Component Mirror behaves differently from the UI

[mp3-250]

From the UI if I select some components and make a position mirror of them, SW seems smart enough to automatically
switch each component alignment to get what I want.

Each component is aligned in this way automatically by SW like this without user interaction.

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According to:
https://help.solidworks.com/2024/Englis ... eData.html

To create a basic Mirror Component feature, use at a minimum:

・IMirrorComponentFeatureData::MirrorPlane
・IMirrorComponentFeatureData::ComponentsToInstanceAlignToComponentOrigin

・(Optional) IMirrorComponentFeatureData::MirrorType (if not explicitly set, defaults to　swMirrorComponentMirrorType_e.swMirrorType_CenterOfBoundingBox)
・(Optional) IMirrorComponentFeatureData::ComponentOrientationsAlignToComponentOrigin (if not explicitly set, defaults to swMirrorComponentOrientation2_e.swOrientation_MirroredX_MirroredY)

To create a mirror instance as a copy of the component, positioned symmetrically about a plane in one of four orientations (for fully symmetric components, all four orientations are true mirrors), use:

・MirrorPlane
・MirrorType
・ComponentOrientationsAlignToComponentOrigin
・ComponentOrientationsAlignToSelection
・ComponentsToInstanceAlignToComponentOrigin
・ComponentsToInstanceAlignToSelection
・AlignmentReferences
・FlipDirections
・SyncFlexibleSubAssemblies

I tried to use the minimum conditions and the alignment of every component defaults to the same value, as per documentation. So the mirror came out in a different way.

Code: Select all

   
    swMirroCompFeatData.mirrorPlane = mirrorPlane  
    swMirroCompFeatData.ComponentsToInstanceAlignToComponentOrigin = compsToInstance
    swMirroCompFeatData.MirrorType = swMirrorType_CenterOfBoundingBox
   
    ' Specify align to origins component orientations (I tried to skip this)
    'swMirroCompFeatData.ComponentOrientationsAlignToComponentOrigin = swOrientation_MirroredX_MirroredAndFlippedY
    
        ' Create MirrorComponent
    Set swFeat = swFeatMgr.CreateFeature(swMirroCompFeatData)
    

4.jpg (7 KiB) Viewed 1200 times

How can I make the macro give the same result of the UI?

[mp3-250]

my educated guess is that the UI command calculate the bounding box of every component selected for mirror and comparing their length along x,y,z is able to figure out the approximate orientation and suggest it to the user accordingly.

[AlexLachance]

It has to do with the mirror feature settings but I can't really help you in terms of programming.

[josh]

Yes, there’s a bunch of commands where the UI takes a look at your model and tries to guess what options you’re going to want to use, but there’s nothing in the API to invoke those calculations. One other example is the Mate command, where it analyzes your selections and tells you which mates are appropriate/allowed for those selections. When adding mates via API, you have to already know what type of mate you want and add it specifically.

[mario malic]

I think it should be something related to this member ComponentOrientationsAlignToComponentOrigin.
If you mirror every single component in the same way with the default option swOrientation_MirroredX_MirroredY. Components have their own coordinate systems and I believe this is the issue when you are having the default option. I think you should get a CS of one component and compare every other component with it to determine the proper option for ComponentOrientationsAlignToComponentOrigin.

In the mirror components menu if you press arrow 'Next' to go to the second step, you can see options for orientation of each component.

[mp3-250]

My components share the same assy CSYS, no right or left hand components only positional mirror of component that are symmetric.

I decided to build a loop to switch orientation for each component inside the mirror based on its x, y, z bounding box dimensions comparison. X>Y, Z>Y and X>Z comparison drive the component orientation and this gives me the same results as the UI mirror, at least as close as possible to my user intent.