# Squish command

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/squish-command/220872>\
**Category:** Rhino\
**Tags:** windows, rhino8\
**Created:** [July 15, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/squish-command/220872 "2026-07-15T15:44:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Vojtech\_Liska](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/vojtech_liska/32/611738_2.png) [@Vojtech\_Liska](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Vojtech_Liska)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/squish-command/220872/1 "2026-07-15T15:44:13Z")

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Hi, just a quick question about the squish command. The docs state that there should be a preview of what happens to the surface. But I don’t get that, just the resulting surface. Does it have to be toggled on somewhere?

> **[Squish | Rhino 3-D modeling](https://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/8/help/en-us/commands/squish.htm)**
>
> The Squish command flattens a non-developable (curved in two directions) 3-D mesh or NURBS surface into a flat 2-D pattern.

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**Author:** ![scottd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/scottd/32/494002_2.png) [@scottd](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/scottd)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/squish-command/220872/2 "2026-07-30T15:54:17Z")

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Rhino 8 added a couple toggles on the commandline, but the analysis shows at the completion of the command.

- DecorateEdgeLengths
- DecorateAreas

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/3/8/8/388d3c86faa46f9c5560cfd7b9c4d1cf7cd7575a.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Vojtech\_Liska](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/vojtech_liska/32/611738_2.png) [@Vojtech\_Liska](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Vojtech_Liska)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:28am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/squish-command/220872/3 "2026-08-02T07:28:54Z")

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Hello, Scott,

I have a further question. I need to implement squish in grasshopper. I know how, that’s not the issue.I’m bit confused about the spring stiffnesses. My understanding was for example “stretch only” means the surface will stretch as it goes from 3D to 2D as required with (almost?) no compression.But the comment for [SquishDeformation](https://developer.rhino3d.com/api/rhinocommon/rhino.geometry.squishdeformation) enum says it’s "_when the pattern is deformed into the 3-D shape"._ [InteriorCompressConstant](https://developer.rhino3d.com/api/rhinocommon/rhino.geometry.squishparameters/interiorcompressconstant) nor any other similar constant has that hint. So which way is it?

In my application, the surface will stretch as it goes from 2D to 3D. I want to approximate this behaviour as closely as possible within the constraints of this method. I thought about using “compress only” using my logic described above. But according to the hint in SquishDeformation I should use “stretch only”.

Thank you in advance.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scottd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/scottd/32/494002_2.png) [@scottd](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/scottd)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/squish-command/220872/4 "2026-08-03T21:56:27Z")

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> [@Vojtech\_Liska](#):
>
> My understanding was for example “stretch only” means the surface will stretch as it goes from 3D to 2D as required with (almost?) no compression.

You are correct on this, that Stretch only. As you get into the customer values the higher values will penalize that value. so, a larger value reduces the amount of the specified deformation compared to what happens when all four parameters are equal. For example, if you want to severely limit interior expansion, you could do something like: BndStretch = 1 BndCompress = 1 InteriorStretch = 1 InteriorCompress = 100