Eg 1: Stage 7: Mirroring

With half the head complete, creating a full head is quite straight forward. Because most people's heads are close to symmetrical, its easy to mirroring the curves from one side of the head onto the other side.

Figure 194. Getting Set Up

Figure 194 shows what CySlice will look like after these first six steps. The "ready to copy into" empty polymesh is on the left, and the source network is on the right.

    Step 7: Click on Templates->Mirror to mirror image the template view.
    Step 8: Click on Ortho in the main CySlice window Display panel.
    Step 9: Adjust the two views so they are roughly matched.

Figure 195. Aligning The Views

Figure 195 shows the two polymeshes after these two steps. The template has been mirrored, ready to copy onto the undistorted empty polymesh. By switching to an orthographic projection (instead of the default perspective) its easier to judge if the views are matched.

    Step 10: Click on Templates->Align to copy the sample points across.

Figure 196. Initial Point Alignment

Figure 196 shows the initial point alignment between the two polymeshes. Judging the alignment by eye wasn't too bad, but it could be better.

    Step 11: Click on Templates->Refine to improve the alignment.

Figure 197. Final Point Alignment

Figure 197 shows the final alignment after the automatic best fit calculation.

    Step 12: Click on Templates->Points and Templates->Seeds to copy all Shape and Seed points across.

Figure 198. All Points Copied

Figure 198 shows all the points from the template copied across to the target. The new points are snapped down tight onto the polymesh.

    Step 13: Click on Templates->Copy Curves to copy all the curves across.
    Step 14: Click on Templates->Copy Patches to copy all the patches across.

Figure 199. All Curves and Patches Copied

Figure 199 shows all of the network copied from the template. The mirroring is complete, so the template tool is no longer needed.

    Step 15: Move the mouse pointer into the template window and hit Esc.
    Step 14: Hide all network graphics except the Knot lines.

Figure 200. Finding Problem Patches

Figure 200 shows the mirrored network. By viewing only the knot lines its easier to see the red colored problem patches. There is one in the corner of the eye, and another on the edge of the ear.

Because the two halves of the head polymesh aren't exactly symmetrical, some positioning errors are possible when the points are copied and snapped. Curves may not follow features correctly, and seed points may not be inside their correct boundary. This is not a disaster; the mirrored network is just like a network you create from scratch. You can zoom into the problem areas and move the shape and seed points around to fix any problems.

    Step 16: Fix up any problem areas.
    Step 17: Save the mirrored network into a new slice file.

Figure 201. Final Mirrored Network

Figure 201 shows the final mirrored network.