stretch an object without distorting it's appearance.

Hi, I was wanting to know if there was a way to apply the stretch modifier to an editable mesh object in an animation but maintain the shape of the object?

I've attached a couple of images of what I'm trying to do.





So what I want to do is keep the shape of the coil after I apply the stretch modifier instead of having the model shape distorted. I'm a beginner at 3D modelling so I'd appreciate any help at all.

Don't use stretch . . . use FFD 2X2X2 . . . then use this modifier in the same waqy you would do edit mesh. . . except this would affect the scale of the model . . . not each individual point . . . and the plus side is, these FFD points are animatable.