Making a mirrored, independent copy of a component

[Anonymous]

My goal was to create an independent, mirrored copy of a component that would be a new component and move independently from the original.

After trying numerous ways to do this, the only way I found that actually worked was to first (collectively) copy all the bodies in the original component and paste them into a new, empty component. Then, I mirrored them (collectively) about the appropriate plane and, finally, "removed" the unmirrored copies (deleting them wiped out everything of course).

Now this seemed to be a really clunky way to go about doing this (and I have a bunch more to do) so my question is: how can I do this in a more direct and efficient way?

In fact, this whole business of copying and pasting is much more complicated and mysterious, it seems, than I would have expected. The "mirror" command just creates new bodies within the original component that are connected "motion-wise" to the original but seem to be unconnected "edit-wise". That is to say, editing the original didn't change the mirrored bodies. If I copied the whole component, as opposed to just its bodies, it offered the choice of "paste new" (which seemed promising) but put the new component as a sub-component inside the original component and I couldn't pull it out and move it up to the same level as all the other components.

Anyway, sorry to carry on about all this. What I would really appreciate is a thorough, in-depth explanation of copying and pasting or some links to the same. Thanks in advance. I've attached a copy of the file. The component I copied and mirrored was the "Wing Root Left" to make the "Wing Root Right".

[HughesTooling]

Just a note on paste new, if you right click on the top component in the browser and select paste new it will paste into that component or you can select any other component you like to paste into.

Mark

Edit. After a bit of test, if you right click on the screen and paste new it will paste into the current active component.

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the response. I've been playing around with copying and pasting off and on for a couple of days now but I can't reproduce your results.

Now when I right-click on the top level of a component, copy that and right-click on an open space on the canvas, it doesn't offer me the choice of "paste new". It only offers me a plain old "paste".

A few days ago that same procedure did, if I'm recalling it correctly, offer the "paste new" choice. I don't know what changed. So, I'm still completely mystified. It does however paste the copy into whatever component is active so that part, at least, is straightened out.

Thanks again for the help.

[HughesTooling]

Did you select the component in the browser right click and copy then right click in the drawing area.

Also right clicking on a component after the copy should give you this menu, you have to paste into a different component than the one you copied.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Yes, I did. I selected the component in the browser, copied it, and then right-clicked in the drawing area. As you can see in the attached picture, there is only the "paste" choice.

However, if I copy the component and then right-click on any other component, the newly chosen component is highlighted and the "paste new" choice comes up (as shown in the second picture).

So, it seems like the trick to getting the "paste new" choice is that you have to actually right-click on the new component. It doesn't matter if the new component is already active or not; you still have to right click on it to bring up the "paste new".

I get it! The problem is solved. Thanks ever so much for the help.

Now, if I could get an answer to the original question of the proper way to make an independent, mirrored copy of something, I'll really be happy. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Did you ever get an answer to your original question about making an independent mirrored copy? Or did you figure it out yourself? I'm a newbie to Fusion and have been spending a lot of time trying to do the same thing....

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

I lost track of this thread but I answer @Anonymous last question first. The reason there's no Paste New option is you still have the component selected, if the component is still active the paste is into the same component and that's not allowed. When pasting you also have to be careful about which components active, if no components selected, on the screen or in the browser, the paste will be into the active component so if you've copied the active component you cannot Paste New back into the same active component.

In your image the component you copied is still selected so you can't paste new into it.

 

As for mirror, I don't know if mirror component is a new feature that wasn't available when this thread was made but here's a quick screencast demo. After the mirror the components are independent, if you want to make a modification that will affect both you need to roll the timeline back to before the mirror.

Mark

[Anonymous]

To  johncpescod,

Frankly John, I don't remember if I figured it out myself (unlikely) or was helped (more likely). It was eventually resolved, though. Yesterday's reply by Mark Hughes seems to cover all the ins and outs of the process. Mainly it's a matter of paying attention to what component is active during each step. Mark's video should be helpful.