---
title: Creating a Look-At Constraint
framework: spritekit
role: article
role_heading: Article
path: spritekit/creating-a-look-at-constraint
---

# Creating a Look-At Constraint

Make a node automatically rotate itself based on the changing position of another node, by using orientation constraints.

## Overview

Overview A common use for orientation constraints is to make a look-at constraint. For example, you may create a look-at constraint to make a pair of eyes follow a moving object or to have a rocket point in the direction of its target. The following code shows how to create a constraint to make a sprite node named pointer always point toward a circular-shape node named target. The texture assigned to pointer is an upward-pointing arrow and, because SpriteKit’s angular coordinates have their origin at the three o’clock position, the orient constraint has an offset of 90° (pi/2 radians) so that the arrow is correctly oriented toward the target. let target = SKShapeNode(circleOfRadius: 10) target.position = CGPoint(x: 100, y: 100) scene.addChild(target)      let pointer = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "arrowUp.png") pointer.position = CGPoint(x: 200, y: 200) scene.addChild(pointer)      let lookAtConstraint = SKConstraint.orient(to: target,                                            offset: SKRange(constantValue: -CGFloat.pi / 2)) pointer.constraints = [ lookAtConstraint ] A further orientation constraint, zRotation(_:), can be used in combination with the look-at constraint shown above to limit rotation. When you add the code above, the arrow’s rotation is limited so that it never points downward: let limitLookAt = SKConstraint.zRotation(SKRange(lowerLimit: -CGFloat.pi / 2,                                                  upperLimit: CGFloat.pi / 2))        pointer.constraints = [ lookAtConstraint, limitLookAt ]

## See Also

### Creating Orientation Constraints

- [orient(to:offset:)](spritekit/skconstraint/orient(to:offset:)-1h1tw.md)
- [orient(to:offset:)](spritekit/skconstraint/orient(to:offset:)-9lq3h.md)
- [orient(to:in:offset:)](spritekit/skconstraint/orient(to:in:offset:).md)
- [zRotation(_:)](spritekit/skconstraint/zrotation(_:).md)