THIS ONLY WORKS FOR BASIC BRICKS/PLATES (and some others) on a boring orientation. I don't try to figure out how to find a left ring for a right wing, etc., so this won't work for all models.
I made part of a Lego model that I wanted to "mirror", just flip about an axis. It's "just bricks" so I didn't have to worry about wings or funny shapes or anything. I'm surprised Lego Digital Designer doesn't have this.
Anyway, I figured the easiest way to do this was to export it into an LDraw (ldr) file, then since that's plain text, just flip the - signs on the appropriate coordinates.
Here's the little program I used to do this (C#, Windows). After compiling, just say something like:
SimpleLcadMirror infile.ldr outfile.ldr y
Hmm, don't know how to "compile" it you say? On Windows it's reasonably easy.
Open cmd (win+r, type cmd, press enter)
notepad SimpleLcadMirror.cs
Copy the stuff below into that file and save it
Type this into the cmd and press enter:
%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\csc.exe SimpleLcadMirror.cs
It should compile and give you a SimpleLcadMirror.exe
Then 'just' run it from the cmd line:
SimpleLcadMirror.exe yourfile.ldr newfile.ldr x y
// Simple utility to mirror an LCAD file
using System;
using System.IO;
class MirrorLCad
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
String filenameIn = null;
String filenameOut = null;
bool mirrorX = false;
bool mirrorY = false;
bool mirrorZ = false;
bool round = false;
if (args == null || args.Length < 3)
{
return;
}
filenameIn = args[0];
filenameOut = args[1];
for (int i = 2; i < args.Length; i++)
{
if (args[i].Equals("x"))
{
mirrorX = true;
}
else if (args[i].Equals("y"))
{
mirrorY = true;
}
else if (args[i].Equals("z"))
{
mirrorZ = true;
}
else
{
PrintUsage();
return;
}
}
PrintWarning();
var inFile = new StreamReader(filenameIn);
var outFile = new StreamWriter(filenameOut);
String line;
while ((line = inFile.ReadLine()) != null)
{
// Very boring in line detection, only type one, and only if syntax has no strange stuff
line = line.TrimStart();
if (line.StartsWith("1 "))
{
string[] parts = line.Split(' ');
// We care about x, y, z, - 2, 3 & 4
// 1 x y z a b c d e f g h i
if (mirrorX) { parts[2] = mirror(parts[2]); }
if (mirrorY) { parts[3] = mirror(parts[3]); }
if (mirrorZ) { parts[4] = mirror(parts[4]); }
foreach (var part in parts)
{
outFile.Write(part);
outFile.Write(' ');
}
outFile.WriteLine();
}
else
{
// Don't do anything to strange line
outFile.WriteLine(line);
}
}
outFile.Close();
}
static String mirror(String value)
{
Console.Write('.');
if (value.StartsWith("-"))
{
value = value.Substring(1);
}
else
{
value = '-' + value;
}
return value;
}
static void PrintUsage()
{
Console.WriteLine("Usage:");
Console.WriteLine("SimpleLcadMirror [x] [y] [z]");
Console.WriteLine("y is vertical, z is depth, x is horizontal");
}
static void PrintWarning()
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("ONLY ARRANGES PARTS POSITIONS, doesn't swap parts (eg: left/right wing, etc)");
Console.WriteLine("Intended for simple brick/plate structures on a simple axis, square to the grid");
}
}
