Stretch

Make part of a sketch longer, wider or shorter in one go. You draw a window over the ends you want to move: pieces wholly inside the window move, and pieces that cross its edge stretch, so they stay joined to what is outside. The relations and dimensions of the sketch are kept true afterwards.

When to Use It

• Make a drawn part wider or longer without redrawing it
• Move one end of a slot, a bracket or a frame while the rest stays put
• Lengthen several lines at once by the same amount

Step by Step

1. Open a sketch (see Planes and Faces). Sketching is part of modeling, which comes with the Pro plans.
2. On the Sketch tab, click Move, then click Stretch in the row at the top of its panel (Stretch is a choice inside Move). The Stretch panel opens with the Select tool ready.
3. Drag a window in the sketch over the ends you want to move. Press, move the mouse, and let go. The window shows as a dashed blue box, the pieces that will move whole light up in blue, and the ends that will stretch show as blue dots. The panel says how many pieces move and how many stretch.
4. Say how far, in one of two ways:
   • Type how far in Across (to the right of the screen) and Up (up the screen), then press Stretch or Enter. A minus sign goes the other way. Any unit works, like 1/2 in or 12 mm.
   • Or click the point to move from, then click where it goes (with a window this is ready at once; Pick from and to starts it again). You can also drag from one to the other. Clicks land on the nearest end, corner, centre or middle of a piece, or the origin, so you can stretch from one point exactly to another. A dashed yellow outline shows where the pieces will go while you choose.
5. One Undo takes the whole stretch back.
6. The window moves with the ends, so you can stretch again. Press Clear window to drag a new one. Esc or the X closes Stretch.

What Moves

• A line, a polyline, a rectangle or a spline with only some of its points inside: just those points move, and the rest stays. A rectangle stays a rectangle when you stretch it along its sides.
• An arc with one end inside: that end moves and the arc keeps the angle it sweeps and the side it bulges to.
• A piece with all its points inside moves whole, without changing shape.
• A circle, a point or Sketch Text moves whole when its centre (or the start of the text) is inside, and stays when it is not.
• Reference pieces taken from the part, and the origin, never move.

Options

• Use the chosen pieces and points: tick it to stretch without a window. Click the pieces to move whole and the points to stretch (hover a piece to see its points, then click them), as the Select tool does. Choosing the middle of a side moves both ends of that side. Then type how far and press Stretch, or press Pick from and to and click the two points.
• Dimensions take the new sizes: ticked (the usual way), a dimension measured across the window changes to the stretched size, so the stretch goes exactly as far as you asked. Unticked, every dimension keeps its size and the relations and dimensions decide where the rest goes; if they cannot all hold, the stretch is refused.

Relations and Dimensions

After the pieces move, the sketch solver keeps every relation and driving dimension true, with the stretched ends held where you put them. A line joined to a stretched end follows it; a horizontal line stays horizontal. A dimension that an equation drives keeps its size. With Dimensions take the new sizes ticked, a dimension that takes a new size also updates the Equations that read it, and their dimensions are held at the new sizes; if the sketch cannot take what an equation then asks for (for example a height worked out from the width, while both ends of the side are held), the stretch is refused and nothing changes. If the relations and dimensions cannot all hold, nothing changes and you are told why.

Problems

• Nothing is inside the window: drag the window over the ends of the pieces, not just across their middles.
• A piece is Fixed: a Fixed piece or point cannot be stretched. Leave it out of the window, or Unfix it first (right-click).
• A combined outline is only partly inside: break it apart first (right-click), or put it all inside or all outside the window. Ellipses and parabolas move only whole, too.
• The stretch would leave a side of no length: you moved an end onto the other end of its line. Stretch less far.
• The relations and dimensions cannot all hold: for example, a stretched end is joined to the origin, or a dimension unticked above would have to change. Stretch less far, leave the tied piece out of the window, or delete the relation that stops it.
• A move of zero, letters instead of a distance, or a move of more than 3280 feet (1 km) is refused in plain words and changes nothing.

Limits

• A sketch of more than 5000 pieces, or a window holding more than 20000 points, is refused. The time is checked between the steps of a stretch (moving the pieces, then solving): once it has run past 4 seconds, the stretch is refused with nothing changed. A single very large solve can run longer than that before the check.
• The window is square to the screen. To stretch along a slant, type both Across and Up, or click a from point and a to point.

Related Tools

• Move, Rotate and Scale
• Node
• Relations
• Smart Dimension
• Fix and Unfix