No copying/instancing objects like that isn't an issue, its selecting/manipulating/working on cylindrical objects with odd segments that is. Stacking symmetry modifiers isn't really ideal for this, and using all instanced objects comes with its own set of problems.
Does anyone know of a plugin for max that would let you select and manipulate a single mesh (without modifiers) via radial symmetry? Basically what I want to do is be able to do is, based of the objects pivot, have a specified number of instanced invisible cursors that perform the same operations as the user with an exact…
Well say you have a 21 sided cylinder and every 3 segments of that is unique, you could use 3x symmetry modifiers and an edit poly modifier at the top to remove the excess slice geo that remained. But you'd have to eyeball the mirror rotations, unless you know how to get the symmetrical slices exact degree offset…