8

456 Chapter 7: Creating Copies and Arrays
Using the Array Dialog (page 1–470)
Creating Linear Arrays (page 1–472)
Creating Circular and Spiral Arrays (p age
1–474)
Mirroring Objects (page 1–475)
Using the Spacing Tool (page 1–476)
Ov er v iew of Copi es, Ins tances,
an d R ef er ences
Toduplicateanobject,youuseoneofthree
methods. For all three methods, the original and
clone (or clones) are identical at the geometry
level.Wherethemethodsvaryisinthewaythey
handle modifiers (for example, Bend or Twist).
An ob ject can be a copy of another.
Copy m e tho d : Creates a completely separate clone
fromtheoriginal.Modifyingonehasnoeffecton
the other.
Inst ance met hod: Creates a completely
interchangeable clone of the original. Modifying
an instanced object is the same as modifying the
original.
Refe rence method: Creates a clone dependent
on the original up to the point when the object is
cloned. C hanging parameters for modifiers that
were applied to the object
before
the object was
referenced, will change both objects. However, a
new modifier can be applied to one of the reference
objects,anditwillaffectonlytheobjecttowhichit
is applied.
Depending on the method used to create them,
cloned objects are called
copies
,
instances
,or
references
.
The following discussion focuses on how you
might use these methods.
Copies
Copies
are the most famili ar kind of clone object.
When you copy an object, you create a new,
independent master object and data flow resulting
in a new, named object. T he copy duplicates all
of the data of the original object at the time it is
copied. The copy has no connection to the original
object.
Example of Using Copied Object s
If you modeled a basic head shape and wanted to
create a group of individual char acters, you would
probably make a copy of the bas ic head shape
each time you started a new character. You could
thenmodelanindividualnose,mouth,andother
features.
Copying Actively Linked Objects
When you copy objects that are actively lin ked
through the
File Link Manager (page 3–431)
,
the software automatically conver ts the copies to
editable mesh objects. If your selection contains
several objects that instance another object, the
resulting copies also instance the same object.
Instances
Instances
arealikenotonlyingeometry,butalso
in every other way as well. Instancing an object
resultsinmultiplenamedobjectsbasedonasingle
master object. E ach named object instance has its