Is there a way to precisely scale an image after it has been inserted? I know how to get the image into MoI, I know how to use the Custom Distance command to measure a known component (or use a line as a ruler of sorts and note the size on the command palette) and I know how to calculate to scale up to full size. But, I can't seem to find a way to scale the image precisely with the scale tools.

What I tried, that seems to work, is insert the image, place a line over a known distance, rescale that line to the desired size of the image and then reinsert the image using that line to snap to as an insert guide. Is this the normal method used by MoI uses?

After you have inserted the image, there is an "align" button that will allow you to place/resize and rotate the image..

Hi Don, there isn't currently any way to numerically change the full width or height of the image after it's been inserted. It would be a good idea for me to add some "width" and "height" entries to the image properties dialog to allow editing those, I've added that to the wishlist here to keep track of that: http://moi3d.com/wiki/Wishlist

So you need to use the method that you're already using.

If you want to map some particular interior portion of the image to a particular width though, the Align option (the one inside the Image command, not the Align command on the Transform palette which is a different command) that Burr mentions can work for that. That Align tool lets you pick 2 points in the image, and then you pick 2 points in the model and the image will be adjusted so that those points coincide. When you pick the 2 points in the model you can use "Distance constraint" at that time by typing in a distance value and pushing enter, to make the 2nd model point a particular specified distance away from the first one.

But the image align tool does not have any snaps in it for snapping on to the exact corner of the image, so it's not quite right for positioning the entire image width. I guess some corner snaps in the Align tool would be helpful for this as well, I've added that to the wishlist as well. But the Align tool is good for grabbing some line on the interior of the image and mapping it to a particular model size and/or angle.

- Michael

Thanks, I had seen the Align option, but wasn't sure how it could be used to scale. A combination of methods will eliminate having to reinsert the image.

Hi Don, oops one other thing - you were describing deleting the image and then inserting a new one. You don't actually need to insert a new one because you can snap an existing image on to a line that you have already created separately.

When you go into the Image command, existing images are editable by clicking and dragging on them inside the viewport, and if you start your drag near a corner point (grab somewhat towards the inside of the image so that you don't get the scaling grip), that will snap on to the image corner and allow you to place the corner point exactly.

So you can do that to move the corner of an image on the endpoint of a horizontal line (which you have created in a previous step at the desired size), and then grab the scaling grip on the opposite corner of the image and drag it to the end of the line where it will snap. The trick is that you've got to grab the upper-right scaling grip of the image because you want the lower-right corner to be the fixed point of the scale, and then you drag down and release it over the endpoint of the horizontal line.

There are a couple of previous posts that have some animations showing this, I'll dig those out.

- Michael

Thanks Michael,

I appreciate that this has been added to the wish list. I believe I have it sorted now, but wanted to be sure I had not missed something obvious.

Hi Don, we were posting at the same time, so you may not have seen my 2nd reply above.

Check out this animation for a demo of how to position and scale an existing image to match the size of a horizontal line by first dragging it, and then using the scale grip:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2501.15

That one is showing aligning it to another image, but aligning to a drawn line is the same.

Note that the tricky part is that when you go to scale it you need to grab the upper-right scaling grip and then drag that one to the end of the line. You want to grab that one because you want the bottom-left corner to stay fixed at the start of the line where you just dragged it, and when you drag from the corner the scale origin is fixed to the opposite corner from where you are dragging from (unless you click and release on a corner grip instead of dragging on it, which toggles the scaling mode between "scale from opposite corner" to "scale from center" modes).

Here's another video showing a similar kind of alignment to an existing rectangle:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=1982.6

And a few various methods including the Align tool are shown here:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2501.14

- Michael