Make Symmetrical 3D Designs Very Easily
How to easily design symmetrical 3D models in Vectric software using the mirror mode. This lesson applies to Vectric VCarve and Aspire.
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Video Transcript:
Hello everyone, in today's quick tip we're gonna be looking at how to make a symmetrical 3D object very easily with one single 3D piece of clip art. And as you could see, whenever you change the clip art for one, it will change for the rest of the model. So if you ever had a design, you're trying to make that you want symmetrical, this will be the best way to do it.
So let's take a look at how this is done, we're gonna start with a new project. And this can be done in VCarve or Aspire. So the first thing you're gonna want is a piece of clip art, or you can import a 3D model. So I'm just gonna use this flourish, repeat number two from the clip art library, and then it's gonna appear on your screen and you could place it anywhere you like.
And whenever you're dealing with 3D objects, a lot of times it's easier if you split the screen up at the top and that way you can see the 2D and 3D views at the same time. So now when we make a change in the 2D view, it will update in the 3D view. So now let's look at one traditional way to mirror the shape to make it symmetrical with four different shapes total.
So you could go to the drawing tab, then go to the mirror tool and you could select this shape and flip it to the right, making sure the create a mirrored copy is turned on. And then we can move that over to make sure they're overlaping, that way they touch in the middle. And then we can hold shift and select both of these and flip it to the bottom and then take these and move them up some, so they overlap then click close.
And there we go, that's what we looked at at the beginning of the lesson, except these are now four individual shapes. So this would work just fine. But if you ever decide to change any part of this design, you're gonna have to redo that mirroring all over again. So let's say for instance, we wanted this shape a little bit bigger and maybe we wanted a little bit of a rotation on it like that.
Now we would have to delete those three shapes again and then re-mirror this first one, that way everything matched again. And that's why it's gonna be beneficial to do it the way I'm gonna show you right now. And before we do that, also let's look at the modeling tab. And you'll see when we mirrored those shapes, it made a copy of all of those objects inside of our component tree.
So now we have four objects in here, so let's hold shift, select all of those and delete them. And let's start from scratch again. We're gonna bring back that same flourish, bring it in there. And then if we go back to the modeling tab, what we want to use here is called the mirroring mode. And to turn that on, you have to right click on the level.
And then come down to where it says mirror mode, and then you're gonna have many different options you can choose from. So you can mirror it left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top. And then you have all four quadrants as well. So if you're not sure what the quadrants are, you can visualize that by bringing in some guidelines.
So if you drag a guideline in, from the left ruler and snap to the center of your project and then bring a guideline in from the top, and snap to the center of your project the other way. These are all four quadrants. We have top left, top right, bottom right, and bottom left. So now if we right click on that level again, go back down to mirroring mode.
You'll see if we do left to right now, whatever's on the left side is going to be mirrored to the right side and whatever is passed the right side of the line is going to be disregarded. So you could see in the 3D view, we actually get a unique shape just from the location it's at right now. And if you double click on the shape to move it, and let's say we moved it to the left more, you'll see that shape will now grow wider because more of it is on the left side.
And then if you bring it more to the right side, you'll see the shape will shrink because everything on the right side is being disregarded and you'll also notice on the level. It's gonna show you that red line there in the middle going vertically, letting you know that it's splitting across the center left to right.
So if we right click on that level, again, go back to mirror mode. We can now change this to whatever we want, if that's not what we wanted. So you could do right to left, which is just the opposite. You'd be designing on the right side, and then it'll mirror to the left side. And then if we go down to quadrants, this is where you're gonna select the quadrant that you want to work in.
So if you wanted to work in this top left quadrant, we're gonna select that. And now it's gonna take whatever is inside of this top left quadrant that is in this level. And it's gonna mirror it to all four quadrants. So you could see in our 3D view, if we move this shape down here, like this, it's gonna mirror just this little slice that's in the top left quadrant to all four sides.
And then if we take the entire shape and move it up in here in the left quadrant, you'll see, it will mirror to all four quadrants. And then whatever you change in that quadrant, will change in all four quadrants at the same exact time. So as that's gonna be the sizing, the rotation, you can also add more clip art in there, if you wanted to.
And then we can also bring in them into the center there where they touch and that will move them all as well. And then of course, if you did not want, uh, four copies like this. If you wanted just a left and the right, you can switch the mirroring mode left to right. And you would just get two copies. Now, just keep in mind, whatever is in this level will be mirrored.
So if you have something you don't want mirrored. You wanna right click on the level and click insert new level. And then inside of the next level is where you would put your parts that you don't want mirrored. So hopefully those tips helped you out. And if you ever want to learn more in depth on how to 3D model, make sure you check out my Vectric master training course I'll have that link down below in the description.
And I have much more in depth training on how to custom 3D model shapes and create your own projects. But I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and if you did make sure you like and subscribe for more.
So let's take a look at how this is done, we're gonna start with a new project. And this can be done in VCarve or Aspire. So the first thing you're gonna want is a piece of clip art, or you can import a 3D model. So I'm just gonna use this flourish, repeat number two from the clip art library, and then it's gonna appear on your screen and you could place it anywhere you like.
And whenever you're dealing with 3D objects, a lot of times it's easier if you split the screen up at the top and that way you can see the 2D and 3D views at the same time. So now when we make a change in the 2D view, it will update in the 3D view. So now let's look at one traditional way to mirror the shape to make it symmetrical with four different shapes total.
So you could go to the drawing tab, then go to the mirror tool and you could select this shape and flip it to the right, making sure the create a mirrored copy is turned on. And then we can move that over to make sure they're overlaping, that way they touch in the middle. And then we can hold shift and select both of these and flip it to the bottom and then take these and move them up some, so they overlap then click close.
And there we go, that's what we looked at at the beginning of the lesson, except these are now four individual shapes. So this would work just fine. But if you ever decide to change any part of this design, you're gonna have to redo that mirroring all over again. So let's say for instance, we wanted this shape a little bit bigger and maybe we wanted a little bit of a rotation on it like that.
Now we would have to delete those three shapes again and then re-mirror this first one, that way everything matched again. And that's why it's gonna be beneficial to do it the way I'm gonna show you right now. And before we do that, also let's look at the modeling tab. And you'll see when we mirrored those shapes, it made a copy of all of those objects inside of our component tree.
So now we have four objects in here, so let's hold shift, select all of those and delete them. And let's start from scratch again. We're gonna bring back that same flourish, bring it in there. And then if we go back to the modeling tab, what we want to use here is called the mirroring mode. And to turn that on, you have to right click on the level.
And then come down to where it says mirror mode, and then you're gonna have many different options you can choose from. So you can mirror it left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top. And then you have all four quadrants as well. So if you're not sure what the quadrants are, you can visualize that by bringing in some guidelines.
So if you drag a guideline in, from the left ruler and snap to the center of your project and then bring a guideline in from the top, and snap to the center of your project the other way. These are all four quadrants. We have top left, top right, bottom right, and bottom left. So now if we right click on that level again, go back down to mirroring mode.
You'll see if we do left to right now, whatever's on the left side is going to be mirrored to the right side and whatever is passed the right side of the line is going to be disregarded. So you could see in the 3D view, we actually get a unique shape just from the location it's at right now. And if you double click on the shape to move it, and let's say we moved it to the left more, you'll see that shape will now grow wider because more of it is on the left side.
And then if you bring it more to the right side, you'll see the shape will shrink because everything on the right side is being disregarded and you'll also notice on the level. It's gonna show you that red line there in the middle going vertically, letting you know that it's splitting across the center left to right.
So if we right click on that level, again, go back to mirror mode. We can now change this to whatever we want, if that's not what we wanted. So you could do right to left, which is just the opposite. You'd be designing on the right side, and then it'll mirror to the left side. And then if we go down to quadrants, this is where you're gonna select the quadrant that you want to work in.
So if you wanted to work in this top left quadrant, we're gonna select that. And now it's gonna take whatever is inside of this top left quadrant that is in this level. And it's gonna mirror it to all four quadrants. So you could see in our 3D view, if we move this shape down here, like this, it's gonna mirror just this little slice that's in the top left quadrant to all four sides.
And then if we take the entire shape and move it up in here in the left quadrant, you'll see, it will mirror to all four quadrants. And then whatever you change in that quadrant, will change in all four quadrants at the same exact time. So as that's gonna be the sizing, the rotation, you can also add more clip art in there, if you wanted to.
And then we can also bring in them into the center there where they touch and that will move them all as well. And then of course, if you did not want, uh, four copies like this. If you wanted just a left and the right, you can switch the mirroring mode left to right. And you would just get two copies. Now, just keep in mind, whatever is in this level will be mirrored.
So if you have something you don't want mirrored. You wanna right click on the level and click insert new level. And then inside of the next level is where you would put your parts that you don't want mirrored. So hopefully those tips helped you out. And if you ever want to learn more in depth on how to 3D model, make sure you check out my Vectric master training course I'll have that link down below in the description.
And I have much more in depth training on how to custom 3D model shapes and create your own projects. But I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and if you did make sure you like and subscribe for more.
