The Scale Tool

This tool allows you to select objects in the viewport by simply clicking on them and then scale them proportionally or along individual directions to make them larger or smaller. The original size of an object can be restored at any time by entering the values 1, 1, 1 in the Transform settings.

Quick Navigation

Interactive Elements
Special Functions
Using exact values

Interactive Elements

After selecting an object by clicking directly on it in the viewport or in the scene manager's Objects list, colored axes and guide lines appear that can be used for interactive scaling:

Proportional scaling: Hold down the left mouse button anywhere outside the object axes within the viewport and move the mouse to the right or up to enlarge the entire object. Moving the mouse to the left or down reduces the size of the object proportionally.
2D scaling: You will find colored corners between the three main axes of the object. If you place the mouse pointer on them and then hold down the left mouse button, the object will only be scaled along the two axis directions that lie in the same plane as the targeted corner. The red corner scales the object evenly along the ZX axes, the green corner along the XZ axes, and the blue corner along the XY axes. The object dimensions along the axis whose color the corner has remain unchanged.
One-dimensional scaling: If you drag the mouse along one of the three axes of the selected object, the object size will only change along that direction.

For all three scaling options, the enlargement or reduction can be read directly in the viewport as a percentage value (as can also be seen in the video above). Values above 100% correspond to an enlargement, values below 100% to a reduction. The current size of an object can also be read at any time via the Transform values. The numerical value 1 represents 100% of the original size of the object along the respective axis direction.

Special Functions

Scaling a selected object can also be combined with additional keyboard shortcuts. It is important to first press the left mouse button and then hold down the corresponding key:

Holding cmd (Mac) / ctrl (Windows) in combination with the left mouse button will scale a copy of the object.
By holding down the shift key in addition to the left mouse button, an object can be scaled in fixed increments (quantization) of 5%.
Without the shift key, any small change in scale is possible.

Using exact values

Positions, Scale values and Rotation angles can also be read or entered precisely without having to use the interactive tools in the viewport. To do this, simply select the corresponding object and ensure that the Scene area on the right-hand side is open. In the Objects area, below the list of all scene elements, you will find the Transform area, where you can read the Position, Rotation, and Scale of the object.

The Transform section offers numerical values for input. — The Transform section allows you to view and edit the **Position**, **Rotation** angles, and the **Scale** of the selected object.

Values can be edited directly by clicking into the value fields and hitting Return/Enter.
When the mouse pointer is placed over a value input field, small arrow symbols appear to the left and right of the value. These can be clicked and combined with additional key combinations to reduce or increase the value in specific increments or even reset a setting to its default value:

Clicks on the arrows: Clicking on the left arrow decreases, clicking on the right arrow increases a value by 1.
Shift-Clicks on the arrows: This allows the value to be reduced or increased by 10 units per click.
Alt-Clicks on the arrows: This allows the value to be reduced or increased by .1 units per click.
Right-Clicks on the arrows: This automatically resets the value to the default value. For the Position and Rotation values, this is 0 in each case, and for Scale, it is 1 for each of the components. This centers an object again—relative to the parent system—aligns it neutrally, and resets it to its original size.

The video demonstrates the various uses of the arrow keys while editing values.

Note:

The Transform values can also be applied to multiple objects selected at the same time, as shown in the following image. The number of elements selected simultaneously is displayed next to their names above the Transform area.

Multiple values can be selected and edited together.

The term “Mixed” is displayed in those value fields where the objects have different values. However, values can still be entered anywhere, which are then applied identically to all selected objects. This allows you to edit the Rotation angles, the Scale or Y Position of multiple objects at the same time, for example.

While the three number fields for Position and Scale represent the position or scale of the object along the X, Y, and Z axes, respectively, HPB rotation angles are used for Rotation. The abbreviation HPB stands for Heading, Pitch, and Bank and has the advantage over specifying rotation angles around the X, Y, and Z axes in that the order in which an object is rotated around individual axes has no effect on the final orientation. Only for the first rotation around individual axes is the result identical to rotations around X, Y, or Z. The terms Heading, Pitch, and Bank stand for:

Heading (yaw): Rotation around the vertical object axis (usually the Y-axis). Represents the alignment to the left or right.
Pitch: Rotation around the horizontal direction axis (usually the X axis). Moves the "nose" of the object up or down.
Bank (Roll): Rotation around the longitudinal axis (usually the Z axis). Tilts the object sideways.

The video above illustrates that individual rotations from the neutral orientation around individual axes function almost identically when HPB values are entered for Rotation. The only difference seems to be that during rotation, the first input field does not represent the X-axis as usual, but rather the Y-axis direction. Accordingly, the second rotation value is responsible for rotations around the X-axis direction. The third value therefore controls the rotation around the Z-axis.

As can be seen in the following video, this similarity changes when an object has already been rotated in multiple directions. Even if it is only rotated around one axis, all three Rotation angles are automatically adjusted. This automatic angle conversion to the HPB system is particularly helpful in animation, e.g., of camera angles, as the order of the HPB angles no longer matters when assigning them to the object. In relation to a camera, the identical viewing direction will always be calculated, regardless of the order in which the H, P, and B angles are interpolated and evaluated during the animation.
HPB angles always ensure that the most direct direction of rotation is implemented in angle animations, thus avoiding unsightly swings in alignment.