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node tangent

Blossom Merz edited this page Oct 3, 2026 · 17 revisions

Home > Construct > Tangent

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Tangent node icon   Tangent (node)

The tangent line from a point to a circle; the Side toggle picks which of the two.

A circle and an external From point; the node draws the tangent line touching the circle, with a right-angle mark where the radius meets it. The other Side's tangent is shown ghosted.

Tangent node diagram

Category: Construct | Add menu: Construct > Tangent

Inputs

  • From (point): the external point the tangent starts from.
  • Circle (region): the circle or arc the line touches.
  • Side (on/off): picks which of the two tangents; see below.

Outputs

  • Tangent (curve): the tangent line from the point to the circle.

The Circle input

Circle reads the first circle or arc it finds in the geometry you wire in - a full circle or any arc contributes its center and radius. A From point that sits inside or on that circle has no tangent and is skipped.

The Side toggle

From any external point there are two tangent lines to a circle - one touching each side. The node draws just one of them, and Side chooses which:

  • off (default): the tangent on the counter-clockwise side (the +φ touch point).
  • on: the other one (the -φ side).

Flip the toggle to swap to the other tangent; wire a Toggle node into Side to drive the choice from elsewhere in the graph, or to sweep both. (In the Modeling Line: Tangent to Circle tool you pick the side by dragging the tangent point instead - this toggle is the node's stand-in for that.)

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