A Maya deformer that inverts a shape of a topologically symmetrical mesh preserving vertices indices. Practically it was created for getting a blendShapes terget objects mirrored correctly in one click.
The plugin includes:
- mirrorShape command that runs the symmetry map calculation and sets the result to the defomer node
- mirrorShape deformer node that uses the symmetry map for relocating a target mesh vertices
The only rule to get the plugin work correctly is to have a topologically symmetrical mesh located in the center of the scene.
To invert a mesh correctly the plugin needs a "Symmetry Map" data that is calculated using a base mesh vertices positions, that's why before running the command "mirrorShape()" we need to select a base mesh first and then to select a target mesh.
After calculating the "Symmetry Map" the command creates a deformer and transfers the symmetry map data to it.
The command has two attributes:
-"name" or "n" that is used to define the name of the deformer;
-"symmetryPlane" or "sym" that is used to define the plane of the symmetry (XZ, YZ, XY) that visually splits a base mesh into two topologically identical parts.
There are two versions of the plugin available for testing and usage. Download one of them and place it in MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH folder.
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Make sure the plugin has been loaded via pluginManager
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Create a new scene or open an existing one with a mesh that has a symmetrical topology and located in zero coordinates of the world space.
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Create a copy of this mesh, move it so as you could see it and apply some deformations to the one of the symmetrical sides.
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First select a base mesh (in the center of the scene), then select the second (modified) mesh and run the next script
mirrorShape -n "deformerName" -symmetryPlane "YZ";
maya.cmds.mirrorShape(n = "deformerName", symmetryPlane = "YZ")
As soon as you like the invertation of the mesh shape you can delete the constructionHistory from the deformed mesh and use it as a blendShape target.