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184
AutoCAD and Its Applications—Advanced
Exercise 8-3
www.g-wlearning.com/CAD/
Complete the exercise on the companion website.
3D Mirroring 3D Mirroring
The
MIRROR
command can be used to rotate 3D objects. However, like the
ROTATE
command, the
MIRROR
command can only work in the XY plane of the current UCS.
Often, to properly mirror objects with this command, you have to change UCSs. The
MIRROR3D
command, on the other hand, allows you to mirror objects about any plane
regardless of the current UCS.
The default option of the command is to defi ne a mirror plane by picking three
points on that plane, Figure 8-10A. Object snaps should be used to accurately defi ne
the mirror plane. To mirror the wedge in Figure 8-10A, set the
Midpoint
object snap,
select the command, and use the following sequence. The resulting drawing is shown
in Figure 8-10B.
Select objects:
(pick the wedge)
1 found
Select objects: ↵
Specify first point of mirror plane (3 points) or
[Object/Last/Zaxis/View/XY/YZ/ZX/3points] 3points:
(pick P1, which is the mid-
point of the box’s top edge)
Specify second point on mirror plane:
(pick P2)
Specify third point on mirror plane:
(pick P3)
Delete source objects? [Yes/No] N: ↵
There are several different ways to defi ne a mirror plane with the
MIRROR3D
command. The options include the following:
• Object. The plane of the selected circle, arc, or 2D polyline segment is used as
the mirror plane.
• Last. Uses the last mirror plane defi ned.
• Zaxis. Defi nes the plane with a pick point on the mirror plane and a point on
the Z axis of the mirror plane.
• View. The viewing direction of the current viewpoint is aligned with a selected
point to defi ne the plane.
MIRROR3D
Ribbon
Home
Modify
3D Mirror
Type
MIRROR3D
A B
P1
P2
P3
Figure 8-10.
The
MIRROR3D
command allows you to mirror objects about any plane regardless of the
current UCS. A—The mirror plane defined by the three pick points is shown here in color.
Point P1 is the midpoint of the top edge of the base. B—A copy of the original is mirrored.