How do I make empties following a path follow the entire mesh when its location is changed?

Question

So I am currently trying to model a 3D printer from the reference https://www.3dwasp.com/en/giant-3d-printer-bigdelta-wasp-12mt/. I modelled the support on which the arms are mounted with geometry nodes with paths so I could then constraint empties on which the printer's arms are hooked to those paths. So far, everything has worked.

The problem is that I need to be able to move this 3D printer everywhere, and when I do so the empties stop being constrained to the paths. I tried with applying the scale, it doesn't change anything so I kept it the way it was. By adding an empty w/o a hook constraint, I can see that it does the same thing for a simple empty. I'm not really looking for a super complicated solution since this model is kinda roughly made and has a lot of space for improvement, but so far I'm mainly searching for a working solution.

Thank you !

Answer 1

In your file, you do it by not moving the empties with the follow path constraints. You leave them where they are and move (almost) everything else.

Select your three "follow path" empties and your two geometry nodes prototypes and hide them. Now create a new empty at the center of your structure. We'll make this a "sphere" type empty to differentiate it from your other empties. Now select all, shift select your new empty, and parent to that empty with keep transform. You now have a "handle" for the entire structure that you can move, scale, and even rotate:

Notice the outliner. The "path follow"s remain unparented. They acquire their location not via inherited transformation, like the rest of the objects, but by their follow path constraints.