Handling of mirrored parts

I IRONCAD we can easily mirror an object with TriBall, but how do you really know if a part is mirrored and how does it show up in the story tree? Is it possible to remove the mirror as a property?

See that an object is mirrored

A part mirrored"around itself" with TriBall... (or by being copied/linked)

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...will appear with a different ("greenish yellow") text colour and an additional "mirror icon" in the tree structure:

This is something we also wrote about in a previous post, which also includes a short video on how to get the symbol in the mirrored parts or assemblys tree. But we'll bring it back here anyway:

Click on Filter- icon in the right corner of the story tree:

Choose to show the Mirror Part or Assembly filter.

This means that objects in the tree that are mirrored get a different text colour and an extra icon next to them in the tree structure, see Part1 in the image below:

OBS! Remember that the reflection itself in a CAD system is only a function of a position/orientation in XYZ space and does not necessarily imply that it has a relationship to another object. So if you compare this to things in our everyday life, where mirroring means "mirrored in relation to something else", it works differently here!

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In IRONCAD 2022, there will also be a new setting for Part Number and Description where this can be set differently for objects that are mirrored. In this way, you can have different item numbers for linked models where one is mirrored.

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Remove mirroring

To remove the "mirroring function" of an object in the 3D scene, you need to change its "spatial orientation function". Keep in mind that this can be a major intervention if the model is not mirror-symmetric!

Select the object and activate TriBall.

Then right-click in the background and select Orient TriBall to Global (Eliminate Mirroring):

Keep in mind that "remove reflection" means that the object will change its shape, unless it is, for example, a mirror-symmetrical plate. You may need to adjust the position of the features to the opposite side etc. and then TriBall works just as well as it would otherwise!