How to mirror a part using a plane?

Lee_Hesketh

I tried calling mirror, but there was no option to select entities or a mirror plane. Which function do I have to call to do this?

Jake_Rosenfeld

Try something like this:

mirror(context, id + "mirror1", {
        "patternType" : MirrorType.PART,
        "entities" : someQueryForEntities,
        "mirrorPlane" : someQueryForTheMirrorPlane
    });

Mirror is an Onshape Feature rather than an operation (operations start with the 'op' prefix).  This means that the FeatureScript Code of Mirror directly drives the Feature Dialog you get when you click the 'Mirror' button in the UI.  This means that for a mirror plane you must actually use a Query for some construction plane or a planar face of a solid or a sketch (not just a Plane object).  If you are confused about how to use an Onshape Feature in Featurescript, check out the public document called 'std'.  This is the Onshape Standard FeatureScript library.  If you go to the tab called mirror.fs you can see the source code of mirror, and read through the 'precondition' to see what the definition map (the third parameter of the function call) requires.

Jake_Rosenfeld

There are two options here:

1 (easier): Use 'opPlane' to create a construction plane from your plane() and then get that construction plane with qCreatedBy(planeId, EntityType.FACE) as the mirror plane.  You will want to then use deleteBodies on qCreatedBy(planeId, EntityType.BODY) if you want that plane to disappear from your part studio.

2 (unnecessarily hard): Copy the mirror code into your file as a helper function and change the precondition and body to take a Plane rather than a Query.

Jake_Rosenfeld

Try something like this:

mirror(context, id + "mirror1", {
        "patternType" : MirrorType.PART,
        "entities" : someQueryForEntities,
        "mirrorPlane" : someQueryForTheMirrorPlane
    });

Mirror is an Onshape Feature rather than an operation (operations start with the 'op' prefix).  This means that the FeatureScript Code of Mirror directly drives the Feature Dialog you get when you click the 'Mirror' button in the UI.  This means that for a mirror plane you must actually use a Query for some construction plane or a planar face of a solid or a sketch (not just a Plane object).  If you are confused about how to use an Onshape Feature in Featurescript, check out the public document called 'std'.  This is the Onshape Standard FeatureScript library.  If you go to the tab called mirror.fs you can see the source code of mirror, and read through the 'precondition' to see what the definition map (the third parameter of the function call) requires.

Lee_Hesketh

Thanks! When I typed in mirror, all that came up was mirror(context,id,definition). That was why i said there was no entity or plane selection.

Jake_Rosenfeld

No problem Lee! Most of our built in functions and features follow the (context, id, definition) pattern, where definition is just a parameter map defined by either a precondition or documentation.

Lee_Hesketh

One quick question though, how could I use a plane made using plane() as the mirror plane? When I try, an error says definition.mirrorPlane is Query. What query would I use?

Jake_Rosenfeld

There are two options here:

1 (easier): Use 'opPlane' to create a construction plane from your plane() and then get that construction plane with qCreatedBy(planeId, EntityType.FACE) as the mirror plane.  You will want to then use deleteBodies on qCreatedBy(planeId, EntityType.BODY) if you want that plane to disappear from your part studio.

2 (unnecessarily hard): Copy the mirror code into your file as a helper function and change the precondition and body to take a Plane rather than a Query.