Scale in one axis

One of my colleagues today asked, can you scale in only one axis or by differing in the X and Y axes? The answer is no if you use the SCALE command. However there is a workaround.

If you place the objects in you require to scale non-uniformly into a block the block can be scaled in the properties pallette.

block_property_pallette

Once scaled, explode the block and voila you have scaled your group of objects by only one axis.