Mirrored component doesn't update geometry changes

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

I am having a problem with components workflow. When I copy components around like bolts and edit them they all update as normal. But when I mirror components and update another similar one the mirrored version don't update like the rest do.

basically, how do I get my mirrored components to update automatically with geometry changes made to other of the same components?

Cheers,

Jort

[Coscor_NPL]

Hi @Anonymous

Have you remembered to slide the history marker before you mirrored the component? (given that you are in 'capture history mode')

You need to do this I think...

[TrippyLighting]

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@Coscor_NPL wrote:

Hi @Anonymous

Have you remembered to slide the history marker before you mirrored the component? (given that you are in 'capture history mode')

You need to do this I think...

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Yep, that's correct!

[Anonymous]

I know that's how it can work easily. The thing is that when I do it with patterned or copy pasted components, the new geometry updates real time without the need for sliding. 

I am just curious why that isn't the case with mirrored components, but is with patterns and copy pasts 🙂

[Coscor_NPL]

I believe it's because a mirrored component is essentially a 'new component/body'... not the technical terms or anything... but i think all hell would break loose if it did not work this way...

Imagine a car where you mirrored a tyre with text on it, now the mirrored part is essentially a new tyre, and you want the text on it to 'not be mirrored' and so change that tyre... are you not glad that is does not change the original tyre?

anyways, that's my take on it and experience this far...

[jeff_strater]

The simple answer here is:  If you edit a feature or a sketch before the mirror, those changes will update the mirrored geometry (that's going back in time to make changes before the mirror).  For instance, editing the radius of a fillet.  If you add new features (add a hole, for instance), that takes place after the mirror has already occurred, and so cannot affect the mirrored components, because those have already been constructed at the time the hole executes.

You need to think of parametric modeling as an exercise in time travel.  It is confusing at times, but once you think of it that way, it becomes easier to understand.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Hey Jef 

Thanks for your reply. However, as I said above, I understand that that's how it works for the mirrored stuff. I'm just wondering why the copy pasted and patterned components DO update in real time when editing features AFTER you copy pasted around and with mirrored components I have to drag the features in front of the mirror command if that makes sense 🙂

It would be incredible helpful for instance to have the option of keeping new components as CHILDREN or let them be NEW components. Google sketchup for instance, let's you do whatever you want with components, keeping the connection if you either mirror or pattern or copy past them. But it gives you the option to manually break that connection so it won't update any longer.

I hope this makes sense.

Cheers

[Anonymous]

I have the same problem.

Believe me, I know how the timeline works. But in my current model, I make changes to the original components, then compute all, and the mirrored component is still the earlier version of the original component I mirrored.

I'm deleting and re-doing the mirror items at the moment. Everytime I make an update to the original file. Crazy.

[TrippyLighting]

@Anonymous @Anonymous 

When you pattern a component that creates instances of that component or more precisely pointers to the dataset that describes the component. There is really only one data set that describes the component.

When you make an edit to one of the patterned components in the timeline you are editing only one dataset.

When a component is mirrored only the geometry is copied and mirrored, not instanced. That creates a new, independent dataset in the new mirrored component. That is why you can add additional sketches and features to the mirrored component, which will not appear in the original.

However, when you move back to before the mirror command an add features to the original component, those will also appear in the mirror component because after the edit the timeline is automatically reevaluated and that results in a re-evaluation of that component mirror feature in the timeline.

For more explanation of seemingly strange behavior I'd need to see your designs.