Assembly Mirror Command - Autodesk Inventor Assembly Tutorial | Autodesk Inventor 2021 IN DEPTH

[Calm Hip-Hop Music] Hey everybody it's Alex with Engineering  Applied in this video I’ll be giving you   an overview of the mirror command found within  an Autodesk Inventor assembly file if you want   more easy to understand and practical content  like this made by an experienced engineer like   myself make sure you like this video subscribe  to the channel and turn on notifications so you   don't miss out on any helpful content like this  in the future if you're looking for a specific   function check the description for time stamps  and if you don't find what you're looking for   in this video I encourage you to check out the  other videos in my Autodesk Inventor series   playlist because I know you'll find exactly what  you need there let's get started okay everybody   so here we are in our first assembly file and  what we're doing here is we're taking a look at   the end product for this mirror command um so what  we're taking a look at in this particular case is   a draft shield now you might recognize this from  a previous video on assembly constraints and I’ll   just briefly explain what a draft shield is and  what it's for so essentially what you do is you   put a high sensitivity scale on the inside of  this enclosure and this enclosure just protects   the scale from any sort of air blowing in the  environment that you're working in and dust and   that kind of stuff so this is perfect if you're  outside of a clean room that has positive pressure   on the inside of the room therefore forcing air  out of it and you don't want air blowing onto your   scale as you're trying to take reliable readings  because it can screw up the reliability of   your readings that you're getting on your scale  so um anyhow what we're going to be doing here   is we're going to be replicating these corner  brackets that are spread around the corners of   this enclosure using the mirror command so we'll  be uh constraining just one of these brackets   and then we'll just replicate it on both sides  of this enclosure which saves us a ton of time   while putting together our assembly file okay so  I went ahead and deleted all of those extra corner   brackets and fasteners with the exception of this  one corner bracket here in the bottom left hand   corner the first step we need to pay attention  to is we need to create some reference geometry   in which to mirror these components over we'll go  up to the work feature section here in the ribbon   go to this drop down and we'll use the mid plane  between two planes option I’ll select this face   and this face and it drops a plane that's mid  plane between those two outer faces and we're   going to do the same thing in this direction now  so we'll open up this drop down mid plane we'll   get this face and this face and we'll do this  one more time we need to get a plane sort of in   the middle of this framework here so we'll go to  mid plane once again I’ll pick up this inner face  and this inner face and you'll see we have our  three main reference planes that we'll be using   to mirror these components over now that we have  all of our reference geometry in place let's go   ahead and click on mirror in the pattern section  of the ribbon and you'll see we get our mirror   components command window that pops up starting in  the upper left hand corner of this command window   we have our component selection filter so this  is what we use to pick up the various components   that we want to replicate or mirror in this case  so you'll notice that there's a blue fill inside   of this box that means the selection filter is  currently active moving to the right we have our   mirror plane selection filter so this allows us  to pick up various planes faces and so on and so   forth in which to mirror our selected components  about okay so when we click on this we activate   the filter and we can pick up various reference  planes like we'll be doing in this lesson or you   can pick up faces that are associated with  your model geometry or you can also use the   various planes that are part of the origin that's  associated with the assembly file okay so you'll   see I have my origin folder open here under the  assembly and you'll notice that it pre-selects   those as I click on these tiles now you can also  use this selection filter and hover over these   and select it this way as well now let's go ahead  and select our component of interest which is this   angle bracket here in the corner so again we  can either click on the component directly   or we can pick it up in the model browser if you  click on something by mistake so let's say for   example we accidentally clicked on this rail  on the bottom what you can do is you can hold   the shift key hover over the part that you want to  remove and then left click while holding shift and   you'll see that goes away okay so it's no longer  blue and it's no longer in this selection window   now that we selected our component let's go ahead  and select the mirror plane that we want to use   to mirror this component around so let's go ahead  and click on this tile here and we'll first mirror   it over this plane here so what we'll do is we'll  just hover over it until it turns green and left   click and you'll see that we get a preview of the  mirrored component here in the bottom right hand   corner now let's go ahead and continue on but  I want you to pay attention to the color of the   preview here in the bottom right hand corner  and I want you to pay attention to the   symbology here next to each component name now you  might be wondering why we still cannot toggle the   status on these components well what we first need  to do is we need to select a component of interest   and then these will populate so we'll go ahead and  click on angle bracket and you can see now we have   our three options available to us now bear in mind  within this window we can also see the hierarchy   of the component that we selected and its  relationship to the overall assembly so you can   see this angle bracket is linked to our top level  assembly which is called mirror command example   moving up to the status section we have our first  option which allows us to mirror the selected   components so essentially what this does is not  only does it mirror the original component around   the plane of interest but it creates a new file  extension for this replicated part okay this next   option allows us to reuse the selected objects so  if you're not interested in creating a new part   but you want to add additional instances of your  selected component this is what you want to use   so I would be willing to wager about 99% of the  time you'll be using this particular option   because if you're using standard parts like  fasteners in multiple places in your assembly   you don't necessarily want to create new part  files of the same fastener you just want to use   additional instances of it okay and it'll  keep everything in your bill of materials   nice and tidy now this final option allows us to  exclude the selected object so if I click on this   you'll notice that the symbol changes here next to  these various designations within this hierarchy   and you'll notice that the preview has gone away  so if I were to click on reuse you'll see that the   preview color turns yellow so this is  just a helpful way for us to recognize   exactly what's going on with these replicated  components at a glance okay so let's go ahead   and move down and take a look at the next options  here we have mirror relationships which allows us   to maintain the relationships or constraints that  we have in the model now as we progress through   this lesson I’ll make some important distinctions  in when various relationships are maintained and   when they are lost okay so I encourage you to  pay very careful attention to that so as you're   working through your models you know when you  can use this and when you cannot use this okay   so moving down we have ground new components  simply put any new components that are created   are grounded or fixed in 3D space moving down to  the bottom you'll see that we have this extended   menu with some additional options to access  this menu all you have to do is click these   arrows in the bottom right hand corner okay and  it'll drop down that extended portion of the menu   now this first option within the extended  menu allows us to set the initial status   of all standard library components to reuse by  default so when we're using standard hardware   for example from the Autodesk Inventor content  library it sets the status for those components   to reuse rather than mirroring them with this  green symbol okay so again the green symbol will   create a new file extension and a new part  based on the originally selected components   whereas reuse just uses additional instances  of your originally selected part which is   what you'll want to use most of the time unless  you're purposefully trying to derive or create a   new part file based on your originally selected  component okay so moving on we have our preview   components section so this allows us to toggle the  preview for various components so whether it's our   mirrored components our reused components so you  see when we toggle this box we get our preview   over here it disappears okay and then moving  over to the right we can toggle our standard   content visibility so that is the basic overview  of everything within this command window so let's   go ahead and utilize this and I’ll walk you  through these various options in practice okay   so let's go ahead and proceed with the example  so we'll go back up to mirror we'll select our   angle bracket and let's select our mirror plane  of interest which is this one here okay and now   you notice we have this green preview of our new  angle bracket here in the bottom right hand corner   okay so we'll go ahead and start with this so  again the green symbol is mirroring the selected   object okay so let's go ahead and click next and  see what happens we get this new pop-up window   that shows us some information based on our new  replicated component now I want you to remember   that whenever we use this green status or mirror  the selected components it creates a new part file   of the originally selected component rather than  just creating new instances of it okay so with   that said we can change the display name of the  replicated part we can change the file name and   then of course the location of this new file so  let's go ahead and change some of this information   so we'll go ahead and just enter some sample text  and I’ll just type sample text here so you can   see what that looks like okay and then in the file  name let's pretend that we're creating a left hand   and a right hand version of a product let's say  that we started with the left hand version of it   and we want to mirror this component to create  a right-handed version of it so let's go ahead   and change this to "RH" for right hand and let's  change our source path okay so I’ll just go ahead   and paste my path there okay so I have my file  extension pathway okay so I want you to look up   in this window and look at each individual field  and see how these strings of text are implemented   in each one of these relevant sections this first  column here shows us our source component display   name so this is the display name that's shown in  the model browser so you'll see angle bracket one   that's our originally selected component here  and here you see its name presented moving over   to the right we have our source file name which  is the actual file name for that source component   okay so it's called angle bracket and moving  over to the right we have our display name   so this is the display name of the newly mirrored  component and as you can see here we have the text   from this particular space so it's going to use  the file name with the additional text after it so   you'll see it says angle bracket underscore RH for  right hand and then here it has sample text after   the file name okay so that's how these particular  text fields come into play with the display name   and then moving over to the right we have our file  name which just takes the information from this   box here so it takes the source file name which is  angle bracket and then adds the "_RH" for   right hand continuing on we have our location  column and this shows us where our new file is   going to be saved okay and then finally we have  our status column which shows us the status of   these various components moving down we also have  the option to create a new assembly based on this   replicated component okay so let's go ahead  and try that so we'll check this option and   we'll click ok so you'll see it opens up a new  assembly file with our new component in it okay   so this is useful if you want to go ahead  and consolidate a couple steps all in one go   but in this case we don't want to save this  as a new assembly so we'll exit out of this   we don't need to save that and let's go ahead and  go back into mirror and we'll use the reuse option   so we'll reselect all of our entities we'll select  our angle bracket and we'll use the reuse option   okay now like I mentioned previously the reuse  option is nice because it doesn't create a new   part file it just simply creates new instances of  the original part file within the model as if we   placed multiple instances of components using the  place command okay so this is really convenient   for us to use okay so let's go ahead and drop this  in 3D space let's leave the ground new components   unchecked so you can see what this looks like now  we get the same pop-up window as the green status   or the mirror the selected components option but  none of this will actually come into play because   we're actually reusing the components and not  creating new part files so we'll go ahead and   click ok and now you see our new component is  in our 3D space now I want you to note that when   I click and drag this it still moves around even  though the original component is fully constrained   this is because when you replicate individual  parts it's not going to hold the original   relationships between various components now if I  were to go in and replicate this entire assembly   and just mirror it over a plane then I can hold  all of those constraints with reference to one   another for the new entire assembly and I’ll  show you that right now let's go ahead and go   up to mirror and instead of selecting individual  components this time let's select the entire   assembly so I’ll just click on the assembly name  here we pick up the entire assembly let's change   the assembly to reuse so I just selected the  assembly name here in this window and switched it   to reuse okay so it's going to reuse all of these  components rather than creating new part files for   it and then let's go ahead and select our mirror  plane as this plane here okay so I just created   an extra plane out here in space so it's easier to  see okay we have our preview here for our reused   assembly and let's go ahead and leave this mirror  relationships box checked so this is going to   maintain all the relationships within the assembly  okay so whereas before we could still click and   move that one part around because we're only  replicating one part in the context of an entire   assembly this time when we copy the whole assembly  or mirror the whole assembly it's going to retain   all of the constraints so you can imagine if I  wanted to create a left-hand and a right-hand version   of this particular assembly this is a great way  to do it because I don't have to build a whole   new assembly I can just mirror this keep all of  the constraints together and it's going to operate   just like this side did but it's flipped the door  around so this is really convenient for me so   let's go ahead and hit next okay again we don't  need to worry about anything in here because we're   reusing the components so we're not getting any  new files or anything like that we'll click ok   and so now we have our new assembly so it's  even copied all of the reference geometry   so I want to show you here I can't just click and  drag anything so I’ve got all of my constraints   in place like I had in this assembly so  that is what that checkbox allows you to do   and that's why you were able to move the angle  bracket over here but you can't move anything   in this assembly because all of  the constraints are being held   and respected in this particular case  so let's go ahead and take a step back   and we'll continue on with the lesson so let's go  ahead and undo that we'll go back to mirror okay   so now let me show you grounding new components  so we'll just go ahead and select this real quick   we'll select that okay so it flips it over to  that side let's go ahead and just reuse this   and we'll ground it so this time we'll hit next  and okay but when I go to click and drag this it   doesn't move and you see I have the little push  pin symbol next to the ground symbol and that   basically means that this component is grounded  or fixed in 3D space so I can't move it anywhere   so if you know that you don't need to change your  model and you're okay with grounding components   so they don't move around this is a fast and  easy way to do that with the mirror command   now let's go ahead and finish up this example  now I know I’ve taken a lot of detours along this   tutorial but I’ve done that with purpose because  I want to make sure that you're understanding   what all of these little options do and how they  actually work because I know it can be frustrating   sometimes to read a description of a particular  function but not actually see what it does so   it's really important to me that I try to show you  as much as I can so that you can fully understand   what you're looking at so with that said let's  go ahead and go back into mirror let's go ahead   and select our two angled brackets here on the  bottom okay we'll select our mirror plane as   this particular mirror plane here and you'll see  we have our two new components here at the top but   let's go ahead and make sure that these are reused  so that we're not saving any new file names okay   so that looks good we'll go ahead and hit next  and okay now we have four corner brackets here   let's go ahead and mirror all four of these onto  the other side now so we'll go back into mirror   we'll pick up all four of these okay we'll select  this as our plane of interest and we'll set these   to be reused so we'll hit next and okay we'll go  ahead and rotate the model around and as you can   see all of my corner brackets are exactly where  I need them to be without spending all the extra   time in placing these components individually  now one final word of caution is I would say make   sure that you're practicing good design intent in  conjunction with the use of this command so don't   just overuse the mirror command in an effort to  cut corners okay so this is not a corner cutting   tool this allows you to speed up your workflow and  create new instances of certain components if the   design allows you to do that but if your design  needs those constraints to be placed individually   so maybe your design is always changing its shape  and and its size and whatnot maybe that's not   a good time to use the mirror command okay so  make sure you're making intelligent decisions   on when you should and should not be using the  mirror command that's all for this segment of   the Autodesk Inventor Assembly Creation Module  where I gave you an overview of the mirror command   I really hope that you found this tutorial to  be helpful and that you put what you've learned   into practice so you can continue developing your  skills as you work your way through these lessons   also before you watch the next video in the series  make sure you subscribe to my channel and turn on   notifications to stay up to date on future content  that will help you create the future you want for   yourself and of course don't hesitate to leave a  comment or reach out via my website contact page   and let me know if there's anything else you'd  like to learn about or see on this channel   I really appreciate you choosing to stop by  and learn with me and I’ll see you again soon [Calm Hip-Hop Music]

Channel: Engineering Applied

Views: 865

Keywords: autodesk inventor 2021 tutorial, autodesk inventor tutorial for beginners, inventor tutorial 2021, inventor professional 2021 tutorial, inventor 2021, autodesk inventor 2021, autodesk inventor tutorial, inventor, how to mirror in autodesk inventor 2021, mirror tool autodesk inventor 2021, mirror command autodesk inventor 2021, how to use mirror in autodesk inventor 2021, mirror function in autodesk inventor 2021

Id: yCviHySssxE

Length: 19min 7sec (1147 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021