headus 3D tools

[dustinbrown]

I'm trying to find a good process for working with edge straightening and symmetry.

Once I have my outer boundary edges straightened on one side of a contiguous shell with symmetry applied, I hit S over the straightened side to get my symmetry back, expecting the side that hasn't been straightened to match up. What I get instead is both sides moving to split the difference, so while the edges stay straight, I loose the perfect vertical-horizontal orientation of my straight edges. As far as holding the shell down goes, hitting S seems to ignore the pins you have put down for the outer edge straightening process.

Is there a way to lock down the straightened half of a contiguous shell so that when I evoke symmetry that side doesn't move, but the other half moves to match it?

Also, does it matter which side of my symmetry I edge straighten? I mean, should I always straighten the light half? I assumed it didn't matter.

[headus]

"Is there a way to lock down the straightened half of a contiguous shell so that when I evoke symmetry that side doesn't move, but the other half moves to match it?"

What it does is finds the orientation of the center-line (i.e. the imaginary line between the top and bottom cross-over points on the boundary) then rotates the shell so this is vertical before mirroring the UVs. What you can do it tag that center line with the 'I' hotkey, and reflatten so its vertical already before you do the 'S' hotkey copy.

"Also, does it matter which side of my symmetry I edge straighten? I mean, should I always straighten the light half?"

Yes. If for some reason you want to straighten up the other side instead, use Shift-S to flip the light side to the dark side.

Phil

[dustinbrown]

Thanks for the reply, Phil. See the attached image. Tagging a line doesn't seem to help. I also tried flattening after I tagged the line before I evoked symmetry. Perhaps I misunderstood your instructions.

[headus]

Sorry, I should have drawn my own diagram :-) Its the edge loop right up the middle that you need to 'I' tag ... the line that divides the light and dark side. If you flatten after doing that then it should be made vertical, and then the symmetry copy will leave your snapped lines un-rotated.

Phil

[dustinbrown]

Bingo! That makes sense, thanks again, Phil.