node reverse direction

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   Reverse Direction (node)

Flip which way a curve runs.

Category: Transform | Add menu: Transform > Reverse Direction

Every curve runs one way. A segment goes from its start to its end, an arc sweeps around one way rather than the other, and things downstream read that direction. This flips it.

Inputs

• Geometry (any): the curves to turn around.

Outputs

• Geometry (any): the same curves, running the other way.

Not the same as Reverse

Reverse turns a list back to front. This turns a curve back to front. Both readings of the word are reasonable, which is why they are two nodes rather than one with a switch, and why each names the other.

If you have five segments and you want the fifth one first, that is Reverse. If you want each of them pointing the other way, that is this node.

Why direction matters

• A segment wired into Move's Vector socket is a displacement, with its start and end standing for from and to. Reverse it and the move goes the other way, with no wires to swap.
• Direction is what tells one side of a curve from the other, so Offset and the weave nodes read it to decide which side is which.

A chain reverses as a whole

Turning a closed shape around is two things at once: every curve in it flips, and their order reverses. Doing only the first would leave the end of one curve no longer meeting the start of the next, and a closed loop would stop closing. This node does both together, so a region stays a region.

Points pass through untouched. A point has no direction, and inventing one for it would be a guess. A list of points comes back as the same list, in the same order.

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Related

• Reverse: reorders a list, rather than turning curves around.
• Move: takes a segment as its vector, which is what makes reversing one useful.
• Offset: reads curve direction to tell one side from the other.