This post describes the start and finish points of a dancer going from a dance school to a pavilion, a musician going from a conservatory to a bandstand or a pavilion, or a juggler going from a juggler school to a booth or a bandstand or a pavilion. Note: I consider all roads to be connected, and don't consider the question of which venue such a walker will go to (given a choice).

I assume that the reader is familiar with my Random walker start and finish points, as recently updated with information on booths, bandstands, and pavilions.

Entertainer starting point at an entertainment school

By "starting point", I mean the road tile where the entertainer becomes visible. Actually, the way that an entertainer gets to the starting point is similar to what Trium describes in Invisible random walkers (and work camp laborers): an entertainer is invisibly generated at the same tile that the citizen would be generated, waits for 2 animation ticks, (if not already at the starting point) walks straight to the starting point (through buildings if necessary), and becomes visible. But this is of little practical importance, as far as I can tell--the starting point is what matters for city design.

The starting point is selected by a two-part process. First, a road tile (that may be roadblocked) which is adjacent to a side (not just a corner) of the entertainment school is selected. The tile selected is the first one encountered, starting at the tile just N of the N corner of the entertainment school and going around the school clockwise. Call this tile X. If X is not roadblocked then it is the random walker starting point.

Second, imagine a building the size of the school with its north tile at X. Then, select the finishing tile for a common random walker from the imaginary building, including (as part of the search) the tiles inside the imaginary building in the obvious way. (I'd guess that the search for a common random walker's finishing tile is programmed like that--checking all of the tiles in a square and rejecting those that are part of the building because they are not roads--since it would be simple and fairly efficient.) The starting point of the entertainer from the school is that finishing tile (of the imaginary building).

Let me put the second part another way. The starting point is the first one of the following that is a road (which may be roadblocked):
a) the tile N of X,
b) the tile NE of X,
c) the tile E of X,
d) the tile E then SE of X,
e) (only for musicians and dancers) the tile E then 2 tiles SE of X,
f) (only for dancers) the tile E then 3 tiles SE of X,
g) the tile NW of X,
h) X.

For example, this is the layout (from my Abu) where I was first "bit" by entertainers not emerging on a tile adjacent to their schools (with north up-left):

For the conservatory, X is just below (SW of) the lower right (S) corner. (That tile is not roadblocked, but if it was roadblocked then it would still be X.) The tiles N of X and NE of X are part of the conservatory, the tiles E of X and E then SE of X are shrines, and the tile E then 2 tiles SE of X is a road (plaza in the diagram), so musicians created by the conservatory will start on that (plaza) tile.

Entertainer (from a school) finishing point at a venue

Note: this is sometimes wrong. Don't depend on it. See reply #3.

An entertainer going from a school to a venue selects its finishing tile when it becomes visible at its starting point. At that time, if the venue has shows of its type then the finishing point is the random walker finishing point for the venue. But if the venue does not have shows of its type, then the finishing point is the first road tile (that may be roadblocked) which is adjacent to the side (not just a corner) of the "building" (juggle stage for a booth, northernmost tile of the music stage for a bandstand, dance stage for a pavilion) found when starting just N of the N tile of the "building" and going clockwise around the "building". If the venue does not have shows of its type, and if the finishing point is not roadblocked, then the finishing point is the random walker starting point for the venue.

For example (north is up-left):

When a musician starts at a conservatory and heads for this pavilion which has music shows at that time, she will finish at the roadblock which is touching just a corner of the dance stage and the music stage (which is the random walker finishing point for the pavilion). When a musician starts at a conservatory and heads for this pavilion which does not have music shows at that time, she will finish at the roadblock which is adjacent to a side (not just a corner) of the dance stage. (The random walker starting point of the pavilion is beside the small statue).

[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 09-21-2016 @ 03:41 PM).]