Scale Multiple Shapes without Changing the Spacing
In this quick tip, we take a look at how to scale shapes using node editing to avoid changing the spacing in between lines. This works in Vectric Aspire, VCarve, and Cut2D.
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Video Transcript:
Hello, everyone. In this quick tip, I'm going to be showing you this pretty cool technique that I showed in my most recent live lesson. So that lesson was on this raised panel door. So we looked at how we can make this entire raised panel door and we can do this in VCarve or Aspire. And then after we created this, you could see there's many different vector lines that were used for this project.
And the technique that I showed is how to change the size of the door, without changing the offsets between all of these lines. So let's maximize our 2D view. And you could see if you were to select all of this design, and I'm just going to copy it to the next sheet over. So I'm going to right click go to copy to sheet, and I'm going to go to sheet number two.
And now let's go to sheet number two by double clicking on it. Okay. And then if you were to select all of this, all the vector lines and let's say we wanted the door to be smaller in the height. If you double click on it and stretch this down, you could see the further you go down the closer these lines are going to get on the top and the bottom.
So as you can see, that will mess up all of our offsets and these vectors will no longer work properly for our toolpaths. And you'll have that same issue if you were to use the scaling tool as well. So I'm going to show you a different technique that you can use that won't cause this issue. So I'm going to click edit undo to bring it back to the normal size.
And to do this, what we're going to do is select all of the vectors and then click the letter N to go to Node editing. And now you can see all of our node lines. So now what you can do is select the entire top section by drawing a selection box around it, and you'll see all of the nodes are going to turn red, and that's going to allow us to move all of those nodes at the same time. And now you could see if you were to click on one of those red nodes and drag straight down and then release.
You could see that does not change the spacing between all of the lines. That keeps everything right where it's at. So instead of stretching the lines, you're actually just shrinking these vertical lines. And that allows you to keep the same design and allow you to change the size without affecting your toolpaths. And you can see if I were to deselect these and select all of this again and let's say I selected one side over here, I could do the same thing if I wanted to change the width and you just click on one of those red nodes and stretch it one way or the other.
And that will change the width or the height. So that's a great little technique you can use to change the size of things without affecting the spacing. And I'm going to show you one more pretty cool thing that we learned in our latest live lesson, and that was by organizing our layers. You can see these are all different color lines.
They're all on separate layers. And then what we did was created all the toolpaths on the first sheet and saved that as a template. And now on the second sheet, you can see I currently have no toolpaths. But if I click a load toolpath template, and then if I find the template that I saved, which is this raised panel door template and click open and it's going to ask if you want to apply it to all the sheets, I'm going to click no because I only want on this sheet. And you'll see it automatically create the toolpaths right here and now I also have to do is select those and sometimes you have
to right click and recalculate these ones. So I'm going to click Recalculate Visible. Click Okay. And now you can see that automatically created the toolpaths for this new size door. And now in the 3D view, we can preview that preview all toolpaths. And you could see that will cut the entire door out using the toolpaths we made before.
And now you could see we have a nice raised panel door with sharp internal corners. And this is one solid piece, but it looks like a regular solid wood door. So hopefully those tips help you out. And I usually only put quick tips on YouTube, but if you ever want to get more in-depth on training like this, you can always check out my live group training class.
And you can see we did a lesson on these doors, an entire full lesson, and we get really in-depth on how to make these. And we also have questions and answers throughout the live lesson. We host this in a Zoom class, and you can see we also have many replays that are available as well. So you can go back to past lessons as well on many different topics.
And there's also project files included with these projects. So if you're interested in signing up for this class, I will put a link down below in the description or the comments. But as always, if you have any questions, just let me know.
And the technique that I showed is how to change the size of the door, without changing the offsets between all of these lines. So let's maximize our 2D view. And you could see if you were to select all of this design, and I'm just going to copy it to the next sheet over. So I'm going to right click go to copy to sheet, and I'm going to go to sheet number two.
And now let's go to sheet number two by double clicking on it. Okay. And then if you were to select all of this, all the vector lines and let's say we wanted the door to be smaller in the height. If you double click on it and stretch this down, you could see the further you go down the closer these lines are going to get on the top and the bottom.
So as you can see, that will mess up all of our offsets and these vectors will no longer work properly for our toolpaths. And you'll have that same issue if you were to use the scaling tool as well. So I'm going to show you a different technique that you can use that won't cause this issue. So I'm going to click edit undo to bring it back to the normal size.
And to do this, what we're going to do is select all of the vectors and then click the letter N to go to Node editing. And now you can see all of our node lines. So now what you can do is select the entire top section by drawing a selection box around it, and you'll see all of the nodes are going to turn red, and that's going to allow us to move all of those nodes at the same time. And now you could see if you were to click on one of those red nodes and drag straight down and then release.
You could see that does not change the spacing between all of the lines. That keeps everything right where it's at. So instead of stretching the lines, you're actually just shrinking these vertical lines. And that allows you to keep the same design and allow you to change the size without affecting your toolpaths. And you can see if I were to deselect these and select all of this again and let's say I selected one side over here, I could do the same thing if I wanted to change the width and you just click on one of those red nodes and stretch it one way or the other.
And that will change the width or the height. So that's a great little technique you can use to change the size of things without affecting the spacing. And I'm going to show you one more pretty cool thing that we learned in our latest live lesson, and that was by organizing our layers. You can see these are all different color lines.
They're all on separate layers. And then what we did was created all the toolpaths on the first sheet and saved that as a template. And now on the second sheet, you can see I currently have no toolpaths. But if I click a load toolpath template, and then if I find the template that I saved, which is this raised panel door template and click open and it's going to ask if you want to apply it to all the sheets, I'm going to click no because I only want on this sheet. And you'll see it automatically create the toolpaths right here and now I also have to do is select those and sometimes you have
to right click and recalculate these ones. So I'm going to click Recalculate Visible. Click Okay. And now you can see that automatically created the toolpaths for this new size door. And now in the 3D view, we can preview that preview all toolpaths. And you could see that will cut the entire door out using the toolpaths we made before.
And now you could see we have a nice raised panel door with sharp internal corners. And this is one solid piece, but it looks like a regular solid wood door. So hopefully those tips help you out. And I usually only put quick tips on YouTube, but if you ever want to get more in-depth on training like this, you can always check out my live group training class.
And you can see we did a lesson on these doors, an entire full lesson, and we get really in-depth on how to make these. And we also have questions and answers throughout the live lesson. We host this in a Zoom class, and you can see we also have many replays that are available as well. So you can go back to past lessons as well on many different topics.
And there's also project files included with these projects. So if you're interested in signing up for this class, I will put a link down below in the description or the comments. But as always, if you have any questions, just let me know.
