Mirror Geometry

[SrGilberto]

Is there a way to mirror geometry and make it completely independent of the original so the original objects can be eliminated?

Thanks again for all the help,
SrG.

 

[SrGilberto]

Okay. I think, maybe, the mirrored geometry (or group of features) have to have some dependency on the original (unless you can answer otherwise).

But it leads me to this question:
Can you copy geometry (or a group of features)in a way that the new features are independent of the original features so you can then eliminate the originals?

Any way to do that?

Regards,
SrG.

 

[telecomguy]

When you select Edit/Mirror and pick a plane, there is an Options pulldown just above the Mirror Plane box. Remove the 'Copy as dependent' checkmark and see if this gives you what you are looking for.

<tg>

 

[SrGilberto]

I attempted just what you said. After the mirroring process I attempted to delete the original geometry. This automatically selected the mirrored object to be deleted as if the new geometry was still dependent.

SrG.

 

[telecomguy]

OK, let's try this. If it's a sheetmetal part, the thickness is inherited from the original features. So when you delete the originals, the pop-up has an 'Options>>' button. Click it and use the 'Status' 'Suspend' option on the Mirror feature. Click OK and it will then delete the parents and put you in the Resolve Feature mode. Do a Quick Fix/Redefine and assign a thickness.

<tg>

 

[SrGilberto]

Okay, That sounded good and I had big hopes for it to work. If I were just mirroring one feature it worked fine. But this is a case where we want to create a part that is a mirrored image of an existing part. So we are wanting to mirror a group of features (the whole part). Doing this in the way that you proposed seems to require that all the mirrored features be redefined. This may be faster than re-creating the part from scratch, but it's still not as fast or efficient as we had hoped.

 

[3dlogix]

If you want to mirror a complete part without making dependencies then do this:

Make a new assembly, with no datum planes.
Assemble your first part.
In Assembly Mode, creat a new part and pick Mirror. Enter a new name, and pick COPY option.
Pick the part to mirror, and pick a mirror plane from the same part, NOT from the assembly. This is the trick.
Now make your part, quite the assembly. The new part is independant from the first one.

Steve

http://www.sprdesign.com

http://www.3dlogix.com

 

[telecomguy]

I agree. If it's the entire part you want, there's the answer. I was working on the ass-umption it was specific features that were mirrored. (

<tg>

 

[SrGilberto]

Tried it. This is probably the way to do it, but when I was asked to select the model, whether I pick the model from the model tree, from the model window, or from "Pick from list", I get the following message:

"The selected entity is external. It cannot be backed up."

I am not able to select the desired original part so I can not complete the mirror process.

Question:
What does it mean that "the selected entity is external"?

SrG.

 

[telecomguy]

Take a look at the config settings posted by dr_gallup...

http://www.mcadcentral.com/proe/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27758

<tg>

 

[SrGilberto]

That worked great! I made the changes to the settings as suggested in

http://www.mcadcentral.com/proe/forum/forum_posts.asm?TID=27758

And then went by 3dlogix instructions and it all worked fine.

Thanks for all the help (I knew I could count on you).

Thanks again,
SrG.

 

[3dlogix]

Glad it all worked out in the end. Many times administrators put restrictions on parts and assemblies to limit or prohibit external references, which can be a nightmare for companies with hundreds of users and Intralink in the mix.

Steve

http://www.sprdesign.com

http://www.3dlogix.com