9

Mirroring Objects 491
Reorienting an Array
By default, each object, when copied into the
array, rotates around its own center to follow the
main rotation around the common center. This is
controlled by the Re-Orient option.
To cause objects to maintain their original
orientation while being rotated, turn off
Re-Orient. In effect, objects remain "facing the
same direction" as t he original object.
Mirroring Objects
The Mirror tool uses a dialog that either creates a
mirrored clone of a selected object, or mirrors the
orientation of the object without creating a clone.
You c an preview the effects of settings before
committing to the operation.
Mirroring an object
This is the general procedure for mirroring an
object. Begin by select ing t he object.
Click the Mirror button on the main
toolbar, or choose Tools menu > Mirror.
This displays the Mirror dialog. The title bar
indicates the coordinate system currently in
use.
For information on the Mirror dialog options, see
Mirror Selected Objects (page 1–448).
Mirrored Arrays
You can combine the Mirror and A rray tools by
using them in succession. An entire array can
be mir rored, or you can set up mirrored objects
before creating an array.
Animating Mir ror
When you use Mirror with Auto Key turned on,
you see the transition occur as the mirrored object
moves into place. For example, a cylinder mirrored
to the other side of an axis appears to flatten and
reshapeitself.Theobjectis,infact,scaledfrom
100% to 0% to –100%. This effect is not visible
unless the mirror operation is animated.
Mirror Modifier
The Mirror modifier (page 1–728) provides a
parametric method of mirroring an object or
sub-object select ion within the modifier stack.
You can apply the Mirror modifier to any typ e of
geometry. You can animate the mirror effect by
animating the modifier’s gizmo.
Usi ng the Sp acing To ol
The Spacing Tool distributes objects based on the
current selection along a path defined by a spline
or pair of points. The distributed objects can be
copies, instances, or references of the current
selected object. You define a path by picking a
spline or two points and by setting a number of
parameters. You can also specif y how the spacing
between objects is determined and whether the
insertion points of the objects align to the tangent
of the spline.