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How to: Modify Objects With Non-Uniform Scale

August 6, 2009 By 4 Comments

I drew this image using AutoCAD.

Just using simple drafting tools. I haven’t met Revit at that time. If you see the area in red circle, you can see that it is scaled on X axis, but the scale on Y axis is not affected. Or may be you think I drew all of the baluster at the location manually? :) No, I use non-uniform scale. It only scales it on X axis, but ignore the scaling on Y axis. How to do this?

I know MicroStation can do this with scale tool directly, but in AutoCAD there is a workaround we should do. First of all, I create a block to define the baluster . Then I insert the block. In the block dialog box, I turn off the uniform scale check box, left the X value to 1, and change the Y value a bit.

I repeat this several times until all of them placed. I may have to do trial and error several times to get it the right size. Well, we can do it easily in Revit or AutoCAD Architecture. But obviously not in 2D drafting!

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Filed Under: AutoCAD Tips
About Edwin Prakoso

Edwin works as an Application Engineer in Jakarta, Indonesia. He has 4 years experience in building industry, then start to work for Autodesk reseller.
He is certified as Revit Architecture 2010 certified professional and CATIA V5 part design specialist. Currently he is involved as team leader for implementing SmarTeam as PDM in several companies.
You can reach him on twitter @cad_notes. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn. If you prefer email, reach him at edwin.prakoso@cad-notes.com.

  • Geronimo

    I have found this tip to be quite useful in aligning raster pictures that won’t align to AutoCAD entities. I often need to overlay older scanned survey plans onto compiled AutoCAD objects, and rarely do they ever line up correctly (due to the raster drawing being scanned poorly). Turn the raster image into a block, and then adjust the scale in either the X or Y. It’s like rubbersheeting the image without the Raster Design!

  • winko

    When I insert block with non-uniform scale, I can’t trim & extend object to non-uniform scale block. Any suggestion? I found it Ok when inserting block with uniform scale.

    • http://cad-notes.com Edwin Prakoso

      Winko,
      You’re right. It’s the limitation of using non-uniform scale insertion. We need to draw temporary lines by snapping to the non-uniform block.
      This is the downside of using this method.

  • winko

    Hi Edwin,

    Thanks for your suggestion.