Gmax Mirror Option

[mantab]

Hi Guys,
           Could someone explain to me why it is that when I use the mirror option in gmax the part I want mirrored turns black maybe something I am not doing right. I am working on a fs2004 project if that is of any relevance.
                                      Thank you Mantab

[N2056]

Mantab, I'm guessing you are doing what we all did at the start using Gmax. A picture is worth a thousand words

[mantab]

Hi Guys,
          Problem solved this may help someone coming across the same problem. The idea is DO NOT USE MIRROR OPTION IN THE MAIN MENU BAR, go to modify list on the far right and select the mirror option from there. Well it has worked for me so I am passing it on.

                     Regards Mantab

[mantab]

Hi N2056,
             Man this is incredible at the same time you posted the reply I was posting the solution to the problem. I dont know what made me try mirroring via modifiers list I guess I was desperate but whatever thanks for your reply much appricated.
             This forum is absolutely the best as far as people willing to help others.
                         Regards Mantab

[N2056]

No problem

[Fr. Bill]

Now, while you have it on your mind...

...open up the UI Configuration and...

REMOVE THAT ICON FROM THE TOOLBAR!!!

[Felix/FFDS]

Now, while you have it on your mind...

...open up the UI Configuration and...

REMOVE THAT ICON FROM THE TOOLBAR!!!

So, what if you need to mirror a spline when you're doing a Shape Merge?

[Fr. Bill]

Now, while you have it on your mind...

...open up the UI Configuration and...

REMOVE THAT ICON FROM THE TOOLBAR!!!

So, what if you need to mirror a spline when you're doing a Shape Merge?

The "Mirror Tool" is still available for use by drilling down through the top menu bar's dropdown picklists.

You are not deleting the tool, only choosing not to display the "shortcut icon" on the toolbar!

It really comes down to what happens most frequently:

1. You forget and click the Mirror Icon and screw up the part
2. You need to mirror a spline object prior to a Shape Merge

[HarvesteR]

you can use the main mirror tool on shapes and splines, AS LONG AS THEY DON`T HAVE SURFACES

the big problem there is that there's a bug that causes surface normals to be mirrored along with the geometry, making for that weird black inside-out 'feature' we get in FS...

and yes to avoid it, use the parametric mirror modifier...


ahh... one more note... sometimes, the mirror axis on this mirror modifier won't be aligned with the world axis, to solve that, select the part you want to mirror, goto utilities -> reset Xform, click reset...

the part's bounding box will now be oriented to the world axis, as if this part had been created the was it is... now you can throw a mirror modifier at it, and the mirror axis will be properly aligned

or... if you want to mirror multiple parts, you don't need to worry about this, because when you apply the mirror modifier to more than one part at once, it will automatically align with the world axis


just be careful resetting Xform on animated parts, they have a tendency to distort themselves... so make sure you're on frame 0 when doing that, so if anything goes wrong you can just delete the affected keyframes

Cheers

HarvesteR

[Fr. Bill]

the big problem there is that there's a bug that causes surface normals to be mirrored along with the geometry, making for that weird black inside-out 'feature' we get in FS...

For "our" purposes, I suppose one might consider that a "bug," but to be completely accurate the "Mirror" tool's behavior is not a bug at all!

Considering that the Mirror tool's behavior has not changed one bit from Max5 through the current Max9 v11.0 were it a "bug" it surely would have been fixed...  ;D

The surface normals of a Mirror(ed) object are filipped because that's what a mirror does!

The "Mirror modifier" on the other hand does not flip surface normals, as it is intended to create symmetrically opposite objects.

It's a pity that the creators of Max/GMax chose to use the same "name" for two completely separate functions...  :-/

[HarvesteR]

[quote]
Considering that the Mirror tool's behavior has not changed one bit from Max5 through the current Max9 v11.0 were it a "bug" it surely would have been fixed...

[Fr. Bill]

[quote][quote]
Considering that the Mirror tool's behavior has not changed one bit from Max5 through the current Max9 v11.0 were it a "bug" it surely would have been fixed...

[HarvesteR]

you may be correct... now that i think of it, i have always avoided that mirror tool ever since i found out of it's strange effects upon surfaces... even in projects completely unrelated to FS (i guess i was a little traumatized)

but yes, the cause is irrelevant, and as we all know the answer to the grand scheme of things is 42  ;)

Cheers

[Felix/FFDS]

[quote]

but yes, the cause is irrelevant, and as we all know the answer to the grand scheme of things is 42