How can I create a mirrored instance of a component?

[luca.giorcelli]

1. I create a new instance of an existing component using the CREATE > MIRROR command.

2. PROBLEM: the new component is not an instance of the first one: any modification in the first one is not replicated into the second one.

This doesn't happen when I duplicate components using COPY > PASTE and I wonder why the logic is different between PASTE and MIRROR..
How can I create mirrored instances of components?

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

If you want to have the changes to the original reflected in your mirrored copy, you'll have to roll the timeline back to before the mirror command.

These minor component function is implemented in a similar way to when you manually copy a body from one component into a new component.

Here's a video that explains the differences between copying and pasting components and bodies and also the different behavior of these operation between direct modeling mode and timeline mode.

[luca.giorcelli]

Thanks! Very helpful in improving my productivity.

[gkopka]

but this explanation didn't really solved your problems or my, yeah a copy of a component is a instance but you cant make a mirrored instance which would be awesome if that would work. A tool that is used very often in every modeling tool out there. Im really sometimes surprised how you guys neglect such basic features. 

[TrippyLighting]

@gkopka huh ? Who are you taking to and what are you talking about ?

[Anonymous]

Yes , the question was - is how to make a MIRRORED instance, which will repeat every change in real time - like here.
https://youtu.be/h2hZh0nntlM?t=122  Is it posible in fusion 360?

[TrippyLighting]

3DSMax is hardly a parametric CAD software and modeling  is direct-modeling. As such I am not entirely sure how a 3DSMax workflow is relevant.
 

[Anonymous]

But I really do not understand why it is so difficult to make an instance for a mirrored model? The same is already works for circular pattern? 

like this? 

[TrippyLighting]

Yes, and No 😉

A component instance is  really just a pointer to a dataset describing the component. If you copy/paste a component or pattern it, you really are only creating pointers to the same original data set.

In Fusion 360 that dataset might contain construction geometry, sketches, joint origins etc. which can be found in the browser, but it also contains all the features in the timeline that create this geometry. Extrusions, revolves, lofts etc.

So for a copy/pasted or patterned component, creating an instance is pretty straight forward!

However, when you mirror a component, it gets a lot more complicated, because you cannot reference the same dataset. The geometry obviously needs to be different. However, the geometry originally was created from sketches and features, so what now?

Do you also mirror all the sketches, construction geometry and and features ?

How do you keep them "linked" to the original features, because if you don't it's not an instance but an independent copy, which you don't want?

There is a lot more data needed to do that and then that also creates the need for more data management, which in return requires more computational resources.

Can all of that be done ? Sure, but it's questionable whether the benefits outweigh the efforts 😉

[tijuanakez]

I agree this would be super helpful, there are alot of times you need 2 halves of an object that is symmetrical on a certain axis, but are not rotationally symmetrical.

I can't see how it is complicated though actually. It doesn't requite a seperate dataset. It is the exact same dataset, but the representation of that dataset has the sign flipped on one axis. e.g +X is represented as -X for instance.