're right. I am slipping. In my defense, I was distracted today by a broken proportioning system on an anesthesia machine, setting up a remote physiological monitor for video over CAT5, getting another monitor properly configured, repairing a couple of anesthetic gas analyzers, and a respiratory ventilator repair. Oh and a blood warmer with leakage current high enough to trip a line isolation monitor alarm. Hmmm... That doesn't sound like a whole lot does it?

I'll try to do better.

[Brian Triplett]

Question about the scale function. When trying the scale function as you described Todd, I got the foot thing working meaning typing in " x' " everything is fine but when I type in " x" " something goes wrong. When I hit the shift key to enter the inch mark " sketchup erases my number. What am I doing wrong? Thank you both for teaching us this program.

[Dave Richards]

Brian, I was just about to ask almost the same question of Todd. Hitting the Shift key modifies the Scale tool. Note the message at the bottom of the screen. It appears that you would have to enter inches as fractional or decimal feet. i.e. 1 1/2' or 1.5'.

Todd?

I should probably know this but maybe I got too much N2O or Isoflourane yesterday. Just kidding. I didn't get any of either. No ether either.

[tim rowledge]

Hmm, there is different behaviour if you press the shift key while the mouse button is pressed to when it is not.
On my machine (pMac g5, OSX 10.4.7, SUp5.0.262) if I have the mouse button down after starting this scaling operation and press shift then I get to toggle the 'uniform scaling' part of how it scales. 'option' for example changes to 'scale about centre' even if you've partially scaled about opposite point. I imagine it's all in the book, as it were.
To enter the " for inches, you have to let go of the mouse button.
Is it possible that there is a platform inconsistency here? It wouldn't be the first time windows got it wrong :-)

[Dave Richards]

No, Tim. It does work if you let go of the mouse button. I'm just really slipping up. I guess I should hang up my SU spurs.

You need to click a second time with the mouse before trying to enter the dimension.

Keep in mind that using the Scale tool for resizing wouldn't be appropriate for something like a frame and panel door. If you wanted to make the door taller for example, using the scale tool would also make the width of the stiles greater. So for something that is more complex than a simple box, use the Move tool method I described above.

[Dave Richards]

Here's a quick example. On the left is the orignal. I copied it twice. The middle one was resized using the Move tool after selecting the top half of the geometry with a left to right selection box. On the right, I resized the geometry with the Scale tool as per Todd's direction. You can see what happened to the top and bottom "stiles".

[Todd Burch]

oh my gosh. How can you guys hold a mouse button down while typing? I can't imagine designing (or using!) an interface as clunky as that would be. Yuk. Ptuey.

And, I suggested the Scale tool since the objective was to resize a "rectangle" (a 2D thing). The Move tool is definately my tool of choice for resizing 3D things.

[Dave Richards]

Todd, in my case I was just letting go of the mouse after starting the rescale. I wassn't clicking at that point though. That's why it didn't work for me.

It's certainly good to have a few different methods available though, Todd and I thank you for the reminder.

TTFN