Index to all 30 lessons in this Milkshape tutorial

  Understanding how to scale your models correctly using Reciprocal. This is just a little mathematical thing and it is real easy to understand. It will make your work much easier if you understand how it works and how to quickly determine it.

Reciprocal

With Scaling you always have to understand that the number 1 is the universal constant. This is the number you are at. No matter what size your object face or line is at in pixels it's current size is 1.

We figure this reciprocal out by using fractions. Think of the 1 as the bottom number in the fraction and your new, larger size as the top number in the fraction.

So if we had 1/1 (The bottom number is our number here on the right) We would have a scale of exactly one which doesnt change anything at all.

But lets say we put a value of 2 in one of our scale boxes x, y, or z. This will double our size. Put this 2 in the top of the fraction so we get 2/1.

You did some work on the box and you now want to go back to your original size. Simply divide your 1 (bottom number) by 2 (top number) 1 divided by two = .5 . THis .5 is the number you put in x, y, or z to get back to your original size.

Divide 1 by whatever number you put in the x, y or z box and it will give you the reciprocal you need to get back to the original size.

One more example:

We increased the size of our left side by ten. We entered 10 in the z box. Did our work, then want to go back to the original size. Simply divide 1 by 10. That gives you .1

Enter .1 in the z box hit the scale button and you are back to your original size.

Remember: divide 1 by your number and you get the reciprocal.

Okay, enough math. Let's continue with the tutorial and learn how to move our object