Maya mirror tutorial

Today I started modeling a head for a  character im making in Maya. I’m gonna use the character to train and learn bone rigging so I then can make it move. What I have found usefull before is using a mirror duplication so I only have to edit one side of the object and it will look the same on the other. To do this in maya was a little different.

How I did it in Maya.

Step 1: Go to front view.

Step 2: Select all the faces on the left side.

Step 3: Delete them, so only the right side is left intact.

Step 4: Go to object mode and select the object.

Step 5: Go to, Edit> Duplicate Special , and press the option box. (The square to the right)

Step 6: Make sure Geometry type is set to “Instance”

And that scale is set to “-1.0000 | 1.0000 | 1.0000″

Then press the “Duplicate Special” button.

This will make a new object that will mirror your first.

When you have done this the seam in the middle wont stay in place if you try to move it in the X axis. You dont want the middle seam to move away from the middle. So to make it so it wont move in the X axis…

Step 7: Go onto tool settings for the move tool. Do this by double clicking on the move tool.

Step 8: Go down to reflection settings, and check the “Reflection:” box. Make sure the “Preserv seam:” box is checked.

That should do it. Now you can edit one side and the other will be exactly the same. And the middle wont move in the X axis.

When you are done modeling it and you want to make it a whole object, you can do this to merge them:

Step 9: Delete the left object.

Step 10: Go to, Mesh > Mirror Geometry  , and press the option box.

Step 11: Set the “Mirror Direction:” to -X.

Check the “Merge with the original” box.

And make sure that “Merge vertices” is selected.

And that should do it.

I hope this little tutorial helped you if you didnt already know how to do this.