Mirroring Features

In parts, you can mirror faces, features, and bodies. In assemblies, you can mirror assembly features.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In a part, click Mirror (Features toolbar) or Insert > Pattern/Mirror > Mirror.
   • In an assembly, click Assembly Features (Assembly tab on the CommandManager) and click Mirror , or click Insert > Assembly Feature > Mirror.
2. For Mirror Face/Plane , select a face or a plane in the graphics area. You can also select a Secondary Mirror Face/Plane to mirror the feature about two planes at the same time.
3. Select the items to mirror.
   You can select features, the faces that comprise features, or a body within a single-body or multibody part.
   • To mirror features in parts or assemblies: For Features to Mirror , select one or more features in the graphics area or the flyout in the FeatureManager design tree.
   • To mirror faces in parts: For Faces to Mirror , in the graphics area select the faces that comprise the feature you want to mirror. Faces to Mirror is useful with imported models where only the faces that make up the feature were imported, and not the feature itself.
   • To mirror features in multibody parts:
     1. For Features to Mirror , select the feature from the FeatureManager design tree.
     2. Under Options, select Geometry pattern.
     3. Under Feature Scope, specify which bodies you want the feature to affect.
   • To mirror an entire body in a single-body or multibody part: For Bodies to Mirror , select a body in the graphics area.
4. If you select Bodies to Mirror , the following Options appear:

   Option	Description
   Merge solids	When you select a face on a solid part, and clear the Merge solids check box, you can create a mirrored body that is attached to the original body, but is a separate entity. If you select Merge solids, the original part and the mirrored part become a single entity.
   Knit surfaces	If you select to mirror a surface by attaching the mirror face to the original face without intersections or gaps between the surfaces, you can select Knit surfaces to knit the two surfaces together.

5. If you want to mirror only the geometry (faces and edges) of the features, rather than solving the whole feature, select Geometry Pattern.
   You must select this option when, in a multibody part, you mirror features of one body onto another body.

   The geometry pattern option speeds up the creation and rebuilding of the feature. However, you cannot create geometry patterns of features that have faces merged with the rest of the part.
   The geometry pattern is only available with Features to Mirror and Faces to Mirror.
6. To mirror the visual properties of the mirrored entities (SOLIDWORKS colors, textures, and cosmetic thread data), select Propagate Visual Properties.
7. Click .