Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Simpler mirror. Why not?

rocorona
Booster
It is a long time I think about this very simple point.

To perform a Mirror operation, we need to designate a mirroring axis.
Well, this can be similar to the cutting line defined for the "SPLIT" command. In this case we have two options:
a) One click - with the 'Mercedes' cursor
b) Two clicks - anywhere (but the first one NOT on a line/edge).

Why for the Mirror we don't have the firs option? Usually we have a center line already drawn... so we could simply do it with a single click.
... ok, not a big issue... but is so simple!

(obviously, if you click on a curved edge, the program must take the tangent for mirroring. Or consider it as the first click for the 'b' option)

__________________
--Roberto--
_________________

--Roberto Corona--
www.archiradar.com
AC18 - ITA full on Win10
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14 REPLIES 14
Rob
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
it is a good point. I vote 'essential'. I think such improvement would speed our work up as the mirror command is being used very often.
::rk
I think it does this already. Hold the spacebar down and click on the reference axis (line, edge, etc.) to mirror or mirror copy.

its been able to do this for some time.
Think Like a Spec Writer
AC4.55 through 27 / USA AC27-4060 USA
Rhino 8 Mac
MacOS 14.2.1
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Aaron wrote:
I think it does this already. Hold the spacebar down and click on the reference axis (line, edge, etc.) to mirror or mirror copy.

its been able to do this for some time.
Hi Aaron,

The space bar is superfluous as far as I can tell. (You don't get a magic wand by space-clicking in this instance, which is really the wish.)

When you click on the edge, you get the first point. But, this is the fascinating part - and I think a bug! - if you hold you mouse at the click-point, you'll see something like the attached screenshot. I've used an assymetric slab to emphasize the behavior.

Note that the slab is not mirrored, but rather is rotated. If you move the mouse either up or down along the clicked-edge, the slab mirrors properly and aligns. The second click now results in the mirror.

The wish is for a single (magic wand) click on an edge I think.

Is there a trick I'm missing?

Thanks,
Karl
mirror-kind-of.gif
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Karl,

on reflection (no synonym intended) the magic wanding should do the trick, but does, as you say, rotate the object. Curious behaviour, really. Good of you to point that out.

Aaron, "there's a trick with a knife I'm learning to do", Bourgoin
Think Like a Spec Writer
AC4.55 through 27 / USA AC27-4060 USA
Rhino 8 Mac
MacOS 14.2.1
rocorona
Booster
Karl wrote:

When you click on the edge, you get the first point. But, this is the fascinating part - and I think a bug! - if you hold you mouse at the click-point, you'll see something like the attached screenshot.
[...]
Note that the slab is not mirrored, but rather is rotated.
Yes, it seems (is) a 180° rotation. But from the ArchiCAD point of view, it can also be a (buggy) double rotation. As the cursor is kept on the first point, it can't calculate the axis direction, and maybe uses temporarily 0° AND 90°.
Karl wrote:
The wish is for a single (magic wand) click on an edge I think.
My original wish was for a single click without Magic Wand, if the first click is performed on a line (i.e. with the Mercedes cursor).
_________________

--Roberto Corona--
www.archiradar.com
AC18 - ITA full on Win10
_________________
_________________
Anonymous
Not applicable
Another way to not have to draw a mirroring axis is this 2 click method which would be a great option to have:

Click on 2 points- then the program uses a mirroring axis that is perpendicular to the midpoint between the 2 clicks.
I know it may sound strange, but it's actually really useful.
Djordje
Ace
Jesse wrote:
Another way to not have to draw a mirroring axis is this 2 click method which would be a great option to have:

Click on 2 points- then the program uses a mirroring axis that is perpendicular to the midpoint between the 2 clicks.
I know it may sound strange, but it's actually really useful.
You can ...

Use Special snap points.
Djordje



ArchiCAD since 4.55 ... 1995
HP Omen
Anonymous
Not applicable
Djordje wrote:
Jesse wrote:
Another way to not have to draw a mirroring axis is this 2 click method which would be a great option to have:

Click on 2 points- then the program uses a mirroring axis that is perpendicular to the midpoint between the 2 clicks.
I know it may sound strange, but it's actually really useful.
You can ...

Use Special snap points.
I may be wrong due to your cryptic answer, but I think you misunderstand me.
Special snap points divide a line. I am proposing a method which would spare the added effort of drawing the line in the first place.
Even if you are refering to the temporary vector, you would still need more than 2 clicks, no?
Anonymous
Not applicable
I agree that, generally speaking, some actions can be achieved by just clicking on an edge (Mercedes) and some others ask for a second point even though you clicked first on an edge. This should be corrected rather, as I am concerned, for coherence than for click's count