To Use Follow

Follow allows you to track a vehicle along a predefined polyline or spline. It is useful if the path that your vehicle will take is well defined, such as an aircraft maneuvering on an airport taxiway. It can be used in conjunction with the other drive modes.

1. Select Follow from the Autodesk Vehicle Tracking menu or click the Follow button on the Vehicle Tracking toolbar.
2. If you have a default vehicle set up, then Follow will use this vehicle. If you want to use a different vehicle, see To Change your Selected Vehicle. Otherwise…
3. If you have a path pre-selected then Follow uses the current vehicle and position. Otherwise…
4. The Library Explorer is displayed for you to select a vehicle. Select a vehicle and click Proceed. For help on how to select a vehicle, see To Select a Vehicle to Drive.
5. Pick an AutoCAD polyline (which may be 2D, 3D, splined, curve-fitted or contain straight and/or arc segments) or spline (2D, non-closed, non-periodic splines only) or MicroStation complex chain.

   The vehicle follows the line starting at the end closest to the point picked. Closing segments of closed polylines are ignored.

   The Follow Settings dialog is displayed.

6. Make sure that the Start Direction is set correctly. Select Forward or Reverse to force the direction of travel. Select Keep Current to continue in the current direction (if this maneuver follows one performed using a different drive mode). Select Automatic to determine the direction of travel based upon the orientation of the vehicle relative to the starting vertex of the polyline.
7. If you have a path pre-selected then the current vehicle position and orientation will be used. Otherwise, you will probably want Start Position set to Automatic, which will start the vehicle at the end of the line closest to the point you picked, with the steered wheels tangential to the line and all the spines aligned. If you want to adjust the position of the vehicle then select Manual.
8. If you are modelling aircraft then you should click on the Tracking Point tab and check that the Tracking Points are set correctly. These are typically Pilot's Eye or Front most Axle.
9. Change any other settings if necessary and then click OK.

   The swept path is generated and the path redrawn.