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Author Topic: Mirrored checkbox  (Read 8313 times)

rellik420

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Mirrored checkbox
« on: November 25, 2013, 05:32:12 am »

When you double click your mesh, the box pops up with the location and smooth angle settings. On the right of the smooth angle, there is a checkbox that says 'mirrored'.

How do you use it?

I hope it functions like I think it does. You select one side of your mesh and it manipulates the other side. If that's not the case, please elaborate.

Thanks.
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rellik420

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2013, 06:12:00 am »

Hey, I figured it out. :)

I think I model like most people do, and model one side of an object then mirror it.

Well, (assuming everyone else does it this way) this is how to use the mirror function.

When you mirror an object, you need to do a few more steps.

After you mirror your object, you actually get two separate objects. We now need to make this one object. To do this, select both objects (your original and mirrored), click the BUILD tab, and then JOIN SOLIDS.

Now you have one whole object. But we aren't done yet. You might notice you have a big seam going down the middle of your model. This is due to the points overlap one another. To fix this, do the following.

Select all the points going down the middle of your model. Click the EDIT tab, then click on MERGE POINTS. (I usually just press shift+l (make sure you have CAPS LOCK off)).

The box will appear and it will give you an option to change the number. This number is the distance between the points to merge. If your number is too high, you might merge some points you don't want to. I usually do .025, but play around with it to understand it.

Now you have your object mirror, and you got rid of your seam.

To enable the NEW MIRROR function, simply click on BUILD tab, and hover over MIRRORED. Select the CONVERT TO MIRROR button. And there you have it. Every thing you do on one side of the model will be mimicked on the other side.


I should have prefaced this 1st, but I just discovered the new mirror function midway through making my model. So I'm not sure how you should start it, but I'm sure you can do the same thing with two polygons. Anyway, If you didn't know about this already. You do now. :)
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rellik420

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2013, 06:16:51 am »

I'm back already!

I'm having a bit of a problem. On the left side of the model, the left and right are reversed. On the right side of the model it works fine.

I model on the left side, so things are kind of backwards. Is there a way to reverse it?
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Gyperboloid

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2013, 07:08:29 pm »

Hi rellik420 ! It is reversed in front view also, but in back view it's ok. In screen coordinates always. In world and object coordinates : the same problem. Only Steve can help here! I think it's just a bug, some code mistake.
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Steve

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2013, 10:37:03 pm »

The "Mirrored" check box indicates that your mesh is actively being mirrored as you edit it. You use the Build->Mirrors->ConvertToMirrored command to create one of these. See the (newly uploaded) section in the manual for more details:


http://www.anim8or.com/learn/manual/3_object_editor.html#continuous_mirrors
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Raxx

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2013, 10:28:22 am »

Steve, I think the problem rellik420 came up with is that you can only manipulate points on the positive X-axis. If you select a point on the negative x-axis and try to move it in any direction along the X-axis, it will instead go in the opposite direction.
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Steve

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2013, 04:43:04 pm »

When you move a point or several points in a normal mesh you first have to select it/them.  Then after you switch to "Move" mode, you can click anywhere in the window and drag the mouse. All the selected points move accordingly. You aren't clicking on a specific point but on a global "move field" (for lack of another name).  If you drag right, all selected points move right. All of the other global editing tools work the same way (scale, peak, etc.).
 
Mirrored meshes work the same way. The difference is that each point has a twin on the other side of the Y-Z plane. The need to move in opposite directions respective to this plane or the mirror property would be violated.

So half of the points move right while the other half move left. I chose the +X points to behave "normally" and the -X points to move the other way.

I tried changing directions to match which point you clicked closer to but that could be confusing because it's not always clear looking at the screen which ones are normal and which ones are not.

I'm always open to suggestions but this is the best I could come up with :)
« Last Edit: November 26, 2013, 04:45:10 pm by Steve »
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Raxx

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2013, 05:02:15 pm »

Yeah, I figured it'd be difficult to automatically discern the direction based on which points were selected, especially if multiple points were selected on both sides at the same time.

How about a configuration option, something like "Flip Mirrored X-Axis", where the direction is flipped if it was checked? This way -X oriented users can remain in their comfort zone.
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Steve

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Re: Mirrored checkbox
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2013, 08:21:37 pm »

Interesting idea.  I'll see if I can come up with something for lefties :)
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