Widen mantel leg & moldings
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I've drawn a mantel and grouped all the pieces and moldings separately. Now I want to widen the legs say 1.25" but not the breast pieces so scale doesn't seem to be the answer. There are at least 6 moldings, plus the legs, pilasters, plinths etc. How can I just select the center of the leg and widen it filling in all the pieces?
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You can edit each component/group, select one part of the model (with a left to right bounding box) and use the Move tool to make it larger. Can you attach the file itself 8preferably somehow marking what exactly you want to do)?
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Gai,
Here is the file. I need to widen symmetrically so leg is flush with marble hearth. Also shorten baseboard and base cap molding. Hope there is an easy fix or plugin. Thanks.
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This would be a pretty simple matter using, as Csaba said, the Move tool but the way you've created the model means extra work. You'll have to open some of your groups and select the edges that need to be moved and move them to stretch the geometry to fit. Other groups will just get moved without opening them. It's not difficult but in your model it will be a bit tedious. I did the left side for you. You can do the right side the same way.
By the way, you really ought to correct the reversed faces before you apply materials and I think you'd find it easier to work with your model without having endpoints displayed.
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Dave R,
Is there a better way that I should have created the model?
It was very tedious. I'm still learning.
Which faces were reversed?
I didn't know I could turn off the endpoints but found it now.
Thanks for your help,
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Mike,
You can see which faces are reversed by switching the faces style to Monochrome. That's the way my revision of your model was saved and my back face color is green.
One thing that I think would help is if you were more consistent with the way you organize the model. My preference is to use components rather than groups and I try to be very consistent about the way I create the model. If I were drawing your mantle and fireplace, I would either make separate components of all the pieces as I would make them in the shop (copies that are flipped to make the mirrored counterparts) or I wouldn't make any components depending upon what I need from the model. If the entire model is loose geometry, you can drag a selection box (left to right) around, say, the left third of the mantle and use the Move tool to move it to the left the required 5/8". then you could repeat that around the right third (still a left to right selection) and move that selection set to the right 5/8" and you would maintain the symmetry.
If you made every part you'd make in the shop as a component, you would then iterate through the various components either moving them wholesale such as the pilasters and the molding around them or you would open components and move just the affected geometry. So that way you could move the left pilaster and all of the elements making up that part of the model to the left 5/8" and then open one at a time the center moldings components, the mantle top component, etc. and adjust their lengths.
In almost all cases I would be working with components for all the parts.
You might take a look at the video here to get some ideas. In this example I am modifying a small table into a low bench but I'm using only the components I created for the table to make the bench. Similar idea but in your case you're only making subtle modifications. You might also find the drawing of the little table of interest as well.
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Dave,
I did make the fern table about 2½ months ago and just watched it again. It was very helpful, thanks. I did watch the modifying video before I wrote in to the forum.When I made the moldings I drew lines out 3/4, over 1-1/2, out 1, over 4, in 1, over 47 ...etc. Then put profile on the end selected the lines and used follow me, then made group or component and moved into place. Is there a better way? I've had trouble using follow me directly on the model sometimes.
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If you don't care about having separate pieces for the molding, using Follow Me is a good way to create it. Make sure the path and the profile are in a context separate from everything else in the model. That usually means you'll trace around other components to create the path for Follow Me. Your path and profile do not need to be in contact with one another for Follow Me to work but the path must follow the shape that you want the molding to take.
To edit the Follow Me molding in the way you need for moving the pilasters in your model, you'd open the molding component for editing and drag a left to right selection box around the part of the molding that wraps around the pilaster and then move the selection over the required distance.
I use Follow Me to create moldings like this but generally, once the design is settled, I would divide it into separate pieces and make components of them.
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