The Stretch command

I saved this command for last as it is a little different from all the commands we have discussed so far. Using this command, you can stretch the drawing in any direction without changing the rest of the drawing. You can start this command from the Modify panel of the Home tab or you can also use its command alias, STRETCH:

Figure 3.86: The stretch command in the Modify panel

I will explain this command using the drawing shown in the following figure. This drawing is made with a simple line and arc tool, but you can also make it with a polyline and it won't affect the workflow in any way:

F igure 3.87: A sample drawing to be used for the stretch command 

Now, let's consider a scenario where we want to increase the gap made by points D, E, F, and G. To make this kind of very specific change, you can use the stretch command, as in the following example:

  1. Start the Stretch command and now the command line will prompt you to select objects.
  2. In this case, you don't simply select the objects. Rather, you need to do it in a very specific way. You can see a specific instruction about selecting the object by expanding the command line.
  3. When you expand it, you will notice that the command line prompts you to select the object using the crossing window or crossing polygon. So, in this case, we will select the object using the crossing window:

F igure 3.88: The selection option highlighted in the stretch command 
  1. To make the crossing window, click above the C point and let go of your cursor. Then, move your mouse to the left so that you get a green window with dotted boundaries, which is the crossing window, and make the selection as shown:

F igure 3.89: The crossing window made to stretch the object so that only the gap in the center is effected 
  1. As you can see, we are not selecting the entire object. Rather, we are only making the crossing window up to the gap that we want to stretch. Once you have this kind of window, click again to make the selection and then press the Enter key.
  2. Now, the command line will prompt you to specify a base point. Click on B and now move your cursor to the right. You will notice that now the gap will increase along with your cursor. 
  3. Click again on another point or type the gap length up to which you want to increase the gap and you will have a new drawing where only the specified gap is changed, as shown:

F igure 3.90: Object stretching increasing the centre gap of the drawing

In a similar way, if you want to stretch the drawing so that the part belonging to the DC line changes in length, then your selection window and result will look like this:

F igure3.91: A crossing window made in the drawing and the drawing stretched as a result

The stretch command has an unusual kind of workflow but it is very useful and used quite often. In the previous examples, we used the stretch command only on straight lines, but you can use it on arcs and ellipses, too.

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