Stretch Support

The Stretch Support option can be used to change the length and/or orientation of support elements added with the Add Support or Add Support Pattern options.

Support elements are stretched by selecting the endpoint vertices of one or more support elements, and moving them to another location, as follows:

1. Select Stretch Support from the Support menu.
2. You can select individual support vertices with the left mouse button, or multiple support vertices with a selection window.
   You should only select ONE vertex of a given support element, if both vertices are selected, then the entire support element will be moved.
3. When finished selecting, right-click and select Done Selection, or press Enter.
4. You will then be prompted to enter two points defining the stretch. You can enter the points graphically with the mouse, or with the keyboard in the prompt line.
If you enter the first point with the mouse, then as you move the mouse, the selected support will follow the mouse movement, allowing you to graphically position the support endpoints.
5. After the second point is entered, all of the vertices selected in Step 2 will be translated from their original positions according to the vector defined by the two points.

Tips

• The two points defining the stretch can be anywhere in the x-y plane, only their relative positions are important.
• If you enter {0,0} in the prompt line, as the first point defining the stretch, then you can enter the actual x and y displacements as the second point. For example, if you want to stretch support vertices 5 meters to the right, enter {0,0} as the base point, and {5,0} as the second point.

Right-Click Shortcut

The Stretch Support option is also available as a convenient right-click shortcut. To do this:

• Click the RIGHT mouse button on the vertex of an individual support element
• A popup menu will appear with various Move options. See the Move Vertex topic, as the procedure is the same.