FredoScale is widely regarded as an essential "power tool" for SketchUp, drastically expanding the capabilities of the native Scale tool. While SketchUp’s built-in scaling is limited to the red, green, and blue axes, FredoScale allows for transformations regardless of an object's orientation. Key Features
Box Stretching: Resizes an object without distorting critical details like edge bevels or specific components (e.g., widening a table without thickening the legs).
Multi-Axis Transformations: Beyond standard scaling, it provides tools for Tapering, Planar Shearing, Twisting, and Radial Bending. fredoscale plugin sketchup
Orientation Flexibility: You can re-orient the scaling box to match any face or edge in your model, which is a major advantage for complex or rotated geometry.
Target Mode: Allows you to scale objects by visually matching an origin point to a specific target point in your model. Pros and Cons FredoScale | SketchUcation FredoScale is widely regarded as an essential "power
Ever tried to make a curved awning or a bent pipe in native SketchUp? It’s painful. With Radial Bend, you select your flat geometry, pick an axis, and literally drag your mouse to curve it. It maintains UV mapping and texture coordinates, so your materials don't freak out. Perfect for roller coasters, curved highways, or organic roofs.
Click a single face within a mesh, drag it, and the connected faces stretch along the normal. This is brilliant for adjusting thicknesses or pulling out extrusions without redrawing. Step 1: Create a tall cylinder group
The biggest fear with SketchUp plugins is ending up with a "broken" model—reversed faces, holes, or exploded components.
FredoScale uses controlled deformation. It keeps your groups and components intact. You can apply a complex bend, decide you hate it, and click "Cancel"—your original geometry is untouched. It also has a "Keep Texture" option, which is a lifesaver for rendering.
180 for a half turn.What made FredoScale legendary wasn't just that it bent things. It was the Ghost Mode and Project on Plane features.
FredoScale allowed users to manipulate objects in "Ghost Mode"—a transparent preview of the transformation—so you could see exactly where the geometry would land before committing. This moved the plugin from a "party trick" to a professional-grade engineering tool. You could take a curved roof and flatten it to analyze its surface area, or take a flat terrain and project it onto a curved surface, all while maintaining the mathematical integrity of the group.