The Mirror
An Eclair+ building tool
Before you start this guide, it is important that you are familiar with the concept of an axis.
As you know, Minecraft is built of cubes.
​
Therefore, the game works along 3 “dimensions”/”directions”/”axes”
Not to be confused with an “axe”, “axes” is the plural version of “axis”
To be able to know what axes we are working with, they are named
​
X-axis
Y-axis
Z-axis
In JAVA Edition you can press the F3 key to make your crosshair turn into a small version of the picture below.
When an X, Y, or Z is mentioned in this guide, we are talking about these axes.
/mirror is a command that allows mirroring of placed and broken blocks, centered on a block.
​
​
​
To begin mirroring, do /mirror, and left-click the red stained glass block labeled “Location” in the lower right-hand corner of the interface that pops up.
This will set the center block for your mirror as the block you’re standing on, and will make the stained glass block in the interface turn green.
Once you have your location set, click the wool block labeled “Pause” above “Location” in the interface.
If the block is green, mirroring is active and you can pick one or more mirroring options from the interface.
Starting with the top row:
Selecting the red wool labelled “X” will mirror placements in the X direction (horizontally in 1 direction) with respect to your center location.
“Z” in the Z direction (the other horizontal direction)
“Y” in the Y direction (vertically).
​For example, with X-mirroring on, placing a block as indicated below (center location marked in blue):
Results in the block in orange being placed:
The two rows below the X, Y, and Z options in the interface combine two orientations:
By placing the netherrack and deepslate as seen below, we get different outcomes in different orientations.
BASE
XY - changes block’s Y position relative to the center to its X, and its X to its Y.
ZY - changes block’s Y position relative to the center to its Z, and its Z to its Y.
XZ - changes block’s Z position relative to the center to its X, and its X to its Z.
ZX - the reverse of XZ.
The final row of the interface consists of horizontal and vertical rotations.
To understand rotation, it is useful to be familiar with how degrees of a circle works.
Not to be confused with a law degree, or a temperature, a degree here represents an angle.
​
In our context, the degrees represent HOW FAR you want your actions ROTATED along the circle.
​
The "center location" is used as the middle point of the circle.
​
You can choose which axis the rotation circle is layed on, in this part defined as V (Vertical) and H (Horizontical)
​
0 degrees is where you are doing actions.
​
90 degrees is a quarter of a circle
​
180 degrees is half of a circle
By placing the netherrack and deepslate as seen below, we get different outcomes in different orientations:
BASE
Rotate90H - rotates placed blocks 90° clockwise on the horizontal axis.
Rotate90HC - rotates placed blocks 90° on the horizontal axis...
counter-clockwise
Rotate180H - rotates placed blocks 180° on the horizontal axis.
That's it!
When you’re done mirroring your build, simply open the interface and clock the wool block again, making sure it’s red to indicate you’ve stopped mirroring.
​
​
Bonus tips and info:
-
/mirror will also rotate or mirror the texture orientation of the blocks placed.
-
You can quickly stop mirroring without using the interface by typing “/mirror stop”.
-
Mirroring also affects breaking of blocks — be careful with your builds!
Text & Images by gayxbowser. Additions & Formatting by thefrogbin