Virtual Mirroring

When working on a model with a symmetry plane, viewing the complete object may be useful to check the whole result but, if the model is a complex one, may as well result in slowing down performances since half of the geometry is not necessary to provide a correct representation of the model. For example, if you are designing a car, you might prefer to work on just half of it and to have a tool enabled to mirror the shaded image at no geometry cost. The virtual mirroring mechanism enables you to mirror a scene about a symmetry plane, thus displaying a "fake" image of the portion which is not actually there. Virtual mirroring can be enabled separately on each view, so that you can have different symmetry planes in different views.

To activate or deactivate the the virtual mirroring mechanism in the current view, you can:

• Right-click on an empty zone of the graphics area with nothing selected and choose View Virtual Mirror or View No Mirror in the context menu.
• Select or clear the Enable check box in the View- Advanced category of the Document Properties.

A set of appropriate options is also available in the Virtual mirror area of the View- Advanced category of the Document Properties.

• The above mentioned Enable check box enables you to turn the virtual mirroring mechanism on and off alternatively:
• When the check box is selected the virtual mirroring mechanism is enabled
• When the check box is not selected, the mechanism is disabled.

• In the Representation drop-down list you can choose four different rendering modes for the mirrored entities, so as to enable you to differentiate the visualization of the mirrored part from the real one and easily distinguish which is which.

  Same as original	The mirrored entities will be displayed using the same rendering mode as the real ones
  Dim wireframe	The mirrored entities will be displayed in wireframe mode with dim edges
  Shaded view and dim wireframe	The mirrored entities will be displayed using the same rendering mode as the real ones, but with dim edges
  Shaded pattern and dim boundaries	The mirrored entities will be displayed using a shaded pattern and dim edges

  By selecting the Color button, a color palette is displayed, on which you can choose the color to use for the dim wireframe representation of the mirrored entities.
   
• The Show check box enables you to control the visualization of the Virtual Mirror Plane:

  When the check box is selected, the Virtual Mirror Plane is displayed
  When the check box is not selected, the Virtual Mirror Plane is hidden.

• In the Position drop-down list you can choose the Virtual Mirror Plane:
  • XZ, XY, ZY
    to define the Virtual Mirror Plane as one of the planes of the World reference system.
  • Custom
    When selected for the first time, the Custom option sets the Virtual Mirror Plane to the Work Plane. Starting from the very moment you initialize the Virtual Mirror Plane to the Work Plane, switching back and forth from Custom does not alter the custom Virtual Mirror Plane. If you change the position of the Work Plane, you can update the position of the Virtual Mirror Plane by clicking As Work Plane.
    
    

When the virtual mirroring mechanism is enabled, the mirroring about the chosen plane will be displayed also in previews inside Curve, Surface and GSM commands.

• Quality Checks will also be mirrored accordingly.
• In the Curve through Control Points and Surface through Control Points commands, only the control net will be mirrored, not the control points markers.