Scaling issue workaround?

[mikeymopar]

first, what template did you use?
also, scaling, no matter how it's done will scale everything. going from 1000 to 1200 including openings and if not on a separate layer, doors, stair treads, etc. will stretch 20% also. no matter what, it's gonna be hard to stretch bits and pieces without affecting others

one thing you can do so it doesn't stretch from the middle is after selecting what you want to stretch then just to the left of the x and y position on the top change the origin position from center to the middle left or right block (kinda looks like a rubik's cube). then it'll stretch from that direction and not proportionally from the center

[gwpriester]

Your illustrations do not show scaling. The eyes in the center remain the same size. But in the second example the left and right sides of the drawing have been moved outward as my attachment shows.

[feklee]

Scaling is proportional in both directions. Stretching is what you are doing when only one dimension is altered and the lock aspect is not active.

That's Xara lingo then. In other software, scaling is also in just one direction. For example, in Rhino 3D, there is Scale1D, Scale2D, and Scale3D.

Seems it may be related to groups; could you post the .xar file for your .png examples?

example.xar

first, what template did you use?

I tried web, print, and photo.

also, scaling, no matter how it's done will scale everything.

That's the intention, but not what Xara is doing.

[mikeymopar]

your example.xar stretched in width only to 1200 for me by entering 1200 for "W". height remained the same (1084px)
or did i miss something???

(and also, like i said, you can make scaling in just one direction by changing the origin point tho it won't matter if you're scaling every single object)

[Rik]

I'm not sure what I'm missing here?!

Assuming I've understood the OP's problem.
I think Gary has already answered the question as to what is happening.

The original image is 770x1085px

With the 'Lock aspect ratio' not selected, I entered 1000 into the width. And as expected, only the width is altered. (First pic)
With the 'Lock aspect ratio' selected, I entered 1000 into the width. And as expected, both the width and the height altered. (Second pic)

Select the images and see the measurements.

So, can someone explain to me what the problem is?
I'm using XDP11.

[mikeymopar]

ionno Rik...
maybe something lost in translation cos i thought Gary's reply was the solution also if the entire workspace was to be stretched in one direction only by entering a value directly
so now i'm lost too

[feklee]

Carefully look at the images I posted earlier. They illustrate the problem.

[Rik]

I marquee select everything and enter 1000 into the width, and all works the way it should do.
If I have the aspect ratio selected, it works as it should do. If I have the aspect ratios deselected, it works as it should do.

So, I cannot reproduce what you say.
I have had a close look at your images, but, cannot get it to do the same.

[Acorn]

This has been a useful example document to experiment with.

With the shapes all selected (marqueed), click on one of the edge control points and hold it down.
Now look at the status line, which describes (tersely) the variety of effects the meta-keys contribute.

Drag the object to extend it.
Still with the control held down, press the Ctrl, Shift & Alt keys to discover the effects.
Don't hold these keys down before holding the control point.

I don't think any of this depends on it being a prin or web pages; simply in web-land the Alt selection has been pre-selected.

Regarding the OP's request on how to do the above, entering values into the control boxes, the simple answer is you can't.
The workaround is to understand the above and to zoom the work area large enough to allow finer pointer movement to get to the required width.

Acorn

[feklee]

Sorry for my late reply. I appreciate all your suggestions!

I can get it to work correctly if I hide/lock the annotation layer, select the group and ungroup it, then either dragging it to 1000 or entering 1000. You can apply 'Soft Group' to keep stuff together after the ungroup command.

Did you create this in XDP!! or with Rhino? I'm curious because I also work with Rhino 3D.

Yes, I created the floor plan with Rhino. Thanks for the suggestion with the soft group, which does work!

The walls are made up of many shapes, […]

Blame it on Rhino’s Hatch command.

Thanks for the video. It’s a nice summary of the issue!

Only I disagree that it’s an issue caused by the Rhino. 3rd party software cannot change the way Xara’s scaling algorithm works.

ah-ha. it's also a "web" document which is known to have issues stretching things horizontally only. if you change it to "print" then you can select the group in page and layer gallery and it'll properly stretch everything by just the middle handle too.

I wrote earlier that I unsuccessfully tried Print document, but that must’ve been a mistake. Now, after changing to that document type, scaling works as expected.

It is known as "group squashing" (also search help file) and applies only in web documents.

Thanks for mentioning the term! In fact I remembered that when I first encountered the feature, and – as I wrote – I did experiment with changing document type, but I must’ve done something wrong.

With the shapes all selected (marqueed), click on one of the edge control points and hold it down.
Now look at the status line, which describes (tersely) the variety of effects the meta-keys contribute.

Never realized that, another awesome feature in Xara!