Mirroring Issue

[Kronos_22]

Hey all,
I'm on the last disk on the car modeling tutorial and everything is going great I am really learning a lot of cool stuff. At about 3 o'clock this morning I was mirroring my parts and moving them into place then attaching them to form the whole car. I got all the way around and then started on the top. The roof and the 2 windows is all I have left and when I mirror them they get a weird rotation and are elevated above the original piece. I tried resetting the tool and centering the pivot before I mirror but I get the same result. So I went ahead and mirrored the object and then proceeded to move and rotate it into the correct position and move some verts around until it looked correct. I guess I made my own work around but it there something I should keep in mind and adjust before I mirror the objects?

Thanks
Kronos

[DjVoyager]

Place the pivot point in the center of the Grid, not the object, and then mirror.

[Kronos_22]

Place the pivot point in the center of the Grid, not the object, and then mirror.

Is there a setting to move the tool to 0,0,0 ? I eye balled it and I get the exact same effect. The mirror image is elevated with an angled rotation.

Thanks
Kronos

[DjVoyager]

Don't eyeball. Just hold down "x" to snap to grid (check top, side and front views), and move the pivot to the center. That should mirror your object to exact opposite. Also make sure what axis you're applying the mirror to.
Hope that helps.

[Kronos_22]

Place the pivot point in the center of the Grid, not the object, and then mirror.

I still get the exact same thing...I guess my real question is why only these 3 items and not everthing else...

[DjVoyager]

Can you post a screenshot of this object...in the four views. make sure that it is selected so I can see the control handle.

[Broomy]

hi

using the snap tools to set the pivot to 0,0,0 is valid but there is a tool called reset pivot that also does it for u, u must freeze transforms first other wise the scale etc will, er, well reset ;p

very useful tool

laters

[Kronos_22]

Can you post a screenshot of this object...in the four views. make sure that it is selected so I can see the control handle.
I put 2 images in my gallery at http://www.digitaltutors.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=54988

Thanks
Kronos

Broomy I can't find any tool reset the pivot. I'm running maya 8, I looked thru the help file with no hits.


Thanks
Kronos

[Kronos_22]

Sitting here thinking about this some more and actually how those pieces were created.

A poly cube was created and set into place with a slight rotation. then a face was extruded along a cp curve to create the column or the top of the door. Then to create the windshield, roof and the back window edges were extruded along the "X" axis of the column. So when I mirror these items I think the mirrored image is pulling the origional rotational value of the poly cube that these items were created from. As for the elevation I have no idea lol.

Thanks
Kronos

[Broomy]

hi

the freeze transformations and reset transformations are in the modify menu and that is in Maya 8 as well

may have got the names wrong sorry

laters

[DjVoyager]

Yup, Broomy is right about the freeze transformation. And looking at your screenshots, the pivot point is not correct. When you center the pivot, then freeze the transformation, and then mirror.

[Kronos_22]

Yup, Broomy is right about the freeze transformation. And looking at your screenshots, the pivot point is not correct. When you center the pivot, then freeze the transformation, and then mirror.
It doesn't matter if I move it to the middle at 0,0,0 or not, it doesn't matter if I reset transforms (which puts it back to the original poly cube it was extruded from), when I mirror the object it goes right back to the original face of the poly cube.

Thanks
Kronos

[DjVoyager]

hmmm...well did you try putting the pivot on the center of the GRID? like I said your screenshots don't show that you have. Try this;
Select the roof, go to modify > center pivot. Go to Modify > Freeze transformations. Hit "insert" on your keyboard and pull up the four view panel. Hold down "x" and snap the pivot point to the center of the grid in ALL of the view ports. Now go to Edit > duplicate. in the channel box, put -1 for Scale X. That should be able to place the duplicate on the opposite side so you dont need mirroring.
Hope this helps.

[Kronos_22]

hmmm...well did you try putting the pivot on the center of the GRID? like I said your screenshots don't show that you have. Try this;
Select the roof, go to modify > center pivot. Go to Modify > Freeze transformations. Hit "insert" on your keyboard and pull up the four view panel. Hold down "x" and snap the pivot point to the center of the grid in ALL of the view ports. Now go to Edit > duplicate. in the channel box, put -1 for Scale X. That should be able to place the duplicate on the opposite side so you dont need mirroring.
Hope this helps.
is that not what the image called "roof with center pivot" shows? if not then I am not undrstanding how to put the center pivot at 0,0,0... As for the duplicate I tried that with the same results...

I put the file up on the web at http://www.cwnsurgery.com/kronos_celica.mb
Its 5.3 mb

Thanks
Kronos

[DjVoyager]

cant download it. there's an error.

[Kronos_22]

cant download it. there's an error.
dj can you pm me your email? I'll you send it to you. Through yousendit.com

Thanks
Kronos

[DjVoyager]

I don't have Maya 8.0 so it took a while to get the maya converter to revert your file to my version.
So here're the results. I didn't use the mirroring technique, just the simple duplication (the exact process is stated above). Let me know if it there's still some confusion :)

[Kronos_22]

I don't have Maya 8.0 so it took a while to get the maya converter to revert your file to my version.
So here're the results. I didn't use the mirroring technique, just the simple duplication (the exact process is stated above). Let me know if it there's still some confusion :)

O.K. Using the duplication method I was not freezing transforms after i modified the center pivot. I was modifing center pivot, then moving the center pivot to 0,0,0 and duplicating. Sorry I was retarded and missing a step.

Any Idea what I did here?

http://www.digitaltutors.com/chit_chat/showthread.php?t=2446

Thanks Again
Kronos