Path Flip

Overview

The path equivalent of sprite_flip: it turns a Bezier path as if it were a card. Because Bezier geometry remains affine, flipping at the path stage is lossless at every angle and axis tilt. Rasterization and lighting then run on the flattened shape for each frame.

Usage tips

• A common chain is a path from shape_generate or bezier_path → path_flip → path_fill or path_stroke, optionally followed by surface_light_preview for per-frame lighting.
• Promote Angle and drive it with time_source → remap from 0–1 to 0–360 for a full flip.
• Connect a back path drawn as seen from the front. The node handles mirroring at 180°. Without a back input, it uses the mirrored front path.
• Connect the showing_back Boolean to a value_select index to switch fill colors or stroke settings between front and back.
• Canvas Center is the default pivot and remains stable even if front and back bounds differ. A path without canvas dimensions falls back to its bounds center.

Common mistakes

• Nothing is visible near 90°: a path has zero thickness and collapses to a line. Fill disappears, but a 1px path_stroke can retain an edge-like line.
• Offsets or winding-dependent fills break after mirroring: keep Preserve Winding on. Mirroring reverses winding, and the default corrects it automatically.
• The shape jumps when front and back switch: Path Center moves when their bounds differ. Use Canvas Center or a Custom pivot.
• Perspective is required: perspective is not affine. Rasterize first and use sprite_flip when perspective is necessary.

Related nodes

• sprite_flip — raster-stage flip with perspective, edge line, and RotSprite
• path_transform — general affine path transform, including manual negative scale
• path_fill / path_stroke — rasterize the flipped path
• surface_light_preview — relight the flattened shape on every frame
• value_select — switch appearance using the back-side flag