Mirroring or reflecting a complex shape

[jefran]

It's me again!
As part of a new project, I have produced the cylinder block shown below

Click the image to zoom in

On previous jobs I have generally managed to clone such things for the other side of the loco and rotate them, but this is far too non symmetric for such treatment. The cylinders are inclined at 1 in 12, the port faces are inclined to the horizontal and the steam chest cover slopes too. Reflection seems the answer, but everything comes out in completely different locations in X. Is there a clever, elegant way around this?

[wmalder]

I would suggest using the "flip" object command. Right click on it (flip button) first and select the X axis as the one to flip along. I'm assuming you have this as one object but if it's a group of objects I believe that it will work as well for a group. Just clone the object, then I open the properties box and reset the location to the original object location (3dc adds .5 to all positions) and make the X value negative to the original (putting it on the opposite side of your model) then use the flip tool to mirror the object. That should work and you'll find it a great tool for building symmetrical objects.

Bill Alder

[jefran]

Ah, therein is the problem, it is a whole load of objects, in 6 or 7 groups, in one heirarchy. The whole lot can be cloned or copied, but flipping it scatters things in X, probably because the objects don't have a common X datum. I finally flipped an object or small group at a time and reset the X coordinate to the equivalent of the other side, and it turned out easier than I feared. I had visions of degrees of assymetry ranging from the subtle to the blatant, but it was all over in 25 minutes, so I shall consider it a success.