Stretch
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The Stretch Operator "stretches" a 3D mesh along a specified axis, by a specified distance, within a specified range.
The Stretch Operator has three properties; Axis, Stretch Distance, and Margin.
Consider a sphere with a radius of 1 meter, viewed orthogonally from the top, with the x-axis of the stretch operator as the target.
Increasing the Stretch Distance to 1.0, the object is uniformly stretched along its x-axis from the center, on both sides.
Increasing the Margin has the effect of limiting the application of the stretch operation. In the figure below, the outer 0.5 meters (the Margin value) on either side of the sphere has been excluded from the stretch operation, effectively retaining the sphere's original shape over that interval.
The use-case outlined in the custom script action article presents a practical application of this operator.
Consider one of the table legs. Without use of the stretch operator, expanding the width of the table provides an undesirable result because it not only increases the width of the leg, it also increases the thickness of the leg's perpendicular section. See the figure below.
The Margin of the Stretch Operator is very useful in this context because we can limit the affect of the stretch operation, meaning we can effectively target the part of the leg that should be expanded, while ensuring the original geometry of the perpendicular section remains static.
