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I modeled a man and would like to scale him down to be exactly 6' tall (Z dimension), however I cannot find a way to do that. I know I can go to front ortho view and and use the normal scale S key to scale it, however that requires some pretty specific fine tuning in order to get it to the right dimensions.

I'd like to be able to essentially type "6" into the Z dimension (don't worry I have it setup in imperial) and have it scale the X and Y dimensions proportionally.

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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pelican_force
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3 Answers3

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As far as I know it can't easily be done on a single atomic operation unfortunately, but I generally use the following workflow.

To scale uniformly with precise absolute dimensions, in the Properties Area of the 3D View just type in the exact absolute dimension you require in the single desired axis.

Now check the resulting scaling on that axis, Blender will have calculated the appropriate factor for that vector. You can now copy-paste the value with Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V to the other axis so they all remain uniform. No need to click on the field to edit, hovering the value and pressing Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V is enough.

Apply the scale afterwards if you desire with Ctrl+A Apply > Scale while in Object Mode.

enter image description here

Make sure your object has uniform scaling on all axis before using this technique, otherwise you may get unexpected results. Apply scale before proceeding with Ctrl + A Apply > Scale

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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I don't know if this is a new Blender feature, but Numeric Input is available directly as well.

Excerpt:

Using the mouse for transformations is convenient, but if you require more precise control, you can also enter numeric values. After pressing the shortcut type a number to indicate the magnitude of the transformation. Then confirm or cancel. E.g. pressing S 2, Return will double the scale of an object.

Move G By default and with no other key presses, the translation will occur along the X axis.

Rotation R The rotation is in clockwise direction for positive values.

Scale S Scaling works in almost identical fashion to translation. The primary difference is that by default, scaling applies equally to all three axes.

You can see the numbers you enter in the 3D Viewport footer.

bernie
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    I was even able to lock z axis with and scale 120%. All I did was press "S" followed by "1.2" followed by "Shift +z" – ambassallo Jul 08 '22 at 13:17
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Scale

If you hold down the Shift key while scaling, you can fine tune without too much trouble...

Patdog
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    Once you scale to the right size remember to Apply Size (Ctrl+A) –  Aug 04 '17 at 22:08
  • But with this way won't provide scaling factor with a way to "have it scale the X and Y dimensions proportionally" – Mr Zak Aug 04 '17 at 22:29
  • This requires eyeballing values and is not totally precise. – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Aug 04 '17 at 23:19
  • @Duarte - Glad to learn from your answers but also curious - what is not totally precise about 0.600? – Patdog Aug 05 '17 at 06:59
  • If you enter 6.0 Blender will try to match 6.0 as best as possible for the situation. If you approximate it by dragging the cursor until a value shows up in the box, it may very well be 6.002 or 5.995, and you have little control over it. In most cases it probably won't matter much, but if you are looking for numerical precision there are better ways – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Aug 05 '17 at 12:44