Follow Path
Moves the connected object along a smooth path — a drawn Spline, a Flow path or its own waypoints — at a speed, looping, ping-ponging or once, facing along it and leaning into the turns. An offset spreads several riders out along one path.
Output: effect (wire into an Object Selector, or leave it in an object's own flow — it then moves that object)
Inputs
| Handle | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| path | object | the path to ride: a Spline (Draw ▸ Spline) or a Flow path. Unwired, the node rides its own points |
| speed, offset, bank, maxBank | number | override the card sliders when wired |
Parameters
| Parameter | Default | Range / options |
|---|---|---|
| speed | 0.5 | -5 – 5 m/s (negative rides it backwards) |
| offset | 0 | 0 – 1: where along the path it starts (0.5 = halfway round) |
| mode | loop | loop (wraps, a closed path circles) · pingpong (there and back) · once (stops at the end) |
| align | on | face along the path |
| pitch | on | tilt up and down with the path (off keeps the nose level — a car, a walker) |
| bank | 0.5 | 0 – 1: how much it leans into turns |
| maxBank | 30 | 0 – 80°: the steepest lean |
| forward | +z | the axis the model's nose points along: +z, -z, +x, -x |
| points | — | world-space waypoints, used when nothing is wired to path (templates and the AI assistant write them) |
The path is a centripetal Catmull-Rom curve through the points (the spline tool's own curve), walked at constant speed by arc length. The pose is a pure function of the path and the shared clock, so every peer sees the object at the same point — nothing is sent while it moves. Banking comes from the path's curvature times the speed: a tight bend at speed leans further than a gentle one.
Practical example
Two fish circling a tank, half a lap apart:
- Draw a closed Spline around the inside of the tank and hide it (eye icon in the object list).
- Give each fish a Follow Path node (in its own flow), wire the spline's Object Selector into
path. - Speed 0.4, bank 0.7; the second fish gets
offset0.5. Add a Body Wave so they swim, not slide.
Tip
A model whose nose is not along +Z (most rigs face +Z, many imported cars face +X) — set forward instead of rotating the model.