Maya for 3D Printing - Rapid Prototyping
In this course we're going to look at something a little different, creating technically accurate 3D printed parts.
# 1 22-03-2005 , 04:12 PM
j5ive's Avatar
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Mirroring?

Having seen how several of you model your 'heads' by the half, then copy mirror it to create an exact opposite side of the face, what is the command to copy, mirror an object?

Is this way the recommended method of modelling heads? As I have been modelling the head as a whole which has become a long pain staking process to say the least to get it looking remotely even/ symmetrical.

Also, are you able to mirror multiple objects at the same time?
I have constructed pretty much a futuristic mercenary and would like to mirror 'his' arm and leg across as it was quite in depth (well, for me it was) session/s of modelling to get them how I intended.

Thanks all.


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# 2 22-03-2005 , 04:37 PM
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Hi , yes it is very common to model half a model and then mirror over, then when complete if it is say a human character you might want to add a little non-symetry after you have the basics modeled and duplicated.
ok the first thing you have to be sure of in order to mirror is that your pivot point is in the centre of where you want the mirror to occur i.e if your model is at the centre of the grid so that half is on the + axis and half on the - then your pivot needs to be dead centre between + & - on the centre line.
To move the pivot point if it is not already in the location needed you hit the insert key on your keyboard which will allow you to move the pivot without moving the geometry.You can snap your pivot to the centre line by holding down the x key and middle mouse clicking on the center of the grid,once your pivot is where you need it to be hit the insert key to complete the repositoning.

To mirror your geometry first select it and then go to the edit tab and click on the option box for dublicate. Adjust the number to -1 in the x scale box ( note if you want to scale in a different direction choose the axis you need insted of x ) then hit duplicate.

Dont forget that if you have mirrored half of an object then you will need to combine the geometry and merge the verts to join the two halves together.

hope this helps ..goodluck J.S


Last edited by jsprogg; 22-03-2005 at 07:38 PM.
# 3 22-03-2005 , 05:27 PM
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thanks for the reply, I'll try later on user added image


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