Get Ready
The Stretch and Taper tutorial uses a procedure that is almost identical to that described in the Basic Motion tutorial.

So if you can't remember how to select an Animoid and move a segment where you can clearly see it - go back to that section for a reminder!

Stretch a Segment
Open an Animoid then get ready to stretch a segment by selecting the Stretch action button:

The Stretch Segment Control will open. It looks like:

You can now use your mouse to click and drag Segments on your Animoid or use the sliders on the control panel.

To click and drag Segments on the 3D Canvas:

• Left click on a Segment and drag to change the length.
• Right click on a Segment and drag to change the width.
• Center click on a Segment and drag to change the taper.

To use the Control Panel:

The first two sliders allow you to stretch either the length or width of a segment of the Animoid.

Before you can stretch the Animoid you need to Pick the segment that you want to stretch by clicking on that segment. (Go back to the Basic Motion tutorial if you've forgotten how to pick segments.)

Once you've picked the segment you can make it longer/shorter/wider/narrower by playing with the two stretch sliders. Give it a try!

The Keep End Cap sphere checkbox is checked by default. When checked, this keeps the End Caps of the Segment as hemispherical as possible. (That's sometimes a good idea for joints between Segments [like "elbow" joints], since the joints are less visible when the Segments are moved.)

This checkbox has no effect when changing length.

Taper a Segment
You taper a segment using the same control that you opened above. This time use the Taper Width slider.

This slider changes the width only at one end of the selected segment and gradually varies the width over the length of that segment.

The following picture shows two Segments. On is the default cylindrical shape. The other started as the default shape but the taper control was used to increase the taper at the top.

Flatten a Segment
Next to the Stretch button you'll find the Flatten action button:

Select that button to open the FLATTEN SEGMENT Control Panel:

This panel works very similar to the Stretch Segment Control, with the difference that only one axis of the selected Segment is squeezed (or expanded) at one time.

The X,Y and Z axes referred to in the Control Panel are relative to the selected segment.

When that segment was created in its default orientation, squeezing the X axis would squeeze the sides of the Segment. Squeezing the Y axis would squeeze the back and front of the Segment. Squeezing the Z axis is similar to changing the length - with the exception that connected Segments are not affected.

However, once a Segment is moved with the Move Segment Control, its axes could be anywhere.

Your best bet to become familiar with this Control is to open it, pick a Segment or two and try the X, Y and Z sliders.

The following shows (before and after images of) what happens to Andrea's head when flattened along the X axis.

As before you can also use your mouse to click and drag Segments on your Animoid instead of using the sliders on the Control Panel.

To click and drag Segments on the 3D Canvas:

• Left click on a Segment and drag to flatten along its X axis.
• Right click on a Segment and drag to flatten along its Y axis.
• Center click on a Segment and drag to flatten along its Z axis.

More
Go to the start of the Tutorial.

Try the Set Color and Texture tutorial.