Maureen Neuringer | COMD 3711 | Section D030

11 Discussion

Each week you will need to respond to a question posted. Your response should be a minimum of 150 words for both questions. You should also include at least one response to your fellow students. The responses are a requirement for participation part of your grade.

Question 01 –

What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

Question 02 –

How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

13 Comments

  1. Jacqueline Hernandez

    1)The value of creating a live mirror design is by making the design easier to do on one side and having the other side mirrored so it’s equally the same. It is really easy to focus on one side and time-saving as well to look at what the design is going to be. The line vertical line helps where the shape is going to be so it doesn’t cross over. 

    2) How to save the design by changing the color on one side would be doing the shapes in different layers and selecting using the selection tool to pick the shape the color is going to be on. This also doesn’t affect the symmetry of the shapes it’s going to be. 

  2. HarryChen

    Question 01 –

    What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    A live mirror design allows us to create symmetrical designs easily. This technique reflects whatever we input from one side to the other. This saves us time and ensures our design is perfectly symmetrical.

    Question 02 –

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    To save the design you can duplicate the layer to create a backup before we start coloring our design. Once the backup is created you can select the circle in the layers panel on the original layer and go to object->expand appearance to turn them into individual objects. We can now go into the layers panel and choose the one side we want to recolor.

  3. Vivian

    Question 01 –

    What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    Designers who are looking to create symmetrical graphics can streamline the process with live mirror designs, offering significant value to their creative endeavors. By utilizing this technique, designers can save time rather than having to repeatedly reflect a selection on their artboard as it enables real-time reflection of changes made to one side of the design onto its mirrored counterpart, ensuring consistency and coherence throughout the entire composition. This technique is valuable in various design contexts from creating intricate patterns such as mandalas and other geometric graphics. Designers can streamline their workflow, experiment with different design variations, and achieve precise symmetry using this technique.

    Question 02 –

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    To save the design for selective color changes on one side only, I would begin by duplicating the live mirror layer as a precautionary measure, ensuring I have a backup for future edits. After duplicating the layer, I would hide it to keep the workspace organized. Then, I would access the layers panel and click on the circle icon located to the right of the layer’s name, highlighting all objects within that layer. Navigating to the top of the software, I would proceed to the ‘Object’ menu and choose ‘Expand Appearance.’ This action allows me to convert any live effects or transformations into editable objects. Next, I navigate back over to the layers panel and select  the specific half of the design that I intend to recolor, enabling precise adjustments while maintaining the integrity of the original composition. If all the steps were done correctly, the layer should show two groups of objects: the side I was working on prior to expanding appearance and the reflected side. I click on the circle to the right of the group in the layers panel to select the side I want to recolor. Afterwards, I go to edit at the top of the software, edit colors, and recolor artwork.

    • Fahima

      Hi Vivian

      I liked how you made it clear and provided examples, the benefits of applying live mirror method, which include time savings, uniformity, and the ability to try out many design alternatives.

  4. Romual Germain

    Question 01 

    What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    The value of creating  a Live Mirror Design in Adobe is creating perfect symmetry towards the user’s work. With perfect symmetry you wouldn’t need to add many adjustments manually. This tool helps save so much time and saves you from the hassle of trying to make your work symmetrical.

    Question 02

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    You would be able to change the color of one side of your symmetrical work by separating your desired layer with the rest. You would ungroup the layers after the live mirror has been expanded , Then you select the desired layer that you want to adjust and then you change to whatever color you would want. Once you finished choosing it you group it back together . 

  5. Xiangyong zeng

    Question 01 — what is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    The value I see in creating a real-time mirror design is in its ability to ensure that both sides of the design remain the same without having to manually replicate the changes made on one side. This helps maintain consistency and accuracy, and allows the designer to try out different ideas on one side of the mirror.

    Question 02 – How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    Create separate layers for each side of the design. This allows you to apply color changes to each layer without affecting its mirror counterpart.

  6. Fahima

    What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    You may work on one side of your artwork and have the changes mirrored on the other side at the same time with Live Mirror Design. Especially when working on symmetrical designs, this saves time and effort. You may make sure that the two sides of your artwork are perfectly symmetrical by using Live Mirror Design. This preserves the accuracy and consistency of your designs.

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    You have to first expand whatever the live effects or strokes that you used in your work. After selecting your object, select Object > Expand Appearance. Then you will need to ungroup by holding shift + cmd+ g. You should duplicates your artwork. To accomplish this, choose your artwork, copy it, and then paste it. After that reflect, to make the mirrored side, reflect the duplicate artwork. select reflect under object > transform. And then click ‘Copy’ after selecting the axis. Put the mirrored copy and the original artwork in one group, when you have both selected hold cmd+g. you can use the fill or stroke choices in the toolbar to apply the color to just the selected side when you wish to change its color. You can keep the live mirroring feature and still have the option to individually modify the colors or other elements on each side of the design by following these instructions.

    • Xiangyong zeng

      hi I agree with you this method can be very effective can save time and effort. And it ensures that the artwork is completely symmetrical on both sides.

    • Vivian

      Hi Fahima,

      You made a good point about the efficiency of Live Mirror Design in ensuring perfect symmetry in artworks. Utilizing Live Mirror Design can significantly expedite the process of creating symmetrical designs, which ultimately enhances workflow efficiency.

  7. Melissa

    Question 01 –

    What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    Using Live Mirror Design simplifies the creation of symmetrical artwork by automatically reflecting edits across an axis, which minimizes the need for manual adjustments. This feature significantly reduces the time spent on repetitive tasks. 

    Question 02 –

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    To change the color on one side only, I start by expanding the Live Mirror effect and ungrouping the elements so I can edit them individually. Then, I use the Selection Tool to pick the side I want to change and apply the new color using the Swatches or Color panel. This method lets me tweak specific parts while keeping the overall symmetry intact.

  8. Tiffany Weintraub

    Question 01 –

    What is the value of creating a Live Mirror Design?

    Using live mirror design in illustrator is supposed be a time saver when making something symmetrical. The value is time and speed. Because I messed up and moved the lines, the artwork wouldn’t meet exactly in the middle. In a case like this it would’ve been much easier to create half of something and then object > transform > reflect. I also can’t stand that I can’t go to far out from the center of the mirror, because it seems illustrator didn’t like that. It started to move the center design around. I think I would use live mirror to start something then finish it without the live mirror.

    Question 02 –

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    If you were creating something asymmetrical (which is not exactly the same on both sides) I would make sure to select my live mirror artwork, and copy it to a new layer so I can always go back to it. I would save the layers as an AI file so I can always go back and edit as well. I can copy my mirror artwork and put it on a new layer, and reflect to color one of the sides a different color. By making sure my layer is not on the live mirror layer, I can do whatever I want to it. There will be times when we want to have something different on both sides and we would have to make adjustments.

  9. Wei Ni

    Question 01 –

    The value of creating a Live Mirror Design in my opinion is to save time and boost accuracy when designing things that have to be symmetrical. Instead of creating the same thing twice, why not just do the design one time and have it reflect across the x axis or the y axis.

    Question 02 –

    How and why would you save the design so that you could change the color on one of the sides only?

    By one side, I assume you mean coloring on the design side of the Live Mirror. In that case, if it was a object with a lot overlapping lines and shapes, I would just highlight everything and use the shapebuilder tool to combine shapes on that side, that way I can color the exact shape and portion I want of the design and it would just reflect to through the Live Mirror.

    • Melissa

      Hi Wei,

      I totally agree with you. Creating a Live Mirror Design is super helpful because it saves time, especially with symmetrical designs. Instead of copying everything by hand, it does it automatically.