[feature request] Proportional scaling of width and height

[JamiePhillips]

Okay so i’ve decided it would be easiest to explain this issue I am having with pictures and a proper write up.
This is quite a long post but I wanted to make it as clear as possible.

Please ignore the shape, it is purely for reference but the same issue applies to what I want to use.

I am confident in sketchup and so will be using that to demonstrate the feature I want within easel.

Here is my shape. It is tapered, as you can see.

Now, I want to stress this. The measurement I care about is “A”. “B” is complacently irrelevant to me. THE ONLY MEASUREMENT I WANT TO USE IS “A”, EVERYTHING IS RE-SIZED IN RELATION TO “A”.

Now, as you can see from the first image, “A” is currently 45.4mm wide. I want to change this to be 42mm wide, with the rest of the design re-sized with it. (like when you type into easel the width and height, it re-sizes every thing selected along with it).

To achieve this is sketchup, I first make sure that everything I want to re-sized is selected.

Next I select the Measure tool (This is a feature I would LOVE in easel). I measure the total width of “A”

Now I type in “42”

This message pops up.

Done, every thing is re-sized in reference to “A”. Lets measure “A” just to make sure…

So, here is as far as I can get in easel…

As you can see, the design has been imported. Now, there is no way to re-size everything with just the measurment of “A”. Remember, I don’t have the measurement for “B”. However because B is the widest part, it is what easel will re-size everything from. I want to be able to measure any part of the design and re-size everything selected in relation to that part. Do you see my issue?

Here is a practical example of what I need this feature for. I need to cut out this shape, the only measurement I have for this shape is the 42mm.

I do not have the measurements for the total height or width as this changes in direct relation to 42mm becoming 44mm, or 45mm. I need to be able to re-size the model with the measurments other than the total width and height.

I hope I made it clear enough.

Thanks
Jamie

[paulkaplan]

Hi Jamie,

Thanks for taking the time to make a detailed write up! I think the feature you are asking about is "proportional scaling. Most editors have a little “lock” icon next to measurements where you can say whether you want the entire model to change when you change a dimension, or if you only want the chosen dimension to change. Right now, the width and height do not change proportionally.

I’ve been personally peeved by this a few times while making designs, so I absolutely agree it would be a great feature. I’ll put together a mockup/demo and post it here to make sure I totally understand what you mean, then we can implement it!

[JamiePhillips]

Awesome thank you! Would a simple measuring tool also be to much to ask? I don’t expect it to be extremely hard to implement but it’s so so useful for double checking precise measurements, currently i’m just having to use the grid to guess.

[AllenMassey]

Having a simple (everything is simple when some one else has to do it) measurement tool would be my number one request for Easel.

[paulkaplan]

@AllenMassey

(everything is simple when some one else has to do it)

love this

I think a good way to move forward on this is to define the expectations a bit more. I think you should create a new thread titled “[feature request] measurement tool” or something and list what the specific use-cases you’d need it for, maybe some examples of ways that you are working around these limitations. Then we can brainstorm different implementations there. I’d like to keep this thread for the proportional scaling issue.

[JamiePhillips]

sure thing, thanks (damn it with the 20 character minimum reply)

[DavidFletcher]

Jamie, if you scale the whole fretboard ( width & height ) you are going to mess up your scale length .

You would just want to scale in the width direction right ?

[JeffSyrja]

It’s not just scale length that’s going to be thrown off though, the width at B would matter if it’s going on a bolt on neck, glued in or through body neck it wouldn’t matter, but then you’d also be changing the required width of the bridge that’s needed for proper alignment of the strings over the fretboard. Taking the example above, if you had a fretboard and bridge that worked well and were spaced properly for the 45.4mm, and scaled down to 42, ~7% reduction, you’d have to scale the bridge width down by 7% as well else the high and low E strings are going to get closer and closer to the edge of the fret board as you work your way up the neck.

[DavidFletcher]

Agreed.

Perhaps the poster can shed some more info on what he wants to achieve and we can provide some helpful feedback.

[JamiePhillips]

I stated that the drawing was just an example, I won’t be actually doing this with the software. I know that a fretboard was a bad example, however it is one of the only models I had to hand. It is just a feature I would like, mainly for making head stocks proportional to the nut width without having to re-draw everything.

“Please ignore the shape, it is purely for reference but the same issue applies to what I want to use.”