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1. Destinations A destination is represented by a portal People in the scene can be asked to seek out a particular destination and will then use the network to determine the best available route Route options are constructed during simulation initialization The tracing algorithm begins at the destination portal and moves through all available connections marking the shortest route to every other object in the scene This information is stored in the form of a cost tree There is a separate cost tree for each possible portal destination in the scene The cost tree is then used by people when navigating the network to assist them in finding the shortest route to a particular portal 2015 Oasys Software Limited 3 2 2 3 2 2 1 Flow People as Agents Every person in a Flow simulation is an autonomous agent Each agent has the ability to monitor and react to its environment according to a unique set of characteristics and goals Agents are created and placed in the scene using events Characteristics The physical characteristics and personality of an agent are defined by its agent profile The profile defines a distribution of values for properties such as size speed and any preference for various route options Scheduling Agents are placed in the scene through events All events will specify one or more starting locations for the new agents Some events like the Journey will specify a single entry time while others lik
2. 108 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow characteristics to calculate their trajectories Most like the real world Ignore Barriers As above with the exception that agents will ignore any barriers on the surface Used mainly for connection objects links stairs escalators ramps Virtual Agents will move instantly across the surface to their intended goal ignoring all obstructions on the surface Commonly used for areas of a simulation environment where the agent route choices are important but crowding characteristics are not important Body Radius Set If enabled the body radius for all agents on the surface will be changed to agent radius the specified value This can be useful in areas where crowding conditions are governed by geometric or behavioural conditions outside of normal open space standards Agents approaching the stair will slowly over a range of 2 3m transition to the new radius to avoid instantaneous changes This setting should be used with caution as a it applies to all agents regardless of their profile settings and b agent movement has only been validated for radius values close to 0 25m Body Radius Sets the agent radius in metres Radius Direction Bias If enabled the direction bias of agents on the surface will be changed to Set agent the specified value This can be useful for corners or narrow spaces where direction bias the natural system wide direction bias is locally inappropriate See Agent
3. 2015 Oasys Software Limited 115 Flow 4 3 2 8 116 Population The profile used to create agents If a collection is specified each agent will be Profile assigned one of the profiles from the collection A weighted collection can be used to alter the distribution of profiles amongst the population Population The number of agents the event will create and when they will be created relative Demand to the event start time Evenly spaced The specified number of agents will arrive at a constant rate over the duration Instant The specified number of agents will arrive all at once at the event start time Random The specified number of agents will arrive according to the specified distribution over the duration See Duration Distributions for information on arrival distributions Table Complex agent arrival is described by a series of rows Each row contains the duration of an interval and the number of agents to create over that interval The first interval starts at the event start Subsequent intervals begin when the previous interval ends Agents are created according to a uniform distribution within each interval The portals and collections of portals at which agents will be created Portals can be weighted to create more agents than others See Choosing Objects for more details Destinations The portals and collections of portals to which agents will travel Agent goals can be set to either travel to a portal as
4. Area Time Table property Areas Missing value No working folder specified Portal goal line not connected to a floor Issues are grouped by the objects they are related to and individual issues for each object and further details can be seen by expanding listed items All issues can be expanded at once using Toggle expansion button When an issue or audit result references one or more objects those objects can be highlighted in the list and scene views using the Select subject bullseye button The contents of the issue window can be saved to an external CSV file Keyboard and Mouse Controls members of the list view Press and hold the S key then press and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse Alternative Hold the middle mouse button while moving the mouse Press and hold the S key then press and hold the right mouse button while moving the mouse Note rotations are done around the current focus object To change the focus object select the object and press the F key Alternative Hold the shift key and middle mouse button while moving the mouse 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Press and hold the S key then press and hold the middle mouse button while moving the mouse Alternative 1 Hold the control key and middle mouse button while moving the mouse Alternative 2 Scroll the mouse wheel Use the A key to move the camera so that all visible objects and agents are fra
5. Areas Various types of analysis objects such as agent filters transitions trips and population count graphs use the concept of areas For the purposes of analysis several types of objects can be used as areas Walkable Agents currently on the walkable object floor link escalator ramp or stair object Analysis Agents with the point at the centre of their feet contained within the region Region Zone Agents on any of the walkable objects that are part of the zone Collection Collections which contain area objects can be used as areas themselves they will be displayed using the Areas suffix Agents are in the collection area if they are in any of the member s areas Any members which are not areas will be ignored Transition The concept of a transition is used within Flow to mean a point in time when an agent moves from one location or state to another Transitions can be used to define a flow count graph or an At transition agent filter Transitions are defined by selecting a transition type in a drop down menu Depending on the type of transition selected other entry fields will be made available to define the transition Collections in transitions Collections can be used to define complex transitions 2015 Oasys Software Limited Between objects Crossing cordon Entering area Entering simulation at Exiting area Exiting simulation at 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow T
6. 2015 Oasys Software Limited 3 3 2 Flow Scene View The 3D scene view is a graphical representation of the scene objects in the project The camera can be moved by holding down the S key while dragging the left or right mouse buttons It is possible to select objects by clicking on them or dragging over them with a selection box see Selection The camera button at the top provides a variety of preset cameras and the ability to save or recall custom viewpoints The eye button provides options for controlling how the scene is rendered from different agent representations to wireframe mode to whether or not agents should be hidden when on a hidden floor The focus button will focus the view on the current selection See 3D Scene View for more information Model Panel The panel contains a number of controls for interacting with the scene view It displays and controls the current selection mode It displays and controls the position translation rotation and scale of the current selection It also contains buttons for operating on the geometry of the selected object and measuring the distance between points in the scene See Model Panel for more information Time Panel The time panel is used to control the playback of data from one or more simulation runs It is only available when the project has a simulation run with valid data See Time Panel for more information Status Bar The status bar provides information about the current se
7. Objects The map will show the cost used by agents to arrive at any of the given portals With multiple portals the lowest cost will be displayed for each point 2015 Oasys Software Limited 147 Flow The objects included in the network calculations The map includes the entire model by default reflecting what occurs in simulation A subset of the model can be used to speed up processing time or to focus the analysis Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 11 Static Distance Static Distance Maps show the distance from given portals to each point This map does not take crowds into account and can be evaluated before a simulation is run Evaluating this map rebuilds the scene network which can be time consuming and the evaluate command cannot be canceled Distances along vertical elements such as stairs or escalators are taken as the Cartesian distance along their lengths For other objects only horizontal distance are considered For example any height variation on a floor is ignored Distance penalties and link directionality will have no impact on the final result Name The name of the map Ca The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as distances in metres See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects The map will show the distance from any of the given portals With multiple portals
8. The geometry including the landings may have thickness but only the top surface will be considered during the simulation In order to run a simulation the ramp landings must be placed such that each goal line is between 0 01m and 0 20m above a floor at least 0 20m from the edge of the floor The two floors must be different a ramp cannot be used to connect two portions of the same floor Impact on Agent Speed By default agent speed is modified as a function of the ramp angle and direction of travel see table below Speed can also be capped at a specific value through enabling the Limit Speed properties See Agent Profile for information on agent speed Upa Ec UB Peco ooo UK aan 10 lt X lt 20 Interpolated between 88 5 and 75 Properties Sets the direction in which agents can traverse the ramp Two way Agents may cross in both directions Unidirectional ie Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents may only cross in the specified direction Costs Distance Defines any distance penalty or modified cost to be added to the ramp A added positive value will add a distance and hence make the route less desirable for agents and a negative value will remove a distance Distance is measured in metres See Agent Navigation for more information Costs Queue Increases the penalty for queuing A higher number will increase the multiplier perceived time cost of queuing which makes agents more likely to select alte
9. MassMotion and Flow The project files mm and results databases mmdb from each version may be opened and used in the other The two versions are differentiated by the extent of the authoring and agent scheduling features available as per the diagram below While Flow can run simulations or analyse projects with actions complex events and process modeling only MassMotion can create or edit those components MassMotion Product Features Map MassMotion Flow Geometry Editor CAD amp BIM import polygon modelling Agent Scheduling joumeys circulation evacuation Advanced Agent Scheduling Read Only spreadsheet based MassM otion Dynamics actions process chains tokens Read Only Multi Processor Simulation Analysis amp Reporting Engine graphs maps tables video amp image capture 2015 Oasys Software Limited 13 Flow 3 2 3 2 1 14 How Flow Works This section provides a brief introduction to some of the main concepts in Flow The Scene covers topics related to the simulation environment then People as Agents describes the representation of people The Scene Flow models real world spaces by breaking those spaces down into component parts and classifying the parts according to function People in a Flow simulation know to walk around an obstruction because it has been marked as a barrier Speed of movement is reduced when walking up a surface because that surface has been marked as
10. allowing the 2015 Oasys Software Limited 119 Flow vehicle event to control the flow of agents beyond those boarding and alighting Properties Arrivals First When the first vehicle arrives If a vehicle arrives too close to the Arrival simulation start no alighting agents will be created Arrivals Repeat How many times a vehicle will arrive Until End An unlimited number of vehicles will arrive Specified Count A specified number of vehicles will arrive Timing Headway The time between vehicle arrivals This can be specified as a distribution Timing Dwell How long vehicles dwell with the vehicle doors open This is can be Time specified as a distribution If dwell time exceeds headway time the vehicle doors will remain open until the last vehicle leaves Vehicle Doors Gated links and collections of gated links representing the vehicle doors These doors are opened when the vehicle arrives and are kept open for as long as the vehicle dwells Create alighting Enable the creation of alighting agents agents Population Agent The number of alighting agents created each time a vehicle arrives Agents count will be created a few seconds before the vehicle arrives and doors open to give them time to marshal in front of the vehicle doors Population The profile used to create alighting agents If a collection is specified each Profile agent will be assigned one of the profiles from the collection A weighted co
11. combined filter that would generate at any instant a list of agents at a particular server holding a 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow particular token One important type of transforming filter is an are ever filter This filter can be thought of as a qualifier on another filter instead of agents only being included in the generated list while they satisfy some criterion and therefore potentially dropping in and out of the generated list over time they are always included in the list if they ever satisfy the criterion during a particular time period For instance as shown below an Agent Path Map using the filter at server would result in agent paths being shown only for agents currently at the server By using are ever in combination with at server during a particular time period the map would instead show paths of agents as they approached and after they left the server but no paths at all for agents who were never at the server Unfiltered paths 2015 Oasys Software Limited 125 Flow v M we Paths filtered by At server hap Mi A Paths filtered by Are ever gt At server Filter Debugging An excellent way to determine if a filter is working as expected is to set a particular simulation to colour agents differently based on whether or not they satisfy the filter see for details For instance a simulation run can be set to colour all agents blue unless they currently
12. given aggregation type Only agents that satisfy the given filter will contribute to the computed values Server Server name Name Total Total number of agents successfully processed by the server Agents Processed Mean Average number of agents at the server Population Mean Pre Average amount of time agents waited in the input buffer before being processed Contact by the server Wait Average amount of time agents spent in contact being processed by the server Mean Post Average amount of time agents waited in the output buffer after being processed Contact until a space became available at a downstream server Wait Mean Total Average total amount of time agents spent waiting at the server pre contact Duration contact post contact 2015 Oasys Software Limited 161 Flow 4 4 4 4 1 162 Max Maximum number of agents ever at the server at one time Population Max Pre Maximum amount of time any agent waited in the input buffer before being Contact processed by the server Wait Max Maximum amount of time any agent spent in contact being processed by the Contact server Wait Max Post Maximum amount of time any agent waited in the output buffer after being Contact processed until a space became available at a downstream server Wait Max Total Maximum total amount of time any agent spent waiting at the server pre Duration contact contact post contact Note that Mean or Max
13. satisfy a given filter in which case they should be coloured green By then using the various playback controls in the such as dragging the timeline slider it is easy to see which agents satisfy the filter at which times 126 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Named Filters Agent filters can be created inline within a query for use within that query Filters can also be created as independent named objects by clicking on the Agent Filter button in the Analysis toolbar these can then be referred to within other filters and queries as discussed below Building Filters Filters are built using a cascading set of drop down menus Wherever a filter is required a drop down menu will be available to select the filter type Each filter type may reference one or more other objects Depending on the type of filter chosen more drop down menus or entry fields may appear to select those objects The table below shows the various filter types available along with their required references and what agents are included in the generated list at every instant Note that not all filter types are immediately available in all situations as some types of queries require a filter that produces a fixed set of agents instead of a dynamically changing one In these cases an are ever filter can usually be used in combination with the desired filter to obtain the desired effect For instance it is not possible to create an Origin Destination table fo
14. the shortest will be displayed for each point Network The objects included in the network calculations The map includes the entire Objects model by default reflecting what occurs in simulation A subset of the model can be used to speed up processing time or to focus the analysis Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 12 Time Above Density Time above density maps can be used to find parts of walkable objects where the agent density exceeded a given threshold and determine for how long this occurred Map colours will indicate the amount of time each point on each selected object had a local density greater than a given threshold The name of the map ara The simulation run for which the map should be generated The time period over which map values should be computed Minimum The density value cutoff to use Standard Fruin walkway values can be selected 148 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow or a custom density value can be specified Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as times in seconds See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 13 Time Occupied Time occupied maps can be used to measure how long a given location was occupied by agents during the simulation The colour
15. 3 1 11 Server Servers model queuing behaviour and more complex interactions between agents and their environments Servers can only be created or edited in MassMotion 4 3 1 12 Stair Stairs are connection objects used to connect two floors that are at different elevations This change in elevation results in an additional vertical cost during agent route selection and can have an impact on agent speed during traversal Stairs are more costly to traverse than escalators and ramps 2015 Oasys Software Limited 105 Flow 106 A stair Restrictions on Geometry e The stair object itself should not include any handrails or other geometry that extends above the walkable surface If these are desired they should be added as separate barrier objects e The stair must have a flat landing area at each end this should be at least 0 5m by 0 5m to allow construction of valid goal lines Landings should be approximately rectangular or trapezoidal The geometry including the landings may have thickness but only the top surface will be considered during the simulation In order to run a simulation the stair landings must be placed such that each goal line is between 0 01m and 0 20m above a floor at least 0 20m from the edge of the floor The two floors must be different a stair cannot be used to connect two portions of the same floor Impact on Agent Speed By default agent speed is modified as a function of the stair angle and
16. Banks and Perimeters Each connection object can be added to a single bank and or and number of perimeters Banks and perimeters control how the link is used by the agent when navigating the network 2015 Oasys Software Limited 37 Flow 3 4 1 2 3 Complex Spaces 38 Determining when to split up floors When a person navigates the network they are constantly choosing a path from a set of possible routes These routes can be represented as a series of goal lines It describes all possible routes through the scene with each scene object representing a node or choice point along the route Agents are continuously evaluating the cost of available nodes when determining the optimal route to a goal Costs are calculated from factors such as horizontal distance vertical distance local queuing and oncoming traffic In the image below the same layout is modeled in two different ways On the left two narrow channels are created by placing barriers on a single floor There is no network and so no navigation required The navigation system will choose the portal as destination and rely on the movement system to carry it across the floor The agent movement system is aware of the resulting congestion keeping agents from colliding with one another but the navigation system is unaware so all agents will take the shortest path to the portal On the right the single floor has been split in two with links representing the narrow channels The navigatio
17. Create agents which move some number of times between a set of circulation portals Timetabl Create agents assign agent tasks and open gates based on a series of e coordinated text input files Suitable for modeling train schedules flight schedules Journey Create a single burst of agents each with a single origin and a single destination where the origins and destinations are assigned from a set e bus schedules university lectures or intersection gate timings Vehicle Create a series of vehicle arrivals each with a set of agents created in the scene and moving to depart on the vehicle and with a set of agents departing into the scene from the vehicle General Events General events do not create agents They modify the scene or existing agents during the simulation or provide information to other events Execute Applies an action to agents at a specified time Action Open Opens connection objects which have been configured as gates Gate This virtual event does nothing to the scene but can be used by the reference times 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Generat Evens Mm rry of other events to refer to a common time 3 4 1 3 2 Process Chains A process chain provides a mechanism for modeling the progression of agents through a series of capacity constrained stations or servers Agents can be distributed evenly across a number of servers wait in single file for their turn at each server be held fo
18. Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files Agent Filter Used to specify which agents should be included in the graph This can be used 2015 Oasys Software Limited 133 Flow to display density ranges only for agents in a given area only for those undergoing a particular trip only those holding a specific token etc Specifies the density ranges and corresponding colours that should be used to build the graph In addition to the standard Fruin walkway stairway and platform queueing metrics custom density levels and colours can be defined A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the graph This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV 4 3 3 6 2 Agent Speed Ratio An agent speed ratio graph is a special graph type that shows the breakdown of agents within different ranges of speed ratios ratio of actual to desired speed The graph will be shown as stacked areas with each band corresponding to one speed ratio range The name of the graph gee The simulation run for which counts should be calculated Reporting The time period over which counts should be calculated period Sampling How frequently to count the numbers of agents at diff
19. Flow in a number of different ways Graph and Table Data When a table or graph query has been created and evaluated the resulting data can be exported to a text CSV file using the File button in the graph or table properties window Graph Images When a graph query has been created and evaluated the resulting data can be exported to an image file using the File button in the graph properties window Use the style options in the property window to control general graph formatting Scene Images and Videos The Movie and Image Export window can be used to generate both snapshot images of the 3D scene view and videos of simulation playback The export window is available from the Analysis tab of the Main Window ribbon Agent Positions The Agent Position Export window can be used to export agent positions to a CSV text file The export window is available from the Analysis tab of the Main Window ribbon Alembic The Alembic Export window can be used to export agent playback information to alembic files These files can be loaded into 3rd party applications like Softimage or 3ds Max to produce high quality renderings of the simulation 2015 Oasys Software Limited 49 Flow 3 5 3 5 1 3 5 2 3 5 3 3 5 4 3 5 5 50 Troubleshooting A complex project will almost always encounter issues in setup or design Flow provides a number of tools to help identify and resolve authoring related issues Auditing Auditing an
20. How quickly playback runs 1x is real time and higher values effectively fast Speed forward through playback Timeline and A slider which indicates playback progress The slider can be repositioned to current time change the current time Go to start Sets the current time to the start time time Play from Plays back simulations from the current time Flow simulations are calculated current time and recorded in 0 2second increments When playback is active the animation Up arrow system will use linear frame interpolation to provide the smoothest possible representation of the currently selected playback speed in the 3D views Pause Pause playback playback Down arrow Sets the current time to the end time time Current time Displays the current time Can be edited to skip to a specific moment position Frame step Advance the current time by 1 simulation frame no frame interpolation is forward applied Frame step Move the current time back 1 simulation frame no frame interpolation is applied backward 4 2 1 5 Main Menu Bar 64 The Flow Application Menu is available from the menubar at the top of the Flow window Menu Bar Simulation Analysis el Oasys MassMotion Flow New Create a new empty project Open either a previously saved Flow project file mm a project exported from the Softimage workbench mmxsi or a project contained in a Flow results database mmdb Save the project as a mm project
21. Imports Alternatively sub sections of reference geometry can be used to generate separate scene objects This can be done by entering face selection mode selecting the desired faces and right clicking them to create new objects In this case reference geometry should be marked as used manually Reference geometry cannot be edited although individual reference geometry objects can be deleted after importing a file Instead a reference model object is created on import which contains all of a file s reference geometry The reference model can be scaled rotated and translated to match the Flow model s coordinates Supported File Formats The following files can be imported 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 3DStudio 3ds Collada dae AutoCAD Drawing Exchange Format dxf FBX fbx Industry Foundation Classes ifc Wavefront obj IFC files contain additional information about their geometry and create IFC specific types of reference geometry These can be used to automatically generate a corresponding scene object shown in the table below All other file formats produce Generic Reference Geometry Wall Wall Standard Case Railing Column Barrier Furnishing Element Door Link Element Floor Slab Base Slab Unrecognized None must be explicitly specified Slab Elevator Unrecognized Transport Element Plate Building Element Proxy Properties There are no properties for objects of this type 4
22. Note this file is only generated if the dumping of surface maps is enabled in the debug tab of the project settings Approach Map File jpg containing a visual map of the distance from every point on a jpg surface to the connected destination object Green Goal line White Point farthest from the destination goal line Black Point closest to the destination goal line Red Covered by an obstacle or not on the surface Blue Indicates an unreachable area not connected to the goal line Note this file is only generated if the dumping of surface maps is enabled in the debug tab of the project settings CostTree csv A file which describes the distance from every decision point in the scene to the specified goal Note this file is only generated if the dumping of route costs is enabled in the debug tab of the project settings Randomness Random Seed Flow uses random numbers throughout the simulation All random numbers are generated from an initial integer seed value see Project Settings A project simulated multiple times with the same random seed should produce exactly the same results Changing the seed or any element in the project will result in different random numbers during the simulation and so different simulation results Agent Duration based distribution used by journey and circulate events to determine when yara agents enter the simulation Single Distributions used nearly everywhere influencin
23. Profile for more information on Direction Bias Direction Bias Sets which direction agents will move Direction Speed Limit Cap Enables a maximum threshold for agent speed Agents traveling above the agent speed specified maximum will have their speed reduced to the maximum Speed Limit Up Sets the maximum upward speed in metres per second Speed Limit Sets the maximum downward speed in metres per second Down The bank which the stair is a member of if any For more information see Banks Perimeters Perimeters which the stair is a member of if any For more information see Perimeters 4 3 1 13 Visual Visual objects can provide context to an environment or enhance the look of a scene Visual objects are not used during simulation or analysis and have no functional impact on a project 2015 Oasys Software Limited 109 Flow 4 3 2 Activity Objects Activity objects have to do with creating agents defining agent characteristics and behaviour and controlling elements of the scene Used by events to define agent characteristics tar An optional editable physical representation of an agent Creating Agents Journey An event to create agents moving from origin portals to destination portals Circulat An event to create agents who move between circulation portals e Vehicle An event that simulates the regular arrival and departure of a vehicle such as a subway car Evacuat An event use
24. Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping off a ramp This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information Traversal Walk Defines the manner in which agents will cross the ramp type Standard Agents will consider other agents barriers and personal speed characteristics to calculate their trajectories Most like the real world Ignore Barriers As above with the exception that agents will ignore any barriers on the surface Used mainly for connection objects links stairs escalators ramps Virtual Agents will move instantly across the surface to their intended goal ignoring all obstructions on the surface Commonly used for areas of a simulation environment where the agent route choices are important but crowding characteristics are not important Body Radius Set If enabled the body radius for all agents on the surface will be changed to agent radius the specified value This can be useful in areas where crowding conditions are governed by geometric or behavioural conditions outside of normal open space standards Agents approaching the ramp will slowly over a range of 2 3m transition to the new radius to avoid instantaneous changes This 2015 Oasys Software Limited 103 Flow 4 3 1 10 104 setting should be used with caution as a it applies to all agents regardless of their profile settings and b agent movement has only been validated for radius values
25. The final line segment at either end of the path should be roughly horizontal so as to produce valid goal lines Impact on Agent Speed By default agent speed is unaffected by path traversal Agents will slow down to follow an agent that is immediately in front Speed can be capped at a specific value through enabling the Limit Speed property See Agent Profile for information on agent speed Properties Sets the direction in which agents can traverse the path Two way Agents may cross in both directions Unidirectional ie Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents may only cross in the specified direction Costs Distance Defines any distance penalty or modified cost to be added to the path A added positive value will add a distance and hence make the route less desirable for agents and a negative value will remove a distance Distance is measured in metres See Agent Navigation for more information Costs Queue Increases the penalty for queuing A higher number will increase the multiplier perceived time cost of queuing which makes agents more likely to select 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow U 1 alternative routes See Agent Navigation for more information Physical Effective Paths are represented as lines but the goal lines onto and off of the lines still have width Defines how the width of the path s connections is calculated The width is used to calculate queue times how long it will take for a queue of a
26. a stair The way in which classified objects are arranged can have a large impact on how people navigate a space affecting their speed their movement patterns and their route choices The basic elements of a scene are floor link stair ramp escalator path portal and barrier Flow Scene Floors Floors are the most fundamental scene object They represent the spaces rooms hallways plazas sidewalks train platforms which define the program areas of a design Each floor defines a separate and distinct walkable area with agent movement constrained by the floor boundary 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Floor Connections Between Floors People may only move between floors where they are connected by connection objects Links represent simple flat doorways or turnstiles Stairs ramps and escalators connect floors at different elevations Paths connect floors at any elevation and restrict movement to single file Connection objects also act as decision points in the route network Ramp Entrances and Exits Portals serve two main functions they mark areas where people can enter the simulation and they represent destinations to which people can be sent Escalator Path Portal Obstructions Barriers represent walls columns tables benches and anything else that can constrain movement on a floor 2015 Oasys Software Limited 15 Flow 3 2 1 1 16 Barrier Connecting Obje
27. any barriers on the surface Used mainly for connection objects links stairs escalators ramps Virtual Agents will move instantly across the surface to their intended goal ignoring all obstructions on the surface Commonly used for areas of a simulation environment where the agent route choices are important but crowding characteristics are not important Body Radius Set If enabled the body radius for all agents on the surface will be changed to agent radius the specified value This can be useful in areas where crowding conditions are governed by geometric or behavioural conditions outside of normal open space standards Agents approaching the floor will slowly over a range of 2 3m transition to the new radius to avoid instantaneous changes This setting should be used with caution as a it applies to all agents regardless of their profile settings and b agent movement has only been validated for radius values close to 0 25m Body Radius Sets the agent radius in metres Radius Direction Bias If enabled the direction bias of agents on the surface will be changed to Set agent the specified value This can be useful for corners or narrow spaces where direction bias the natural system wide direction bias is locally inappropriate See Agent Profile for more information on Direction Bias Direction Bias Sets which direction agents will prefer to move Direction 2015 Oasys Software Limited 91 Flow 4 3 1 6 92 S
28. areas of a simulation environment where the agent route choices are important but crowding characteristics are not important Body Radius Set If enabled the body radius for all agents on the surface will be changed to agent radius the specified value This can be useful in areas where crowding conditions are governed by geometric or behavioural conditions outside of normal open space standards Agents approaching the link will slowly over a range of 2 3m transition to the new radius to avoid instantaneous changes This setting should be used with caution as a it applies to all agents regardless of their profile settings and b agent movement has only been validated for radius values close to 0 25m Body Radius Sets the agent radius in metres Radius Direction Bias If enabled the direction bias of agents on the surface will be changed to Set agent the specified value This can be useful for corners or narrow spaces where direction bias the natural system wide direction bias is locally inappropriate See Agent Profile for more information on direction bias Direction Bias Sets which direction agents will move Direction Speed Limit Cap Enables a maximum threshold for agent speed Agents traveling above the agent speed specified maximum will have their speed reduced to the maximum Speed Limit Sets the maximum speed in metres per second Maximum Fy The bank which the link is a member of if any For more information see B
29. as the event object Lighten event colour Agents are assigned a lighter version of the event object colour Darken event colour Agents are assigned a darker version of the event object colour Rule based Agents are assigned a colour according to the colouring rules Working from top to bottom agents will use the first colour for which the condition evaluates to true Specified colour Agents are assigned the specified colour Collections in open gate events Collections can be used in the Origins and Exits properties The Origins collections can be weighted changing the distribution of agents created at those portals Execute Action The action event is used to apply the specified action to agents within the simulation The event can be applied selectively based on whether or not an agent holds a given token or is in a specified zone Execute action events can only be created or edited in MassMotion Journey Journey events are the most direct way to populate a scene They create agents at one of the origin portals and instruct them to seek one of the destination portals then exit the simulation The same portal may be used as both an origin and destination however agents that are given the same portal as both origin and destination will exit the simulation immediately after being created Properties Properties Timing The reference time when the event starts See Working with Time for more Start Time information
30. can be further changed within the export window without affecting the main window The export window operates on a copy of the current project and so any modifications within the main window will not affect the export window However simulation databases are locked and existing simulation runs cannot be re run while the export window is open Both the appearance of the scene and the project in general can be reloaded from the main window by pressing the Reload button Reload changes to the project and scene s appearance from the main window Start rendering a movie or frames This process may take some time Pause current render Stop current render and possibly discard any progress Take a single image The user will be prompted for a file name The following file formats are supported png jpg tiff Save Movie A movie file will be produced with the desired quality setting Increased quality will increase file size The following file formats are supported mov mp4 m4v wmv 2015 Oasys Software Limited 183 Flow Save Individual frames will be produced and placed in the specified directory All Individual images will have the png format Frames Save Movie Both a movie file and individual frames will be produced and Frames Time The period of time to export Range Frame The frame rate of the movie to be exported A higher frame rate will increase the movie Rate file size and the number of frames produ
31. changes in route costs elsewhere on the floor When enabled the flow of entering agents is not permitted to exceed the specified rate If demand exceeds capacity agents are held at the goal line until there is available capacity Sets whether the flow rate is calculated as people minute or people minute metre 107 Flow If using people minute metre the effective width general tab property is used Limit Flow Max Sets the maximum flow rate Flow rate will be measured according to the rate rate type shown above Priority Enable Enables a limited yield system where agents moving in one direction priority access receive preferential access This is useful for constrained geometry where the majority of the flow is in one direction or for cases such as train doors where alighting passengers often have priority over those boarding Priority Primary Sets the direction in which agents will have primary access The counter direction flow direction will yield One way Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents moving in the counter flow direction will not enter the object when there are agents moving in the priority direction with priority access If Primary will yield is set agents traveling in the primary direction will yield if they arrive at the object while it is already being used by agents in the counter flow direction This is useful for scenarios such as ladders where usage should be restricted to one direction at a time Two wa
32. complete the results can be played back or analysed through queries using the Analysis system Simulation Data Each iteration of a simulation is associated with a simulation run object in the project The simulation run is connected to a database file on disk and is the handle through which Flow accesses the data for both playback and analysis All of the simulation data is stored in a single mmdb file This is a standard SQLite database file and can be interrogated using any third party SQLite tool Many of the analysis queries provided by Flow are convenience wrappers for the execution of raw SQL queries Agent position information is packed into an optimized form and difficult to read directly but all other information can be extracted directly from the database with a basic understanding of SQL For example tables exist in this database to indicate what floors agents were on at every instant and what tokens they were holding A separate tool for extracting and exporting agent positions is available from the main window Local Storage Recommended The performance of simulation execution playback and analysis queries can all be negatively affected by slow database access times As a result it is recommended that simulation runs point only to local drives and not use a USB or network drive SSD drives give the best performance but note that the results database for a large model can be 100 GB or more A rule of thumb is that 1 agent for 1 h
33. destination When choosing between a number of available routes agents will consider the network objects connected to the current floor and select the object with the best route cost The chosen route is called the local target The choice of target is periodically re evaluated as the situation on the floor changes Once the agent has reached the target and transitioned onto a new floor the routes leading off of that floor are evaluated and the next local target selected Agents are only aware of route options off of their immediate floor Any congestion or surprise conditions on downstream floors are not factored into the local choice Costing Routes A local target is chosen based on a comparison of the cost of each possible route off of the current floor A number of components are considered Distance values are converted into time by dividing by the agent speed Component time values are then summed to produce a total cost for the route Downstream Horizontal The shortest possible horizontal distance from the target to the goal Distance Weighted Downstream The vertical displacement measured along the route that was traced Vertical Displacement to measure the downstream horizontal distance Components of the vertical displacement are multiplied by a factor based on object type stair escalator ramp etc 1 Near Horizontal The horizontal distance from the agent to the target Distance Queue Time The expected time it will take
34. direction with priority access If Primary will yield is set agents traveling in the primary direction will yield if they arrive at the object while it is already being used by agents in the counter flow direction This is useful for scenarios such as ladders where usage should be restricted to one direction at a time Two way Agents in either direction can claim priority access Priority access is maintained for a given direction until there are no more agents crossing in that direction Priority Capture Sets the distance in metres from which agents approaching the object can range capture priority access Priority Move When enabled agents in the counter flow direction will move aside to aside accommodate the priority flow Priority Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Priority Commit When enabled agents that have chosen the object will continue to wait to wait until they have access regardless of changes to costs in other routes on the floor Delay On Enter Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping onto an ramp This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information If a ramp is gated and closes before the delay finishes the agent will wait until the next time the ramp opens before attempting to step on again Delay On Exit
35. file Note that this will save as a new file if the project was initially opened from a Softimage export mmxsi Save As Save the project as an alternative mm project file with a new name Stop all running simulations and close the current project 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Merges the open Flow project with data from another Flow project file mm a project exported from the Softimage workbench mmxsi or with project data contained in a Flow results database mmdb See Merging Projects for more information Import either Objects exported from other projects mmxml see Importing and Exporting Objects Analysis objects from MassMotion 6 0 or 6 1 projects Analysis xml see Importing and Exporting Objects e Avatar geometry Reference geometry exported from other CAD geometric authoring applications Export e Objects for import into other Flow projects mmxml see Importing and Exporting Objects Geometry to neutral file formats such as Collada dae for import into other CAD geometric authoring applications e Agent positions data in a simple text file see Agent Position Export e Alembic animation data for rendering agent movement in applications like Softimage or 3ds Max see Alembic Export A move or image generated from the current project see Image and Movie Export Edit the Project Settings Stop all running simulations and quit the application Undoes the previous command
36. floor objects is not explicitly constrained in Flow but there are a number of factors that should be accounted for when considering how big to make a single floor During simulation runtime there are a number of data structures that are automatically constructed which describe the walkable space of the object The size of these data structures is directly related to the size of the object s geometrical bounding box so a 2m x 2m floor requires four times as much memory to describe than a 1m x 1m floor If there are very large floors in a scene there may be noticeable 34 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow increases in simulation setup times and in some extreme cases may cause memory to exceed local RAM capacity which can lead to slow simulations or crashes Shape The topology of floors or any other walkable object is explicitly constrained by the fact that the walkable space data structures are two dimensional in nature as height is not considered This means that from a navigation point of view the agents on the floors below are free to walk directly between the entry and exit portals While this is acceptable for the flat floor configuration it results in clearly wrong agent behavior in the sloped configuration When the floors above are corrected such that there is a gap between the two portals as shown below the agents are then presented with one unambiguous route from the entry to exit portal in both the flat and sloped configurat
37. for Access The agent is waiting for access to its target waiting for a gate to open Pre Contact Wait The agent is queuing for a server In Contact The agent is being processed by a server Post Contact Wait The agent is being held by a server until there is capacity downstream in the process chain The object to which the agent is moving 2015 Oasys Software Limited 177 Flow 4 5 2 4 5 3 178 A list of tokens held by the agent over the course of its life Tokens currently held by the agent are indicated with an arrow An ordered list of objects on which the agent walked over the course of its life The object that the agent is currently on is marked with an arrow A list of all actions applied to the agent identified by the source of the action Actions that have already been applied are marked with a check Actions that are being applied in the current frame are marked with an The first column is the object which applied the action The second column further clarifies the source see Where to Use Actions Most values in the second column are self explanatory with the exception of Zone Event When an agent receives an action from an action event as it fires it is recorded as Action Event However if the action event targets a zone and the agent receives the action as it enters the zone while the event is active the action is recorded as Zone Event and references the zone instead of the action event
38. geometry 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 1 3 4 3 1 4 Flow Barrier objects can be 3D volumes or 2D planes Barriers can have a large impact on the time it takes to compile a simulation Barriers that contain a large number of faces can take a long time to project onto the floor obstacle maps Similarly if an obstacle contains faces over a large area then many floors will have to consider to the barrier when generating their maps Barriers must not completely block off links or portals on the same floor Doing so may result in a large number of agents removed by error during simulation If dividing the floor into unconnected areas is necessary use separate floors for each area instead Properties There are no properties for objects of this type Dispatch Dispatch objects connect servers together into process chains and distribute agents across server inputs Dispatches can only be created or edited in MassMotion Escalator Escalators are a vertical connection object Unlike other connection objects escalators must be unidirectional They are most typically used to model real world escalators but can be made fully horizontal to simulate moving walkways The default new escalator is 4m tall 7m long and 1m wide with 0 5m landings at each end where the ball connection will be at the bottom and the box connection will be at the top A change in elevation results in an additional vertical cost during agent route selection
39. goal line and interrupting the flow of agents In both cases the same number of agents are created and the inefficiency of the right hand configuration has a noticeable impact on the results 36 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow All connection objects share a set of common properties Direction Connection objects may allow agents to enter from either direction or only a single direction Escalators only allow agents to travel in one direction Gates All connection objects can be configured to be gated Gated connections do not let agents enter unless opened by an event Available events which open gates are open gate events and vehicle events Agents will use the object s Cost of waiting to determine how a closed gate will impact their route selection Agents that are already on the connection when the gate closes will not be prevented from exiting the object Flow Limits Connection objects can be configured to limit the flow of agents entering the object When demand exceeds the specific limit agents are held at the object goal line until there is available capacity Priority Flow Priority flow sets whether agents traversing a connection object can have priority If agents traversing a connection object have priority agents moving in the opposite direction will yield and wait until there are no more agents with priority Delay on Enter and Exit Agents can be set to pause while entering or exiting a connection object
40. however escalators are less costly to traverse than stairs or ramps An upwards escalator Restrictions on Geometry e The escalator object itself should not include any handrails or other geometry that extends above the walkable surface If these are desired they should be added as separate barrier objects The escalator must have a flat landing area at each end this should be at least 0 5m by 0 5m to allow construction of valid goal lines Landings should be flat and approximately rectangular or trapezoidal The geometry including the landings may have thickness but only the top surface will be considered during the simulation 2015 Oasys Software Limited 87 Flow In order to run a simulation the escalator landings must be placed such that each goal line is between 0 01m and 0 20m above a floor at least 0 20m from the edge of the floor The two floors must be different an escalator cannot be used to connect two portions of the same floor Impact on Agent Speed Agent speed is modified to be exactly equal to the average speed as specified in the escalator properties Properties Defines the direction of the escalator Escalators are always unidirectional ie either Ball to Box or Box to Ball Costs Distance Defines any distance penalty or modified cost to be added to the escalator added A positive value will add a distance and hence make the route less desirable for agents and a negative value will remov
41. in each column name refers to a mean or max that is performed within each run these values are then aggregated across runs using the given aggregation type For example e f aggregation type is set to Average over simulations then the Max Queue Size column has the following interpretation For a particular server calculate the maximum queue size at the server within each run then take the average of those values to report in the table e f the aggregation type is set to Maximum over simulations then the Mean Queue Size column has the following interpretation For a particular server calculate the mean queue size at the server within each run then take the maximum of those values to report in the table Simulation Running a Simulation A new simulation can be started from the Run Simulation button in the simulation amp analysis ribbon of the main window The launch dialog provides the ability to specify the type of run and the simulation run object in which to store the results Standard This will run a Console Simulation which is the fastest option but does not include a console graphical window for viewing the simulation as it runs Debug This will run a Debug Simulation which will run more slowly than a console viewer simulation but has a scene view that allows interactive viewing and debugging of the simulation as it runs Additionally a breakpoint can be set to pause the simulation at the specified time The
42. in the scene view and will display an outline only for the type capsule in the list view All scene 2015 Oasys Software Limited 25 Flow 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 1 26 objects can be hidden Hiding a collection will hide all of its member objects Hiding a map will remove any textures that it has applied in the scene Disabled Some objects can be disabled A disabled object will not be included in simulations and will be shown as grey in the scene and displayed with a grey type capsule in the list view Selection The selection is a list of objects or object components chosen by the user for a particular purpose Objects can be selected in the scene view list view or individual choosers The selection mode which toggles between selecting objects faces edges or vertices can be changed through keyboard shortcuts or buttons in the Model Panel Select Here Selected Everywhere The selection status of an object or object component is a property of the object and so visible in all parts of the user interface If an object is selected in the list view it will show as selected in the scene This behaviour can be leveraged when choosing objects If a dialog is presented which asks for an object but the user is unsure of the name of the object the object can be selected in the scene and that choice will automatically be reflected in the dialog Similarly if a user is unsure about which object a dialog is describing that object ca
43. individual times durations or time ranges such as the time a particular event should fire or the time range over which a group of agents should enter the simulation Times and durations can either be entered explicitly in the form HH MM SS or using a variety of shortcuts as shown in the table below Shr Meme AY o www m ono Note that e Combined shortcuts such as 1h30m are not supported but can be entered as 90m or 1 5h instead e A single number is interpreted as a count in seconds but a time such as 1 30 is interpreted as hours and minutes Time Ranges Where a simple time range is required it can be specified as All The entire simulation available All before From the beginning of the simulation to the specified time All after From the specified time to the end of the simulation 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Specified From the specified start time for the specified duration interval Time References In several places times can be entered as either absolute or relative to another time These can be specified as Absolute A specific time in HH MM SS form This is relative to midnight 00 00 00 on the start day of the simulation For instance if the start time of the simulation from the project settings is set to 08 30 00 an absolute time of 00 30 00 is actually before the start of the simulation an absolute time of 09 00 00 should be used in this case instead Event A specified offset
44. location of floor edges and obstacles Obstacles are included if they intersect any part of the floor or are within 0 4m of the top of the floor Any portion of an obstacle that is below the floor or above the 0 4m cutoff is ignored Floor edges and included obstacles are marked as red and are unavailable for walking The shaded regions represent the normalized distance to the nearest obstacle with black as a distance of 0 and white the farthest distance Obstacle map Approach Maps As with the obstacle map an approach map represents unavailable areas in red The shaded areas describe distance to a single goal line on the walkable surface For the simple room above there are three goal lines and so three approach maps In each case black represents a distance value of 0 and white represents the furthest distance from the goal line 2015 Oasys Software Limited 17 Flow 3 2 1 3 3 2 1 4 18 KC Link 1 approach Link 2 approach Portal approach The Network The arrangement of floors connection objects ie links stairs ramps escalators and paths and portals is termed the network The network describes all possible routes available when navigating the scene In the diagram below black circles represent nodes in the network When a person is on a node the arrows leading from the node represent possible route options Ii Asimple scene The black circles and lines represent nodes and routes through the network
45. object will identify all properties that have non default values This can sometimes uncover properties that were unintentionally modified or values that are incorrect Audit results can be presented either by object or by property Object auditing is available through an object s right click menu See the Issue Window for information on how to review any resulting issues Validation Validation verifies general project integrity Invalid property values in objects will be reported Missing or incorrect references between objects will be flagged All issues are collected and presented using the Issue Window A project is automatically validated when launching a new simulation The project can be manually validated using the Validate button in the Simulation amp Analysis tab of the main window ribbon Individual objects can be validated through the object s right click menu Observing Agents The Agent Observer window can be used to interrogate the history of an agent from a particular simulation run It displays lifetime information such as the starting portal ending portal creation event route taken and action history It also displays some dynamic information such as speed state and density The basic observer window is available through the right click menu on a playback agent If trying to track down deleted agents review the deletion error message from the simulation window and note the agent ID Open the agent observer window by ri
46. of each agent Given the default value of 0 25m each agent measured from one shoulder to the other will be 0 5m across Note care should be taken with this value The simulation has been tuned to a value of 0 25m While there are no theoretical limits it is recommended that the practical body radius remain between 0 15m and 0 4m Each agent is assigned a desired speed according to the specified distribution The agent will attempt to maintain this speed when moving freely in flat open space See agent movement for information on other factors affecting agent speed 117 Flow Direction Bias When faced with an opposing flow agents will tend to drift either left or right depending on local customs The direction bias indicates the direction of drift In agent movement the collision avoidance drift and corner forces are all affected by the direction bias Available options are Left Strong Left Weak None Right Weak Right Strong Avatar optional Defines the physical appearance of agents produced by this profile If no avatar is specified the default appearance is used By default each scene view displays agents using animated bipeds rather than static avatars See avatar for information on viewing the static avatars during playback Route Cost When determining the overall cost for a given route each of the component Weights costs is multiplied by a weight which serves to make that component more or less important to a part
47. only be effectively previewed by using the play option of the Time Panel Manually dragging the playback slider will erase and reset all paths Name The name of the map The simulation run for which the map should be generated This also controls the colour of the paths the agent colouring options set on the simulation run are used when generating the paths Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to consider when generating the map Initial The opacity of the path as initially laid down by an agent in percent i e the Opacity opacity of the path directly under the agent s feet may be needed to find a combination of initial opacity and decay time that produces the desired visual effect Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map Decay Time Approximately how long each path will be in seconds For instance setting this to 10 seconds will mean that the trail behind each agent will show approximately the last 10 seconds of movement before fading into invisibility Experimentation 4 3 3 7 7 Experienced Density Experienced density maps are a measure of the average density experienced by the agents the average of all experiences computed as a weighted average The measure is calculated as Xn density n LOS ft SSO 8 t _ density n While the regular time based Average Density tends to smooth out dense but int
48. population count only while they are holding the specified token In the second case agents will be included in the population count for the entire reporting period as long as they ever held the specified token at some point during that period Population Count Parameters Name The name of the graph Pa The simulation run for which counts should be calculated To compare population counts between different runs a composite graph can be used Reporting The time period over which counts should be calculated period Sampling How frequently to measure the population Specifying a larger value will reduce period the amount of time needed to generate the graph but using very large values runs the risk of missing peaks in population that may occur between samples Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files is available If selected population counts will be displayed as percentages instead of absolute values and will always sum to 100 Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files A simple field that can be used to save comments
49. population over a long period of time it is better to specify a lower number of threads Stopping a Simulation All simulation types provide a stop button closing a simulation window will also stop the simulation Stopping a simulation causes all current results to be written to the results database As a result a simulation that is stopped early can still be used for playback and analysis although care must be taken when interpreting results 2015 Oasys Software Limited 163 Flow 4 4 2 4 4 3 4 4 3 1 164 Console Simulation Window The Console Simulation runs with minimal overhead thereby maximizing use of available computing resources to minimize run time A console simulation runs faster than a debug simulation however details of the simulation cannot be accessed while the simulation is running The results of the run become available for playback and analysis once the run is complete or is stopped by the user midway Log Window On the left side of the console simulation window is a live console that displays diagnostic information warnings and errors about the initialization and execution of the current project The level of detail reported in the console can be specified by right clicking on the console or by selecting an option from the drop down menu above the console The output can also be saved to a text file with the save icon above the console Issues Window On the right side of the console simulation wi
50. portals at which agents will be created Portals can be weighted to create more agents than others See Choosing Objects for more details Destinatio The portals and collections of portals to which agents will travel and exit once they ns have finished circulating Agent goals can be set to either travel to a portal assigned by weights see Choosing Objects or to the lowest cost often closest portal available Circulate Defines the end conditions for agent circulation When using a time or duration Type limit the agent will cease circulating immediately once the limit is reached regardless of whether the agent is currently waiting or in transit between circulation portals For entire simulation The agent will continue circulating amongst the portals until the simulation is complete For count The agent will circulate for the specified number of iterations For duration The agent will circulate for the specified duration measured from the time the agent is created For duration or count The agent will circulate until the specified duration or for the specified number of iterations see Wait After Count below Until time The agent will circulate until the specified simulation time Agents created after the time will proceed immediately to their destination Until time or count The agent will circulate until the specified simulation time or for the specified number of iterations see Wait After Count below The durat
51. reference pages for more information Object Objects have a property for capping agent speed Any agent on the object with a Speed speed above the cutoff will have their speed reduced to the cutoff Agents below the Limit cutoff are unaffected Property 1 Fruin John J Pedestrian Planning amp Design Revised Edition Chapt 4 Elevator World 1987 2015 Oasys Software Limited 23 Flow 3 3 3 3 1 24 User Interface Overview Main Window The following image enumerates some of the more important features in the Flow main user interface 3D Views Focus on selection View selection amp management Visibility options 3D scene view Expand collapse 3D view Menu Bar Ribbon Project tab Layout Cluster List view 3D views Modelling panel Time panel Scene tab Events tab Analysis tab List View w c Modelling Panel Navigator arrows Object select mode Spacebar Search by name or type 3 Vertex select mode T Filter by type menu Edge select mode E View columns N ype Polygon select mode Y Focus on selection button Visibility indicator 2 Object name NG L Position indicator editor Object type 8 X axis Barrie Y axis Z axis Transform indicator editor Move mode V Rotate C Scale X X axis Y axis Zaxis Split Simplify Delete Grow G Knife K Measure M Process Edit Mode Q Connect Servers Disconnect Servers Status Bar ar Logging Windows Current Selection LEE ge
52. section describes the properties of each individual type of object in detail Scene Objects Collectio ns Collections are containers of other objects Some collections are used during the simulation and others are for modeling and analysis Bank Represents a set of nearby connections between two objects Affects agents in simulation Collection A general multi purpose collection that can store any non collection object Perimeter A set of connections which cannot be crossed more than once Affects agents in simulation Zone A conceptual area in the simulation Reference Model Created automatically to contain the reference geometry objects from an imported geometry file Obstacles that block agents from passing through 2015 Oasys Software Limited 79 Flow 4 3 1 1 80 A vertical connection object representing an escalator Escalators must be unidirectional Floor Floors represent any flat area in which agents may walk Link A connection object which connects floors horizontally May represent a doorway or turnstile A connection object constructed from a curve segment Does not need to be a ae Portal Represents entrances into the simulation as well as agent destinations Ramp A vertical connection object which represents a ramp Referenc Imported geometry from external sources Geometry must be used to generate other e Flow scene objects before they can be used Geometry The following file
53. should be considered when deciding when and where to split up complex spaces 3 4 1 2 4 Turnstiles Flow is used extensively for analyzing transit stations and the modelling of turnstile geometry and related agent behaviour is a common requirement There are a number of factors which should be considered when modelling turnstiles Geometry The geometry of the turnstiles will be similar to Doors In order to achieve the desired flow rates across the links consider the following steps 1 Determine the centre to centre dimension of the real world turnstiles and use that for the width of the link 2 Make the width of the separating barrier geometry as narrow as is practically possible 3 At the end conditions extend the width of the barrier geometry to prevent agents from ending up beside their target links 2015 Oasys Software Limited 39 Flow A set of 0 68m wide turnstiles with barriers 0 1m wide Object Properties If the turnstiles are to be used in one direction only set that direction in the link property window If the turnstiles are to be bidirectional enable priority access and set the priority direction to bidirectional In this case it is recommended that priority move aside be turned off so that agents do not move to block one tumstile when waiting for access to another The limit flow property can be used to ensure the processing rate does not exceed operational expectations An additional delay on exi
54. suffix In some situations importing objects will lead to a conflict with objects currently in the project In this case the Merging Projects window will be used to resolve the conflicts 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 414 Files Flow Files Deception rnmnrerermr The standard Flow project file Contains all objects and the project settings for more information Exported Flow objects See Importing and Exporting Objects for more information A project exported from the Softimage workbench using MassMotion 7 Import Files Flow can import geometry from a variety of sources as Reference Geometry which can be used to create other scene objects See Importing Geometry for more information The results of a Flow simulation A simulation run is used to access a mmdb file from within the project A simulation also produces several other files as listed in Generated Simulation Files The file can be queried as an sqlite database for information about agents or used to recover a project by opening it as if it were a mm project file See Simulation Data Export Files Flow s analysis tools can export data for further processing All tables and graphs can export their datasets to a csv file and graphs can additionally be exported as an image Agent Position Export can be used to output the position of agents from a simulation run to a csv file Movie and Image Export can be used to produce images and moves in various formats A
55. taken from the project settings Running a simulation twice with the same random seed will produce identical results Running a simulation with a different random seed will introduce random variation in agent behaviour but should produce statistically similar overall behaviour varying the random seed is one way to determine the sensitivity of the model to small changes In the case of a multi run simulation the specified random seed will be used for the first run and will then be used to generate a new random seed for the second run and so on This is done ina consistent way so if a second multi run simulation is performed with the same initial seed all subsequent seeds will be the same as in the first multi run simulation Threading By default Flow will run a fully multi threaded simulation using all available CPU cores This will typically result in the shortest simulation time but other applications on the same computer may become sluggish To avoid this it is possible to disable threading entirely so that Flow will only use one CPU core or specify the number of threads that should be used When setting the number of threads to be used there are two main considerations to keep in mind e Specifying a number of threads greater than the number of CPU cores available can result in slower performance e Larger simulation populations are required to take full advantage of a larger number of threads In some cases when dealing with a small
56. the effective width m of both the box and ball connections to be set to specific values Recess Tab Gate Enable use as gate Gate Wait style Gate Cost of waiting Gate Commit to wait Limit Flow Cap flow of entering agents Limit Flow Rate type 2015 Oasys Software Limited Configures the object as a gate closing the objects to all agents unless explicitly opened through events see Open Gate Event Sets the behaviour of agents waiting for the link when the gate is closed Stand Still Agents will stop moving after stepping onto a floor connected to the link Spread Out Agents will spread out on the floor after stepping onto a floor connected to the link Focus On Target Agents will move to and wait by the link Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Sets whether agents will commit to the gate once it has been chosen When checked agents will wait for this object regardless of changes in route costs elsewhere on the floor When enabled the flow of entering agents is not permitted to exceed the specified rate If demand exceeds capacity agents are held at the goal line until there is available capacity Sets whether the flow rate is calculated as people minute or people minute metre If using people minute metre the effective width general tab property i
57. the resulting simulation network will be well formed Any errors must be addressed before proceeding with a simulation Validation can also be performed manually using the Validate button in the analysis tab of the main window s ribbon Compiling When starting a simulation a copy of the project is created and compiled into an optimized form It is the optimized copy which is used for the simulation meaning that changes in the authoring environment have no impact on a simulation that is already running Compilation involves converting the various object properties into raw data resolving references between different objects generating obstacle and approach maps for walkable objects converting object goal lines into network waypoints building the network constructing cost trees for each destination in the scene and creating a new database file Execution 2015 Oasys Software Limited 47 Flow 3 4 2 1 3 4 3 48 The simulation can be run either in console mode or debug mode see Running a Simulation Both methods make use of all available processors on the machine The console window provides text based feedback on the simulation The debug window contains a graphical scene view and provides a mechanism for interrogating agents and objects as the simulation progresses Both methods make use of all available processors on the machine but a console simulation will execute much faster than a debug Review Once a simulation is
58. the table Filter Optional Additional information can be included in the agent position table toggled by the columns following options Clock time The simulation clock time corresponding to the frame number Speed The agent s speed in m s Heading The agent s heading in degrees An agent facing the same direction as the Z axis will have a heading of 0 and the angle increases as the agent turns counterclockwise Move State The agent s move state as a number The meaning of move state values is listed below Animation time The time an agent has spent in a given move state useful for controlling the speed of animations When walking on flat ground the value is the number of strides taken by the agent 182 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 5 7 Flow Move State sagt meme oo Walking on a flat surface ao o Shuffling occurs in crowded places a Standing still ao Walking Down Movie and Image Export Movies and images of the scene can be produced from within Flow using the movie image export window The export window can be accessed from the analysis tab of the main window s ribbon Default settings for movie image export can be set in the application preferences available through the main window menu bar Project and scene changes When the export window is first opened the scene s appearance is copied from the scene in the main window This includes agent appearance background colour and camera position These
59. to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 Agent Path 142 Agent path maps can be used to show where agents tend to walk As agents move around the model they will lay down a semi transparent trail with the same colour as the agent itself These paths will be laid down on top of each other so later agents will tend to obscure earlier ones Agent path maps are very useful when constructing filters as they can provde immediate visual feedback on whether the filter is performing as expected Name The name of the map The simulation run for which the map should be generated This also controls the colour of the paths the agent colouring options set on the simulation run are used when generating the paths The time period over which paths should be generated Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to consider when generating the map 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow The opacity of the path laid down by each agent in percent Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 3 Agent Time To Exit Agent time to exit maps can be used to measure how long it takes agents to exit the simulation from any point in their journey through the simulation The colour at each point will indicate the longest time it took any agent to exit the simulation af
60. towards the front of the goal to which they are targeted helping to ensure a straight and Brown Corner Orients agent motion with respect Force to near corners other agents and veer direction bias Also note the white and green arrows showing corners of interest 166 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Obstacle Resulting net force Pink Panic Strong force pulling agent back to force walkable surface when an agent has lost track of its surface Displays agent awareness of surrounding space as it relates to obstacle avoidance and the direction of goal ale paras directions of potential forward routes ck Sp direction of best forward route en paa to nearby obstacles boundaries d RedPoints to closest obstacle bounda Scene Object Display Options The right click context menu for scene objects during a debug simulation has the same display options as in authoring playback plus the following Displays the obstacle surface map for the selected scene object Areas that are unavailable to agents obstacles floor edges are coloured red Note The map may require several seconds to calculate and display after pressing the button Be cautious when using this attribute on very large objects 4 4 3 2 Object Properties The properties tab is available in the Information Pane at the right hand side of the Simulation window It can be used to monitor property values for selected agents and scene objects in the simu
61. will be present If sampling period exceeds bin size zero values will be present If stacked areas stepped areas or stacked bars are chosen a Normalized option 140 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 3 7 Maps Map queries paint objects in the scene based on the behaviour of agents All maps have a Surface Objects parameter which determines which objects will be painted Most maps can only paint walkable surfaces with the exception of vision time maps which can paint barriers as well Several maps can customize how they display values on their surfaces Using transparent values will allow an object s colour to be displayed instead of other colours See Working with Colours for more information Only one map can be displayed at any time evaluating or showing a map will hide any other map that is shown Maps can be hidden from the view menu or by right clicking map objects in the list view Maps cannot be directly exported but the movie and image exporter can be used instead List of Maps Agent Count Counts the number of unique agents that cross each point Agent Path Traces the route taken by each agent Agent Time The time required for an agent to exit from each point to Exit Average The average density at each point Density Average The average non zero density at each point Non Zero Density Shows dynamic trails behind each agent as they move around the model paa Ab nce The experienced de
62. with oncoming neighbours Force pushing agent in bias direction when faced with oncoming agents in narrow spaces Orderly Force pushing agents towards the middle of a target when approaching Queuing Force pushing agents to hug a corner or swing wide It should be noted that obstacles do not result in a repulsive force of their own but are used to constrain other forces When component forces are summed the resulting net force is reduced such that it does not push the agent into a barrier Agent Speed The agent s desired speed is the speed at which the agent will walk when on flat ground in an uncongested environment This speed is assigned through the agent s profile when the agent is 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow created The actual speed of an agent at any given time depends on a number of additional factors Density In order to simulate the reduced stride length and reduced mobility of people in crowded spaces agent speed is reduced as density increases The exact relationship between speed and density has been tuned to match the data in John Fruin s Pedestrian Planning amp Design 1 Escalator Agent speed is set to exactly match the escalator speed property Floor or Link Agent speed is not altered Path or Server When immediately behind another agent speed is reduced to match the agent in front Ramp or Stair Agent speed is modified based on whether travel is in the up or down direction See the object
63. 0 1 0 2 0 5 0 6 0 8 0 Contour colouring 0 0 1 0 2 0 5 0 6 0 8 0 Gradient colouring The gradient behaviour is designed so that it is obvious via a sharp edge when a value falls outside of the expected range To avoid the sharp cutoff at each end of a gradient the recommended method is typically e At the lower end make the first two colours the same In the above example blue could be used for both less than or equal to 0 0 and between 0 0 and 1 0 Note that this means it will no longer be possible to tell the difference between a small value and no data e At the upper end add an extra cutoff value and associated colour the cutoff value chosen should 2015 Oasys Software Limited 73 Flow 4 2 5 74 be one that you do not expect to ever reach In the above example a cutoff value of 12 0 could be added with an associated colour of bright pink This will cause the orange and red to blend together over the cutoff value of 8 0 however if the measured value density distance time cost etc ever exceeds 12 0 a sharp cutoff to bright pink will be visible perhaps indicating a dangerously high population density or unacceptable time to exit during an evacuation The repeated colour technique can also be used at the upper end but the technique recommended above has the advantage of clearly indicating when the simulation has exceeded expected bounds Working with Time Working with Flow often involves specifying
64. 15 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 3 1 Flow updates with simulation playback Maximum Density The maximum density at each point Static Cost The cost perceived by agents to reach various destination portals This map does not require a simulation run Static Distance The measured distance to various destination portals This map does not require a simulation run Time Above Density The time agents spend above a specified density at each point Time Occupied The time for which each point is occupied by an agent Time Until Clear The time before the last agent leaves each point Vision Time The time agents spend looking at a surface This map can be applied to barriers A query analysis object that produces tables Agent Area Time Lists the amount of time agents spend in given areas Agent LOS Time Lists the amount of time agents spend at each level of service Agent Process Chain Time Lists the amount of time agents spend in a process chain Agent Summary Provides general information about each agent Agent Timetable Summary Provides a summary of agents produced by a given timetable Agent Token Time Lists the amount of time agents carry given tokens Agent Trip Time Lists the time required for agents to complete a given trip Origin Destination Counts the number of agents entering and exiting at each portal Performance Table Provides diagnostics for simulation runs Server Summary Lists queue times and other informat
65. Agents are assigned a darker version of the event object colour Rule based Agents are assigned a colour according to the colouring rules Working from top to bottom agents will use the first colour for which the condition evaluates to true Specified colour Agents are assigned the specified colour 2015 Oasys Software Limited 121 Flow Collections in vehicle events Collections can be used in the Vehicle Doors property All member links with gates enabled will be opened as if they were directly used They can also be used in Origins and Destination properties for alighting and boarding agents The collections can be weighted changing the distribution of agents going from to various portals 4 3 3 Analysis Objects 122 Simulati Represents the results of a simulation by defining links to results database files on Run mmdb These form the basis the analysis system and are used as a parameter to most types of queries A reusable analysis object These allow queries to target agents meeting specific criteria including location density etc A reusable analysis object These objects represent boundaries in space that agents can cross Despite appearing in the scene they do not impact simulations Region A reusable analysis object These objects represent volumes in space that may contain agents Despite appearing in the scene they do not impact simulations A reusable analysis object These objects rep
66. Can be stepped back multiple times Steps forward if the Undo command is used Can be used multiple times Select all objects in the project Select Inverse Select all objects other than those in the current selection Deselect All Deselect all objects currently selected Preferences Edit the application preferences LAH FYWm rrcrm List View Toggle display of left hand side list view showing list of all existing object s in the project Toggle display of all 3D scene views Time View Toggle display of bottom pane time panel with playback controls See Playback 2015 Oasys Software Limited 65 Flow Context View Toggle display of right hand side pane with contextual tools for operating on currently selected objects see Model Panel for details Other Windows Toggle the display of additional windows Console Show a console window with Flow diagnostic output Issues Show the Issue Window with the most recent list of warnings errors or audit information see Validation for details Observe Agents Display information about a particular agent from a particular run see Agent Observer LS Hide All But Hide all objects that are not part of the current selection leaving only Selected selected objects visible Hide Maps On If any of the selected surface objects have been covered by an analysis Selected map texture the map texture is removed does not apply to textured reference geometry Hide Maps On All Remove a
67. Oasys Software Limited 89 Flow ee validated for radius values close to 0 25m Body Radius Sets the agent radius in metres Radius The bank which the escalator is a member _________ if any For more information see Banks Perimeters Perimeters which the escalator is a member of if any For more information see Perimeters 4 3 1 5 Floor 90 Floors are the most fundamental object types in a Flow environment Floor objects are contiguous polygon mesh surfaces that define the extent of a walkable area An agent s awareness of other agents barriers and route options is based on the floor on which they are standing Most other scene objects must be connected to floor objects portals links stairs ramps escalators The default new floor is a 10m x 10m flat square A floor Restrictions on Geometry e Floors may have thickness although only the top surface will be considered during simulation The floor surface must not overlap itself the entire top surface of the floor must be visible from above The floor surface should be continuous a single floor should not have two or more disconnected parts but may have holes Floors must have dimensions of at least 2 agent widths by 2 agent widths by default 1m x 1m There is no maximum size for floors however users should consider subdividing large 510 000m floors into logical areas The floor surface is not required to be flat but elevation changes are not cons
68. Properties Sets the direction in which agents can traverse the link Two way Agents may cross in both directions Unidirectional ie Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents may only cross in the specified direction 2015 Oasys Software Limited Costs Distance added Costs Queue multiplier Physical Map resolution Physical Effective width Flow Defines any distance penalty or modified cost to be added to the link A positive value will add a distance and hence make the route less desirable for agents and a negative value will remove a distance Distance is measured in metres See Agent Navigation for more information Increases the penalty for queuing A higher number will increase the perceived time cost of queuing which makes agents more likely to select alternative routes See Agent Navigation for more information Determines the resolution of surface maps created for agent navigation Smaller values describe link and barrier edges more accurately resulting in more precise walkable area definitions but increase memory and processing requirements during simulation Defines how the width of the link s connections is calculated The width is used to calculate queue times how long it will take for a queue of agents to clear and controlled flow if using people minute metre Calculate from Geometry The default setting where the width m is calculated from the vertices of the link edges Specify Manually Allows
69. Right click on Creates an object of the specified type Examines the Generate reference reference geometry or selected faces and based on the geometry ora object type uses a subset of the faces to generate new selection of representative geometry When generating a floor this might faces involve taking only the top faces from the reference geometry IFC based reference geometry contains additional contextual information about the function of the object When generating objects from IFC based reference geometry the Auto object type indicates that Flow should choose a target object type based on the original IFC type For example lfcSlabs and IfcSpaces might become floors while an IfcDoor would become a link FBX files created with AutoCAD use a very old version of the file format and may not be read correctly by Flow To upgrade AutoCAD experted fbx files it is recommended to use the FBX 2013 3 Converter which is available free of charge from Autodesk DXF 3D object support in Flow is currently limited to explicit mesh geometry definitions DXF files that represent geometry through ACIS definitions are not yet supported 3 4 1 1 2 Creating Geometry Flow objects can be created through the ribbon buttons at the top of the main window or through the right click menu in the 3d scene view New standard objects come with a default geometry which can then be edited to match requirements New geometry can be created from existing geome
70. SE Validation issues Measured Distance Console output Selection Mode Visible Population Time Panel Start time End time Playback speed Time line and current time Goto start time Play from current time Up Arrow Key Pause playback Down Arrow Key Goto end time Current time position Frame step forward Right Arrow Key Frame step backward Left Arrow Key Main Menu The main menu duplicates much of the functionality available elsewhere in the user interface but consolidated in one place See Main Menu Bar for more information Ribbon The ribbon is a tabbed toolbar which provides buttons for performing high level operations The project tab provides buttons for managing the project the scene and activities tabs provide buttons for creating scene and activity related objects and the analysis tab provides buttons for validating the project running a simulation creating analysis objects and exporting results to text files images or videos Layout Cluster The buttons here can be used to collapse and expand the list vew scene views model panel and time panel List View The list view provides a mechanism for accessing the objects in the project by name or type A filter at the top controls the type of object displayed The search bar can be used to find objects by name or type The capsule drawn beside each object displays information on the type colour and status of the object See List View for more information
71. Stand Still Agents will stop moving after stepping onto a floor connected to the escalator Spread Out Agents will spread out on the floor after stepping onto a floor connected to the escalator Focus On Target Agents will move to and wait by the escalator 88 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Gate Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Gate Commit to Sets whether agents will commit to the gate once it has been chosen wait When checked agents will wait for this object regardless of changes in route costs elsewhere on the floor Limit Flow Cap When enabled the flow of entering agents is not permitted to exceed the flow of entering specified rate If demand exceeds capacity agents are held at the goal agents line until there is available capacity Limit Flow Rate Sets whether the flow rate is calculated as people minute or people minute type metre If using people minute metre the effective width general tab property is used Limit Flow Max Sets the maximum flow rate Flow rate will be measured according to the rate rate type shown above Delay On Enter Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping onto an escalator This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information If an escalator is gated and closes before
72. This is useful when running multiple projects in sequence or when running the same project multiple times with different random seeds How to Run 1 From a DOS command console navigate to the Flow installation folder by default C Program Files Oasys Flow 8 0 2 Run FlowConsole exe with the desired parameters see table below 3 Note all diagnostic information will be written to the simulation log text file which will be placed alongside the generated database file Arguments Parameters Parameters are prefixed with a hyphen Some parameters require values separated from the parameter name by a space e g seed 5 2015 Oasys Software Limited 171 Flow Write diagnostic information toa dump debug folder in the project s working folder see Project Settings If used in combination with vis fullscreen fullscre the 3D viewer is drawn in full en screen mode help Displays the list of available help parameters and exits Disable the use of threads during nothreads nothrea the simulation ds A number greater than 0 used to popscale 2 0 popscal scale the number of agents e generated by all events project Specify the Flow project file mm project C mm testproject testproject mm file to open and run results Specify the output database file results C mm Testproject firstrun mmdb for results If the path is relative it is assumed to be relative to the folder contain
73. aa EEEa Aa Ea o aa E E 56 Main WINDOW mama NANANA NAGA E E E E E EEA 56 Editing Object Properties wis isccsssscecssescessvavesecescssassccavesceevenssvscessescessasesscesssacesvcescuscvsveaeeesdstasesesscescversavscnsieseseseens 67 Choosing Objects Working w ith Colours Working With Time svscesssccecessrcsstesssccesscessssccscsscnsanscvaccscessstsscssasecesossseseescaazeasescsisateiuascsssncencaneevecceseccsteacevivscevenceess ISS US WINDOW Amana ANAN cc beads vat cae Svea wer BANA E catia O Keyboard and Mouse Controls viccssissssstssessicasscesscvacesscassscsisscacsasssrsecetscssseasedsatesasateseasdsssscevscssveccessasedvestevencesezecs 76 Application Preferences oi ccicississessccesscscssccecescsssccsscssvecasnecssnscaccesceessdsciscnecestscccesetersscss escssscssceieevsneassantescseseeseties 78 OD jC CUS A E INN GAN ALAIN RNGA sesstesiieesneaeedeaaeeiecaats 79 SCONE ODISCIS E E E NOR O E EEE AEEA AST EEPE EEA E E O 79 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Activ ODJOCIS aan Nan DANGAN AA Aa E 110 Analysis ODjOCUS aaa b AB UNANG A E esavece ses sctsacedscececesyaideasssazecei stessecnates taesdinctastasessnaias 122 4 Simulation aaa IBABABA ces aeaa Ea NIRA AGANG a 162 RUNNING a Simulation ssc sssscscecieseescscscasconcescesssscacezeeveccesnacecusceacescesscsesdeceasesendcsoscsscsecostesssseasazeaieseesvecscateeasessesses 162 CONS Ole Simulation Window csser sornas neata aaraa aaraa aerador iad 164 Debug Simulation Window sre
74. able and the file type Default names are listed in the File Types table below Timetables can only be created or edited in MassMotion Token Tokens are objects held by agents They can be used to identify certain agents or to limit access at connection objects Tokens are given or removed using Agent Actions Tokens can only be created in MassMotion Vehicle Vehicle events are used to simulate the alighting and boarding of passengers from to vehicles at regular intervals such as at a subway station Gated links can be used to simulate the opening of vehicle doors Vehicles arrive at controllable intervals and open their doors ie gated links for as long as they dwell Alighting agents will be created automatically slightly before the doors open but boarding agents can have more finely tuned arrival times Origin and destinations of boarding and alighting agents do not need to be the same or have the same weights Darker agents alighting from a vehicle event with lighter agents boarding Alternative Uses Not all features of the vehicle event need to be used at once nor does the event need to be used specifically for vehicles It can be used simply to open gates at irregular intervals or to create bursts of agents at controllable intervals Gates do not necessarily need to be near either the origins or destinations of agents nor do they need to separate their origins and destinations Additional gates can be included
75. action panel shows a history of all actions that have been applied to an agent and summarizes the results Agent Display Options Enable specialized display options on a per agent basis to gain a better understanding of why an agent is behaving in a particular manner The display options are available from the right click menu for an agent in the debug scene view Route Costing will display perceived costs for the various route options the agent is considering Neighbourhood will indicate the neighbours that an agent is aware of Surface Probe will show the direction in which the agent believes it should move to reach its target Social Forces draws arrows representing the various forces acting on the agent These options are described in detail in the Simulation Scene View Obstacle Maps Enable the display of an object s obstacle map to visualize the walkable space on a floor link stair ramp or escalator Areas marked in red are unavailable to agents either because they are off the floor or covered by a nearby barrier Sometimes barriers that don t look like they should be having an impact on an area will still cut a link in two or block access to a stair Use an object s right click menu to display the obstacle map Dumping Surface Maps In the project settings enable the dumping of surface maps When the simulation is compiled all approach maps and obstacle maps will be written out as images to a debug folder in the simulati
76. agents and the position of nearby obstacles These forces are summed at every time step and used to determine the agent s heading and velocity 1 Dirk Helbing and P ter Molnar Social force model for pedestrian dynamics II Institute of Theoretical Physics University of Stuttgart 70550 Stuttgart Germany January 1995 Agent Tasks Each agent in the simulation maintains a list of tasks or things to do The agent is only capable of working on one task at a time and the task currently being considered is said to be the active task Each frame the agent determines what to do and how to do it based on the active task Once the active task is complete the agent will move on to the next task in its list Tasks are always executed in order 2015 Oasys Software Limited 19 Flow 3 2 2 2 20 Giving Agents New Tasks Agents can be assigned new tasks using Actions When an agent receives one or more tasks from an action those tasks are pushed in front of any currently active tasks and executed in order The agent will return to the deferred tasks when all of the new tasks have been completed Types of Tasks Typical tasks include e Moving to a portal destination e Evacuating a zone e Waiting in an area for some duration e Executing a sequence of sub tasks in order e Exiting the simulation Agent Navigation Agent navigation makes use of the scene network assessing route options and planning the best path to a given
77. al styles of graph are available though not all types of graphs may support each one Stepped graphs and bar graphs require a bucket size which is the duration which each section of the graph lasts Stacked area and bar graphs additionally support a normalized option If this is selected the values at every instant will be normalized to sum to 100 This allows for instance indicating the percentage 130 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow of agents at different density levels in an Agent Density graphs instead of the absolute counts 0 a oop 00 01 00 00 01 10 00 01 20 00 01 30 00 01 40 00 01 50 00 01 00 00 01 10 00 01 20 00 01 30 00 01 40 00 01 50 ro 00 01 00 00 01 10 00 01 20 00 01 30 00 01 40 00 01 50 00 01 00 00 01 10 00 01 20 00 01 30 00 01 40 00 01 50 Bars sSStacked Bars NE TI HAT a E a E 0 G a a toto 00 01 10 00 01 20 00 01 30 00 01 40 00 01 50 00 01 00 00 01 10 00 01 20 00 01 30 00 01 40 00 01 50 00 02 00 Navigating Graphs Once a graph is generated subsections of the graph can be examined in further detail by clicking and dragging to define an area to zoom to in the graph The view can be reset by middle clicking the graph Graph Structure Graphs use a tree structure to organize their source data into datasets Multiple items can be added at each level for instance multiple groups can be placed under a filter Items are nested in the following order The simulation run to a
78. anks Perimeters Perimeters which the link is a member of if any For more information see Perimeters 4 3 1 7 Path Paths are connection objects consisting of a simple curve There are no restrictions on the shape of the curve and they may be vertical or even intersect themselves and other geometry The default new path is a 2m horizontal line segment This line segment can be extended by growing the end vertices or splitting the edge into multiple pieces See Editing Geometry for more information on editing paths 2015 Oasys Software Limited 95 Flow 96 Agents can enter the curve at one end follow along the curve in single file and exit at the far end While on a curve agents will either move at their desired speed or follow immediately behind the agent in front Agents on the curve will ignore agents not following the curve or on the same curve but moving in the opposite direction Agents not on the curve will attempt to avoid agents on the curve Agents on a path will see each other as cylinders with a radius equal to their body radius Agents following behind another will maintain a Queue Spacing set in Agent Behaviour between the surfaces of the cylinders A path Restrictions on Geometry e A path must contain a single curve object e Each end point of the curve must be positioned just above a separate floor e There are no restrictions on the path described by the curve provided that it is continuous e
79. ar randomly distributed on the longest midline of the planar rectangular portal geometry Inside Portal Agents appear randomly distributed inside the planar rectangular boundary of the portal geometry On Floor Agents appear randomly distributed inside the planar rectangular boundary of the floor beneath the portal Agents will only appear in valid unobstructed regions of the floor but may appear on top of existing agents in areas of high density Measured in degrees Defines the orientation of the agents when they enter the simulation environment This angle is vsually represented by a triangle decoration on the portal s spawn line Ramps are connection objects that represent inclined surfaces and are used to connect two floors that are at different elevations This change in elevation results in an additional vertical cost during agent route selection and can have an impact on agent speed during traversal Ramps are less costly to traverse than stairs but more costly than escalators A ramp 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Restrictions on Geometry e The ramp object itself should not include any handrails or other geometry that extends above the walkable surface If these are desired they should be added as separate Barrier objects The ramp must have a flat landing area at each end this should be at least 0 5m by 0 5m to allow construction of valid goal lines Landings should be approximately rectangular or trapezoidal
80. at each point will indicate the cumulative count in seconds that any agent stood at that point For instance in train station scenario a time occupied map might be used to determine how much time people spent waiting near the departures board in the main concourse The name of the map Ed The simulation run for which the map should be generated Time range The time period over which map values should be computed Time values will be computed from the start of the time range Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to consider when generating the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as times in seconds See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 14 Time Until Clear Time until clear maps can be used to measure how long it took until no agents were left at various points The colour at each point will indicate the last time relative to the beginning of the given time range that any agent stood at that point For instance in an evacuation scenario points far away from the exits would have small values since those areas would be left quickly Points near the exits would have large values since those points would continue to be visited by agents as they exited The name of the map gees The simulation run for which the map should
81. at kind of activity the agent is currently involved in Possible values are In Input Buffer wait The agent is waiting for a gate to open In Input Buffer queue The agent is queueing to reach the next way point In Input Buffer free The agent is freely moving towards the next way point Being Processed The agent has reached and is currently being processed by the next waypoint In Output Buffer The agent has finished processing and is waiting for downstream capacity Waiting The agent has been put in a wait state by an action Not Registered Agent is in an error state and may be deleted Waiting True if the agent has chosen a gated link as its next waypoint and is currently waiting for the gate to open 168 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow True if the agent is queuing to reach the next waypoint Time in Queue s If queuing this is the time the agent has so far spent queuing for the next waypoint LOS Letter Value The Fruin LOS letter grade given the stated density always uses walkway mapping never queue or stair mappings Density ppl m2 The current density immediately around the agent Space m2 ppl The personal space immediately around the agent inverse of density Created By The agent schedule or timetable that generated the agent Any notes from the agent creation If generated by a timetable this will include the corresponding timetable schedule file name and line number StartFloor The fl
82. batch import of related agent schedules and or events Timetables are driven by a series of comma separated csv text files Once imported the raw data is embedded in the timetable object and will be saved as part of the scene The raw data is only processed on validation or simulation so there is little overhead associated with the amount of data or the number of entries Timetable files can be generated by hand but will more often be generated by user written scripts or excel macros 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 2 12 4 3 2 13 Flow Different input files control different aspects of the timetable One file specifies the creation of agents while another controls gate open events It is possible to define time and location dependencies between the different files so that a gate opens and agents are created at the same time through the use of internal reference events Reference events are not visible to scene elements outside of the timetable Agents created with respect to a particular reference event are forever associated with that reference identifier and can be later targeted by other timetable events It is also possible to create a very simple timetable that only executes gate events or only controls agent scheduling When inspecting a timetable object the buttons at the top of the window allow for batch import export reload of the various timetable files Each file type has a default name constructed from the name of the timet
83. be generated The time period over which map values should be computed Time values will be 2015 Oasys Software Limited 149 Flow ial computed from the start of the time range Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to consider when generating the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as times in seconds See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 15 Vision Time Vision time maps are an experimental feature which calculates where agents are looking as they move through a simulation Unlike other maps vision time maps can also be applied to barriers Vision time maps display the amount of time a given point on an object is viewed The time is multiplied by the number of agents thus two agents looking at a wall for 1 second and one agent looking at a wall for 2 seconds will both yield a time value of 2 seconds The scene is divided into volumetric elements or voxels All agents will project a viewing cone ahead of them marking voxels they see This cone is currently fixed at a 15 degree half angle 20 metre length and 1 75m above the floor 1 75m Agents will mark any voxels containing scene objects including hidden objects and reference geometry and are unable to see through them They will however see through any othe
84. be more likely to appear to overlap each other Rest Reset all general to MassMotion defaults Movietmage nrrrrcrcrcrxrxmy Appearance Default resolution to use for movie image export Resolution 78 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 4 3 1 Flow Appearance Default background colour to use for movie image export Background Movie Quality Default quality setting to use for movie image export Default frame rate to use for movie image export Overlay Text Default overlay text colour to use for movie image export Overlay Whether population count should be displayed by default during movie Population count image export Overlay Time Whether current time should be displayed by default during movie image export Overlay Map Whether the map legend if any should be displayed by default during legend movie image export Overlay Whether the set of reference axes should be displayed by default during Reference axes movie image export Rest Reset all movie image preferences to MassMotion defaults Objects As described in the Objects page of the user guide a Flow project consists primarily of a set of objects Objects can be classified as e Scene physical objects such as floors which have a physical presence in the scene e Activities create agents modify agents or perform operations on the scene e Analysis queries and related objects that are used to analyze the results of a simulation This
85. bjects Together section The are however a number of distinguishing differences e The slope of VCEs must be between 0 and 50 degrees from level Steeper slopes may result in agents being unable to track the surface during simulation On stair agents will reduce their horizontal speed proportional to the degree of the slope On ramps agents traveling upwards will reduce their horizontal speed proportional to the degree of the upward slope Agents traveling downwards will ignore ramp slope and not reduce their speed On escalators agents will travel at the rate specified in the Escalator Average Speed parameter of the object s property page 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow e Escalators must be unidirectional Geometry The geometry of VCEs can be as detailed as the user likes All the stair objects in the image below are functionally equivalent and the agents will traverse them in the same way The only restriction is that they may not overlap themselves when projected vertically as described in Floors topic Common Configurations Escalators and stairs are often constructed in sets with one or more of each type located in close proximity to one another The image below shows a configuration common in transit stations where a stair and a set of down up escalators are arranged in the middle of a platform It is recommended to construct the banisters for the escalators as they would appear in the real world i e extending past the es
86. breakpoint is useful when debugging problems that occur late in the simulation at known times This will run several iterations of the same simulation with different random seeds see below for details The results for each iteration will be placed in a different simulation run object 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Create Console Debug Create a new simulation run object with the given name The new results from the simulation will be placed in the specified database file and referenced by the new simulation run Multiple Runs Create the specified number of simulation run objects The objects will be given unique names by appending numbers to the specified name stem Numbers are chosen so as not to collide with existing names in the project Database files will be named after the corresponding run and placed in the specified path Overwrite Console Debug Use an existing simulation run object the database file referenced existing by the run will be overwritten Multiple Runs Create or overwrite the specified number of simulation run objects If new simulation run objects are created database files are named after the run and placed in the specified path If simulation run objects with the requested names already exist they are used and their existing database files overwritten Random Seeds In all cases it is possible to either set the random seed used to run the simulation or leave it at the default value which is
87. bution within each interval The portals and collections of portals at which agents will be created Portals can be weighted to create more agents than others See Choosing Objects for more details Timing Pre How long agents will wait before beginning to evacuate This can be set as a movement distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information wait Timing How the agents will position themselves before evacuating Wait style Stand Still The agents will stand by the portal at which they were created Spread Out The agents will spread out over the floor on which they were created 114 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 2 6 4 3 2 7 Flow The zones in order of evacuation Agents will evacuate zones in order but are not prevented from re entering previously evacuated zones Exits Clear Agents are biased against backtracking across objects they have already Route traversed If unchecked agents that have evacuated all zones will be biased History against re tracing their steps when seeking the exit portals If route history is cleared agents forget where they have been and will have no problem backtracking if that is the best way to reach their exit portals The portals and collections of portals to which agents will ultimately travel Once agents finish evacuating zones they will head to the lowest cost often closest exit portal Colours Event colour Agents are assigned the same colour
88. by appending a suffix to the collection name For example a map query choosing a general collection called EastWing will refer to the collection as EastWing Surfaces in its properties List of collection suffixes 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Areas Area objects walkable objects floors links etc or analysis regions Connection objects ie links stairs escalators ramps and paths ons Analysis Cordons Portals which are set to be destinations cates Lk ans aier conector ic ic oma orale Pa Profiles sawan sasas OOOO Cr OOOO Paintable surfaces used for map queries Is usually only walkable objects but the vision time map can also paint barriers TripPoin Possible destinations for a trip ie areas cordons portals and servers When used ts in a trip reaching any of the members will count as fulfilling that stage of the trip Walkabl Walkable objects floors links etc es Types of Collections A collection of connection objects which connect the same two objects Banks help agents navigate clusters of similar and closely placed connections General A collection of any type of object except other collections Collectio n Perimet A collection of connection objects encircling a conceptual area of interest Agents er cannot cross the same perimeter twice A collection of walkable objects which define a conceptual area in the simulation Connected links and portals can b
89. calator landings to encourage agents to approach the VCE objects in an aligned and organized manner This leads to more realistic queuing behaviour and flow rates on the VCE objects As in the real world the agents will perceive the escalators to have a greater utility than the stairs and queues will form for the escalators before there is substantial traffic on the stairs 2015 Oasys Software Limited 41 Flow Escalators To ensure that the escalators are able to process pedestrians at the expected rate it is important to follow these guidelines e Ensure the geometry is well formed as described above e The modeled width of a 1m double channel escalator should be the width between the handrails e g 1 2m as this accounts for the total diameter of a person which is required to achieve doubling up of agents on Flow escalators e Escalator speed should be set appropriately for the expected flow rate e Traversal type should be set to the default for VCEs Ignore Barriers Banks of Vertical Circulation Elements When multiple stairs escalators or ramps are positioned beside one another have the same directionality and bridge the same two floors they should be banked to ensure agents make use of all available elements In Figure 2 the two escalators are in opposite directions while the stair is bidirectional Because an object can only be part of one bank it is not possible to bank the stair with both escalators A single ba
90. ced Play How fast the movie will appear to play Speed Resoluti The resolution of movies frames and images produced Can dramatically affect the on size of file outputs Changing the resolution will darken regions at the edges of the scene These regions are cropped in the outputs to fit the desired resolution Backgr The background colour to use ound The colour to use to display overlay text if any Populati Whether to include text which shows the current population on count Whether to include overlay text that shows the current simulation time on time Map Whether to include a legend for the displayed map if any legend Whether to include the reference axes in the top right comer e axes 184 2015 Oasys Software Limited Index Gs Graph 131 Graph Structure 130 2015 Oasys Software Limited Endnotes 2 after index 2015 Oasys Software Limited Back Cover
91. ch through the rules from top to bottom and use the distribution corresponding to the first occurrence of their circulation portal either directly or as a member of a specified collection If the circulation portal is not contained within the dwell rules the default bottom distribution is used Colours Event colour Agents are assigned the same colour as the event object Lighten event colour Agents are assigned a lighter version of the event object colour Darken event colour Agents are assigned a darker version of the event object colour Rule based Agents are assigned a colour according to the colouring rules Working from top to bottom agents will use the first colour for which the test evaluates to true Specified colour Agents are assigned the specified colour Collections in circulate events Collections can be used in the Origins Destination and Circulation Portals properties The collections can be weighted changing the distribution of agents going from to various portals 2015 Oasys Software Limited 113 Flow 4 3 2 5 Evacuate Evacuate events simulate the evacuation of agents from the scene Agents created by an evacuate event will first wait a specified amount of time then attempt to exit the simulation through the best of the destination portals If zones have been specified agents will attempt to evacuate each zone in order before heading to the destination portals Once a zone has been evacuated age
92. close to 0 25m Body Radius Sets the agent radius in metres Radius Direction Bias If enabled the direction bias of agents on the surface will be changed to Set agent the specified value This can be useful for corners or narrow spaces where direction bias the natural system wide direction bias is locally inappropriate See Agent Profile for more information on Direction Bias Direction Bias Sets which direction agents will move Direction Speed Limit Cap Enables a maximum threshold for agent speed agent speed Speed Limit Up Sets the maximum upward speed in metres per second Speed Limit Sets the maximum downward speed in metres per second Down The bank which the ramp is a member of if any For more information see Banks Perimeters Perimeters which the ramp is a member of if any For more information see Perimeters Reference Geometry When a geometry file is imported using the Scene tab of the main window s ribbon each individual object within the file is placed in the scene as a reference geometry object These objects have no impact on simulation and other types of scene objects must be created from them before use The Use to Generate sub menu available when right clicking reference geometry can be used to do this Using a reference geometry object to generate another object will hide the reference geometry and mark it as used Unused reference geometry can be found wa the list view by filtering for Unused
93. counts Note the distinction between using a filter such as holding token versus are ever holding token In the first case agents will be included in the flow count only if they are holding the specified token while crossing the specified transition In the second case agents will be included in the flow count as long as they ever held the specified token at some point during the reporting period Name The name of the graph gas The simulation run for which counts should be calculated To compare flow counts between different runs a composite graph can be used Reporting The time period over which counts should be calculated period Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files Flow counts can be displayed as either curves stepped curves stacked areas stepped stacked areas bars or stacked bars If stepped curves stepped areas bars or stacked bars are chosen a bin size must be specified Each stepped portion or bar will then correspond to an interval of time with the size specified and the associated value will be the total flow during that time interval If sampling period exceeds bin size zero values will be present If stacked areas stepped areas or stacked bars are chosen a Normalized option is available If selected flow counts will be displayed as pe
94. ct which agents are included in the table Timetable The timetable object the table should refer to Only agents created by this timetable will be included in the table Reference Optionally provide a list of timetable reference events If used only agents that events were produced by or sent to any of the given reference events will be included in the table 156 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent Agents will only be included in the table if they satisfy the given filter during the given time range Agent Timetable Summary Columns Agent ID Internal agent ID From Reference event from which the agent was created blank if the schedule did not Reference specify a From reference event Event To Reference event the agent was sent to blank if the schedule did not specify a To Reference reference event Entrance What portal the agent entered the simulation at What portal the agent exited the simulation at If the field is blank the agent was still in the scene when the simulation ended Event Start Time What time the agent entered the simulation End Time What time the agent exited the simulation Agents still in the scene when the simulation ended will list the simulation end time Total amount of time the agent spent in the s
95. cts Together Each connection object ie link stair ramp escalator or path has a goal line at either end Portals have a single goal line It is the goal line which connects an object to the underlying floor Arrows on either side of the goal line indicate the possible directions of travel over the connection Goal lines must be above the floor but not higher than 0 4m with both ends at least 0 2m from the edge of the floor The balls and boxes at the ends of the goal lines are positioned with respect to these offset requirements and may be used as guides when positioning connection object edges Box Disconnected Ball and Box Connected Portal Connected 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 3 2 12 Determining Walkable Space surface map is a 2D grid Red values indicate areas not on the walkable object or blocked by an obstacle Black white or grey areas represent useable space Surface maps are created automatically for each object in the scene at the time of simulation Understanding surface maps can help with understanding how people in Flow navigate a space Walkable space on a floor link stair ramp or escalator is represented through surface maps A Surface maps can be exported as part of the simulation results see Generated Simulation Files or viewed within a debug simulation see Debug Simulation Window A simple room with one portal and two links Obstacle Maps The obstacle map of the simple room marks the
96. d 4 2 3 Flow Yellow All edited objects have valid values for this property but they are not all the same triangle Red square All edited objects have invalid values for this property Split yellow Some edited objects have invalid values for this property and some have valid red square values Right clicking on the property indicator allows the property value from a specific object to be copied to all edited objects Set from brings up a dialog allowing any one of the currently edited objects to be selected that object s value for the current property will then be copied to all other objects Set from any works the same way but allows any object in the current project to be chosen Choosing Objects Working with Flow frequently involves the choosing of one or more objects such as the simulation run used by a given query or the set of origin portals for a circulate event In both cases Flow provides a variety of ways to choose the object s Single Objects Clicking on the mouse cursor icon beside a single object field or on the field itself if it is blank will bring up a dialog with a list of all valid objects for that field Alternatively if the desired object has already been selected elsewhere the crosshair icon beside the field can be used to choose that object For instance a simulation run could be selected in the list view on the left side of the main window and then the crosshair could be used to choose tha
97. d being processed by one of the end servers Start Time What time the agent started the process chain This is the first time when they are either being processed by one of the start servers or are queueing for the 154 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Total How long the agent took to finish the process chain end time minus start time Duration In Transit Total amount of time the agent spent moving between servers This includes both the time spent moving to a server line and any time spent unobstructed along the line Pre Contact Total amount of time the agent spent waiting in any server input buffers before Wait being processed Contact Total amount of time the agent spent in contact with and being processed by Wait servers Post Total amount of time the agent spent waiting in server output buffers for a space to Contact become available at a downstream server Wait 4 3 3 8 4 Agent Summary Agent summary tables can be used to display a variety of overall summary information for a set of agents When combined with the agent filters the table becomes a powerful way to validate components of a simulation For example e Right click on the Entrance column header to display a histogram of the number of agents entering through each portal Right click on the Desired Speed column header to display the number of agents in various speed ranges Right click on an agent Start Time value to focus the 3D view and timeline o
98. d planning professionals to rapidly test and analyse the movement of people in many kinds of environments To do this Flow provides users with a suite of tools for creating and modifying 3D environments defining operational scenarios executing dynamic simulations and developing powerful analyses A range of introductory videos are provided on the to enable users to quickly begin modeling and simulating with Flow To unlock the full potential of the Flow toolset users are encouraged to review the and to consult the as necessary 2015 Oasys Software Limited 7 Part Il Flow 2 What s New in 8 General Events e New agent demand types Instant creates all agents in a single burst Table provides an editable table of duration population pairs see journey New agent colouring complex rules colour agents by origin destination profile event see journey New dwell rules for the circulate event allow for different wait times for each circulation portal Support for weighted collection of profiles to generate a range of population types from a single event Analysis Objects e New region density graph plots the average density within one or more regions over time e New agent speed ratio graph plots the number of agents in different speed ratio ranges over time e New dynamic path map shows dynamic agent trails with configurable length and opacity e All maps can display an optional colour value legend e Review when actions were ap
99. d to simulate evacuations Agents are created and then evacuate the e scene in specified ways Timeta An event used to create large groups of agents and control the scene only available in ble MassMotion Controling Agents and the Scene Execute An event which applies an agent action to change the behaviour of agents only Action available in MassMotion Open An event which opens gated connection objects Gate Referen A virtual event that can be used by reference times in other events and can help with ce Time coordinating the timing of multiple events Other Objects Agent An operation that can be applied to an agent to modify its properties or assign it new Actions tasks only available in MassMotion Avent A condition which when applied to an agent returns true or false only available in 110 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 2 4 3 2 3 4 3 2 4 Flow Tests MassMotion Identifying markers held by agents only available in MassMotion Agent Actions An action is an operation applied to an agent The operation can modify agent properties or assign new tasks Actions can be applied to agents through events or when they transition between objects in the scene Modifying actions alter the agent immediately as the action is applied Task giving actions create a new task for the agent to execute in the next frame When a compound or named action results in multiple tasks those tasks ar
100. direction of travel see table below Speed can also be capped at a specific value through enabling the Limit Speed properties See Agent Profile for information on agent speed Uc Xee7 Bo 27 lt X lt 32 Interpolated between 42 6 and 37 8 fea pr pi Down bea lt X lt 27 27 lt X lt 32 Interpolated between 57 4 and 49 8 Down BKK Properties Gomera a aia Sets the direction in which agents can traverse the stair 2015 Oasys Software Limited Costs Distance added Costs Queue multiplier Physical Map resolution Physical Effective width Flow Two way Agents may cross in both directions Unidirectional ie Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents may only cross in the specified direction Defines any distance penalty or modified cost to be added to the stair A positive value will add a distance and hence make the route less desirable for agents and a negative value will remove a distance Distance is measured in metres See Agent Navigation for more information Increases the penalty for queuing A higher number will increase the perceived time cost of queuing which makes agents more likely to select alternative routes See Agent Navigation for more information Determines the resolution of surface maps created for agent navigation Smaller values describe stair and barrier edges more accurately resulting in more precise walkable area definitions but increase memory and process
101. dow shows the list of all custom views Custom views are created from the 3D scene view Show Shows the selected custom view in the main viewport Rename Renames the selected custom view Delete Deletes the selected custom view Debug files such as surface map images or route cost spreadsheets are placed in a debug folder alongside the simulation run s results database file Bebugtab rnmrmrrmxr Enables creation of debug surface maps for every object in the scene 2015 Oasys Software Limited 53 Flow 54 Diagnostic Files Surface Maps Simulation Enables creation of route cost spreadsheets for every portal in the scene Diagnostic Files Route Costs Merging Projects Flow includes functionality for merging data from another project file into the currently open project through the File gt Merge menu entry This will attempt to take all Objects and the Project Settings from the file and import them into the current project A dialog window will be shown to indicate what data will be merged and allow for the resolution of any conflicts Objects e Any objects that exist in the file but not in the current project will be added to the current project as a new object If file objects happen to have the same name as objects in the current project the file objects will be renamed by adding a numerical suffix If the same object exists in both the file and current project and both versions are equal same name geometry a
102. during the given time range will be included in the table Agents that started the at process before the start of the interval but finished during the interval will be included Conversely agents that started the process during the given time range but did not finish until afterwards will not be included Agent Filter Can be used to further restrict which agents are included in the table Servers Specifies lists of start and end servers defining the process An agent is defined as starting the process chain when it starts the pre contact wait stage at any of the first servers see Server for details on different server stages and is defined as finishing the process chain when it exits any of the end servers It is possible to specify the same server s as both start and end A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent s processing time Agents will only be included in the table if they satisfy the given filter during the given time range Agent ID Internal agent ID Start Server Which of the specified start servers the agent started the process chain at Which of the specified end servers the agent ended the process chain at server blocked by another agent that is at the server End Time What time the agent ended the process chain This corresponds to the time at which the agent was finishe
103. e the Vehicle will specify a repeating cycle of entry times Some events like the Journey will give a single task seek this portal than exit while others like Evacuate will give a series of tasks to be executed in order wait for 20 seconds then evacuate the train platform zone then seek the street portal Behaviour When placed in the scene agents are given one or more tasks to accomplish The agent will execute its tasks in order relying on two independent intelligence systems Navigation and Movement The task system determines the goals or purpose of an agent An agent is always attempting to execute its current task Navigatio The navigation system is responsible for determining how best to accomplish a n task When seeking a particular portal the agent must evaluate its surroundings and determine the best route to that portal This determination is based on an awareness of the environment both in terms of the distances involved and a limited sense of congestion at some of the near decision points Once a route has been chosen that choice is periodically re evaluated as the agent progresses along the route Movemen Once the agent has chosen where to go its movement system guides the agent t across the floor towards its choice This system relies on a modified version of the Social Forces algorithm A series of forces are generated based on the direction the agent wants to go the location and movement of neighbouring
104. e Fruin and IATA standards described in LOS Colour Mapping define colours associated with different ranges of agent density In Flow custom colour mappings can be defined by specifying a list of colours with cutoff values in between colours In most cases these cutoff values and colours can then be visualized as either discrete colour bands with sharp contours or as smooth gradients Contour colouring 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Gradient colouring The number of colours is always one more than the number of cutoff values The first colour is used for all values less than the first cutoff value and the last colour is used for all values greater than the last cutoff value If sharp contours are used the second colour is used for all values between the first and second cutoff value the third colour is used for all values between the second and third cutoff values and so on If a gradient is used colour values are smoothly interpolated across each cutoff value except for the first and last which remain as sharp cutoffs For example the images below show the relationship between numerical value and colour for cutoff values of 0 0 1 0 2 0 5 0 6 0 and 8 0 In the images above note that the black and pink contours remain sharp even in the gradient version In many cases the lower sharp cutoff will not be visible since it typically has an associated cutoff value of 0 0 and often no values are less than or equal to 0 0 0
105. e Limited 51 Part IV 4 4 1 4 1 1 Flow Reference The reference section provides details about the individual components of Flow It is intended to work in concert with the User Guide The core of the reference section is the Objects subsection which contains detailed descriptions of the various properties of both objects that are part of the simulation such as floors and schedules and analyses that are used to query the results of the simulation Project Project Settings The project settings includes critical information such as the timing of simulation runs and location of results The project settings are available from the project tab of the main window s ribbon Runtime Start Sets the starting time of the simulation Values are in hh mm ss See Time Working with Time Runtime Duration Sets the duration of the simulation Values are in hh mm ss See Working with Time Simulation Sets the seed of the project The project seed governs several project Random Seed variables such as the distribution of agent speeds and where and when agents are created See Randomness Simulation Modifies the global population by a set factor This scales the number of Population agents produced by all events This can be a fractional value of less than Multiplier one or greater than one Results Working Sets the folder where the default simulation run and analysis outputs will Folder be sent CS annnrcrm Main window This win
106. e a distance Distance is measured in metres See Agent Navigation for more information Costs Queue Increases the penalty for queuing A higher number will increase the multiplier perceived time cost of queuing making agents more likely to seek alternate options when there is queuing See Agent Navigation for more information Physical Map Determines the resolution of surface maps created for agent navigation Resolution Smaller values describe escalator and barrier edges more accurately resulting in more precise walkable area definitions but increase memory and processing requirements during simulation Physical Effective Defines how the width of the escalator s connections is calculated The width is used to calculate queue times how long it will take for a queue of agents to clear and controlled flow if using people minute metre Calculate from Geometry The default setting where the width m is calculated from the vertices of the escalator edges Specify Manually Allows the effective width m of both the box and ball connections to be set to specific values Tread Speed Defines the speed of the escalator along the incline measured in metres per second Recess Ta Gate Enable use Configures the object as a gate closing the objects to all agents unless as gate explicitly opened through events see Open Gate Event Gate Wait style Sets the behaviour of agents waiting for the escalator when the gate is closed
107. e automatically included Referen A collection of reference geometry objects which were imported from the same file ce These are created automatically by importing geometry Model 2015 Oasys Software Limited 81 Flow 4 3 1 1 1 Bank 82 A bank is a collection that contains connection objects such as links stairs escalators ramps and paths that are close together and connect the same two floors A bank groups the similar connections together and makes them appear as one choice to agents navigating the space During navigation agents will attempt to choose the most convenient connection based on a number of factors including congestion distance to the connection near distance and distance from the connection to the goal downstream distance In many cases this results in unequal distribution of agents along a set of very similar connections due to alignment of the incoming flow unequal widths of links or small but largely irrelevant differences in downstream distance When connections are banked agents ignore downstream distance and focus exclusively on the remaining cost factors This results in agents being better spread out over a large set of connections and improves flow across the bank A row of turnstiles Two banks should be created one for the three links on the left and another for the three links on the right While the most common use of banks is for turnstiles or fare gate arrays banks can also b
108. e below the three top level portals would keep their weights of 0 2 each while the two portals within the collection would end up with weights of 0 1 and 0 3 one quarter and three quarters of 0 4 respectively Origins Manual weights in list Name j Weight Collection Portals 0 4 Portal_1 0 2 Portal_2 Portal_3 Journey origins with manual weights Objects Manual weights in list Name Weight Portal_4 0 25 Portal_5 Find All Members Collection members with manual weights 2015 Oasys Software Limited 71 Flow 4 2 4 72 Working with Colours Individual Colours Colour swatches are used throughout Flow wherever a colour should be specified such as the colour of an object in the 3D scene or the colour of an individual series in a graph In all such cases the colour swatch shows a preview of the colour and can be clicked to bring up a full featured colour dialog Note that transparency can be set if desired by changing the Alpha channel in the colour dialog an alpha channel value of 255 is fully opaque while a value of 0 is fully transparent invisible Alternatively the swatch can be right clicked to select from a small number of built in colours or reset the colour to its default value e g light blue for a floor Colour Contours and Gradients It is sometimes necessary to define a mapping between numerical values such as time or density values and colours such as in some map queries For instance th
109. e collected into a group and executed by the agent in order Agent actions can only be created or edited in MassMotion Agent Tests Agent tests operate on a single agent at an instant in time and return either true or false Agent tests are used by agent actions to customize how the action is applied to an agent Agent tests can only be created or edited in MassMotion Avatar Geometry that can be used to represent different populations of agents during simulation playback The avatar has no functional impact on simulation execution and is for visualization purposes only Avatar geometry can be edited using a special scene viewer which is accessible through the avatar object properties window All of the tools available for editing scene geometry can also be used when editing avatars It is important that the avatar centroid remain at the origin or it will not accurately reflect actual agent movement during playback Using Avatars An agent is assigned a particular avatar through the agent s profile Ifno avatar is specified the agent will use a default representation Viewing Avatars During Playback By default Flow displays agents using the built in animated biped avatar To view user specified static avatars change the agent type in the 3D scene view s display menu Circulate Circulate events create agents that will enter the simulation from one of the origin portals move between several circulation portals then leave the simulati
110. e distance between them as well as the X Y Z values By holding shift multiple points can be selected The total distance between selected points is displayed in the main status bar Switching to vertex edge and face selection modes will snap points to the available components Process Enable or disable process chain editing mode See Process Chains for details Chains Edit Process Connect servers and or dispatches within a process chain See Process Chains Chains for details Connect Process Disconnect servers and or dispatches within a process chain See Process Chains Chains for details Disconnect 4 2 1 4 Time Panel The time panel displays the current time and can be used to play back simulations in the scene view 00 00 00 00 14 59 Time 00 11 06 HE x2 x5 x10 Time Panel Start time End time Playback speed Time line and current time Goto start time Play from current time Up Arrow Key Pause playback Down Arrow Key Goto end time Current time position Frame step forward Right Arrow Key Frame step backward Left Arrow Key 2015 Oasys Software Limited 63 Flow Start Time The simulation s start time See Project Settings for more information If multiple simulation runs have different start times the earliest one is used End Time The simulation s end time See Project Settings for more information If multiple simulation runs have different end times the latest one is used Playback
111. e longest time to simulate one frame Additional Debug Information e Serial Components The total time taken to process the serial components e Threaded Components The total time taken to process the threaded components Update Factories Create Delete Agents Agent Spatial Hash Cache Agent State Find Agent Neighbours Update Events Frame Begin Execute Tasks Update Queues Update Controllers Update Process Chains Move Agents Correct Agent Overlap Correct Agent Height Write Database Process Agents Assess Task Progress Frame End 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 3 8 10 Server Summary Server summary tables can be used to measure the average maximum or minimum values of various server performance metrics over several simulation runs e g several runs with different random seeds used to check for random variation The name of the table pag The simulation runs over which server summaries will be calculated Aggregatio How values should be aggregated across multiple simulation runs average n maximum or minimum The time period over which values should be calculated Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to include in the table Which servers the table will refer to A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one server aggregated across the given runs using the
112. e on screen prompts supplying information as necessary System Requirements Flow is a high performance 64bit multi threaded application that is capable of effectively utilizing very high specification equipment It is particularly important when running simulations that have very high concurrent agent counts 25 000 that CPU core counts are maximised for processing speed and that solid state storage is provided for efficient database transactions GPU performance is important for highly detailed 3D environments and for 3D playback of high agent count environments Recommended Minimum Specification e Windows 64bit OS Windows 7 8 later e 8 core Intel or AMD workstation server class CPU 16GB of RAM OpenGL 4 workstation GPU from NVIDIA or AMD 500GB Solid State Hard Drive 2 1680x1050 display monitors 3 button mouse Minimum Specification Windows 64bit OS Windows 7 8 later Dual core Intel or AMD workstation server class CPU 4GB of RAM OpenGL 3 0 compatible GPU 500GB Hard Drive 1280x1024 display monitor 3 button mouse Licensing Flow licensing can be per machine networked or site based For information on how to purchase Flow please visit http www oasys software com for sales information or to have a member of the commercial team contact you Standalone Licenses Standalone licenses may only be installed on one computer at a time Users may switch the license from one machine to another by deactivating it on the curre
113. e useful for sets of vertical connections such as stairs and escalators where the objects are right beside one another If both stairs and escalators are members of the same bank agents will still prefer the escalators regardless of the bank Bank Properties Mame The name of the bank Objects Members of the bank These must be connection objects ie links stairs escalators ramps and paths 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 1 1 2 Collection A general collection can store objects of any type except other collections They can be used as conceptual or spatial groupings of other objects Objects can belong to more than one collection The name of the collection of objects can be set here if set to manual See Choosing Objects for more details an Members of the collection These may be any non collections object The weights 4 3 1 1 3 Perimeter Perimeters are collections of connection objects which reduce the number of available routes through a scene There are two common situations where this can be useful 1 When the number of possible route permutations is so large that simulation initialization requires hours to complete This usually occurs when there is a very large number of connections in the scene 2 When certain regions of the simulation should not be used as shortcuts by agents just passing through such as with fare paid zones in a transit station Perimeters can consist of connecti
114. ects will only be shown if either the object s name or its type contains the given text Filters the list by objects of a certain type Categories of objects can be used such as all collections or all analysis objects The column headers can be used to sort objects by name or type 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Focus on Filters the list to display all currently selected objects selection button Visibility Each object has an indicator which shows its colour and visibility Hidden Indicator objects will have only an outline as an indicator Disabled objects will have a small grey dot Object Name Each object s name The name can be edited by selecting one or more objects and pressing the F2 key Object Type Type Each object s type 4 2 1 2 3D Scene View The 3D scene view shows the spatial arrangement of all scene objects as well as analysis cordons and regions Decorators display the status of various objects Right clicking on objects in the scene view produces a menu which allows users to manipulate the scene Additional controls can be found in Keyboard and Mouse Controls 3D Views Focus on selection View selection amp management Visibility options 3D scene view Expand collapse 3D view Focus on Centre and zoom in on the currently selected object s selection 2015 Oasys Software Limited 57 Flow View Change the camera between perspective and various orthographic views selection am
115. ed from taking shortcut through the fair paid area See Perimeter for more information 2015 Oasys Software Limited 45 Flow A zone is a collection of floors links stairs ramps escalators or paths Zones are used primarily for evacuations where agents inside a zone can be instructed to prioritize leaving the zone before heading to any other destination This is useful in scenarios where agents evacuating a subway station must first evacuate the platform before worrying about evacuating the station See Zone for more information 3 4 1 3 Creating and Controling Agents 3 4 1 3 1 Scheduling amp Events 46 Events are objects which modify the scene during a simulation Events fire at a specified start time but may be cyclical or repeating Many events insert agents into the scene Creating Agents Using Scheduling Events All agent related events will place agents in the scene at specified portal locations Some events fire only once distributing agents over a specified interval while other events will repeat a set of number of times creating agents over each iteration Once placed in the scene agents are given one or more tasks to accomplish Many events give only a single task usually to seek one portal Some events will give a series of tasks that are to be executed in order Evacuate Create agents tell them to wait for a specified period then evacuate the scene through one of a set of destinations Circulate
116. ed to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files Composite graphs can be displayed as curves stepped curves and bars For stepped curves and bars a bin size must be specified and values for each series on the graph will be aggregated within time intervals of the given size Note that this will occur in whichever way is most appropriate for each series type eg series representing population or queue counts will be averaged within time intervals while flow counts will be summed If sampling period exceeds bin size zero values will be present A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the graph This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV 2015 Oasys Software Limited 135 Flow 4 3 3 6 4 Flow Count Flow count graphs can be created to measure the number of agents performing specified transitions during particular time intervals bins Groups in a flow count graph are composed of one or more transitions Each graph can be configured to produce multiple series showing the flow counts for each of the selected transitions independently or one series showing the flow count treating all selected transitions as a single combined transition If a group of transitions is created under a filter only agents satisfied by that filter will be included in the associated
117. eek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Gate Commit to Sets whether agents will commit to the gate once it has been chosen wait When checked agents will wait for this object regardless of changes in route costs elsewhere on the floor Limit Flow Cap When enabled the flow of entering agents is not permitted to exceed the flow of entering specified rate If demand exceeds capacity agents are held at the goal agents line until there is available capacity Limit Flow Rate Sets whether the flow rate is calculated as people minute or people minute type metre If using people minute metre the effective width general tab property is used Limit Flow Max Sets the maximum flow rate Flow rate will be measured according to the rate rate type shown above Priority Enable Enables a limited yield system where agents moving in one direction priority access receive preferential access This is useful for constrained geometry where the majority of the flow is in one direction or for cases such as train doors where alighting passengers often have priority over those boarding Priority Primary Sets the direction in which agents will have primary access The counter direction flow direction will yield One way Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents moving in the counter flow direction will not enter the object when there are agents moving in the 102 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow priority
118. ene geometry floors walls etc if desired scene geometry can exported separately from the main menu 2015 Oasys Software Limited 181 Flow Output file What Alembic abc file to export to Simulation run Which simulation run to use as the source for agent data The time range over which to export agent data Agent filter Which agents to include in the output 4 5 6 Agent Position Export The agent position and other physical attribute data generated by a Flow simulation can be exported to a CSV file using the Agent Position Table Export dialog This dialog can be accessed through a button in the analysis tab of the main window s ribbon The exported table will include the frame number agent ID and XYZ position of each agent Additional data can be included by checking the Optional columns options Columns are in the following order Frame Number Agent ID X Position Y Position Z Position Clock Time optional Speed opti lll File The CSV file to which the table will be written The simulation run for which data will be written to the table The time period over which agent positions will be included range Sampling Modifies the number of samples included in the table By default every frame will period be sampled producing data for every agent for every frame However the number of samples can be reduced to once per second or more Options Agent Used to select which agents will be included in
119. ent trip time tables can be used to determine how long agents spent to complete a certain trip The name of the table eon The simulation run for which trip times should be calculated The time period over which times should be calculated Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to include in the table Trip The trip the table will refer to A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent s trip Agents will only be included in the table if they satisfy the given filter during the given time range and fully complete the trip within the specified time range See Trips for the different ways in which a trip can be defined in terms of start and end criteria Agent ID Internal agent ID Start Time When the agent started the trip 158 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow When the agent finished the trip Duration Total time the agent spent in the trip end time minus start time 4 3 3 8 8 Origin Destination Origin destination tables matrices can be used to check how many agents entered and exited the simulation at different portals during a particular time period The name of the table Ee The simulation run for which counts should be calculated Time range The time period over which counts should be calculated Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to inc
120. entical to Standard for paths as agents always ignore barriers when traversing paths Virtual Agents will move instantly to the other end of the path When a path is virtual route distance calculations ignore the internal geometry of the path and measure the straight line distance between the two path end points 98 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Body Radius Set If enabled the body radius for all agents on the surface will be changed to agent radius the specified value This can be useful in areas where crowding conditions are governed by geometric or behavioural conditions outside of normal open space standards Agents approaching the path will slowly over a range of 2 3m transition to the new radius to avoid instantaneous changes This setting should be used with caution as a it applies to all agents regardless of their profile settings and b agent movement has only been validated for radius values close to 0 25m Body Radius Sets the agent radius in metres Radius Agents on a path will see each other as cylinders with a radius equal to their body radius and will maintain a space between each other set by their Queue Spacing Speed Limit Cap Enables a maximum threshold for agent speed agent speed Speed Limit Sets the maximum speed in metres per second Agents traveling above the Maximum specified maximum will have their speed reduced to the maximum The bank which the path is a member of if any For more in
121. ents are displayed For instance an agent filter could be used to only show agents that were created by a particular schedule or give a different colour to agents currently undergoing a particular trip The following properties control how the filter is used Enable agent filter This must be checked to enable the agent filter Mode Set whether agents matching the filter are coloured differently or are hidden Alternatively agents not matching the filter can be hidden Colour What colour to use for filtered agents only available if Colour filtered agents is specified Filter The agent filter to use Status Indicates whether the agent filter is currently applied Users may need to refresh this when the agent filter or properties are changed Agent filters provide a powerful way to set up queries graphs tables maps that operate on a specific possibly time varying set of agents Refer to the various Graph Table and Map types for descriptions of how filters can be used in different types of queries Fundamentally a filter is an object that for any instant in time generates a list of agents satisfying the filter For instance a holding token filter would generate at every instant a list of all agents holding a particular token at that instant Some filters combine or transform other filters in different ways For instance an all of filter could combine a holding token and an at server filter to create a
122. ents at specified servers over time See Server for a description of when an agent is considered to be at a server To obtain detailed information about entire process chains instead of single servers an Agent Process Chain Time table can be used instead 2015 Oasys Software Limited 139 Flow Groups in a server population count graph are composed of one or more servers Each group can be configured to produce multiple series showing the population counts for each of the selected servers independently or one series showing the total population count for all selected servers If a group of servers is created under a filter only agents satisfied by that filter will be included in the associated counts Note the distinction between using a filter such as holding token versus are ever holding token In the first case agents will be included in the server population count only while they are holding the specified token In the second case agents will be included in the count for the entire reporting period as long as they ever held the specified token at some point during that period Name The name of the graph The simulation run for which counts should be calculated To compare server population counts between different runs a Composite Graph can be used Alternatively a Server Summary table can be used to compare aggregate information about different servers in different simulation runs directly Reporting The time period
123. ered to have completed the trip even though while crossing the floor they were not at either of the two links Trips are created by using the Trip button in the Analysis toolbar or can be created inline when constructing some types of queries such as the Agent Trip Time table or filters In trip Trips created using the toolbar button can later be referenced by queries or filters In addition to specifying an ordered list of objects that define the trip options exist to define when exactly the trip is considered to begin and end and therefore when an agent is considered to be in the trip Entering The trip begins at the moment the agent enters or crosses the first object Agents first item may enter an object by transitioning from another area object or entering the 2015 Oasys Software Limited 129 Flow ee simulation within that item Entering or The trip begins at the moment the agent enters or crosses the first object or at at first item the beginning of the query period if the agent is already on in the object area cies The trip begins at the moment the agent exits or crosses the first object Exiting last The trip ends at the moment the agent exits or crosses the last object Agents may exit an object by transitioning to another area object or by exiting the simulation within that item Exiting or The trip ends at the moment the agent exits or crosses the last object or at the at last item end o
124. erent speed ratios period Specifying a larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the graph but using very large values runs the risk of missing peaks that may occur between samples Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files axis X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files Agent Filter Used to specify which agents should be included in the graph This can be used to display speed ratio ranges only for agents in a given area only for those undergoing a particular trip only those holding a specific token etc Normalized If checked agent counts will be normalized to sum to 100 i e displayed as percentages instead of absolute values Specifies the speed ratio ranges and corresponding colours that should be used to build the graph Defaults to ratios based on standard Fruin walking speeds Ee A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the graph 134 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow has This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV 4 3 3 6 3 Composite C
125. ermittent bursts in traffic the experienced average highlights those bursts regardless of their frequency 2015 Oasys Software Limited 145 Flow The name of the map gu The simulation run for which the map should be generated The time period over which map values should be computed Sampling How frequently to sample agent positions when generating the map Specifying a period larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the map but decrease accuracy density ranges and corresponding colours can also be defined See Working with Colours and LOS Colour Mapping for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Any of the standard Fruin metrics plus the IATA International Air Transport Association Wait Circulate standard can be used If Fruin auto is used Fruin walkway values will be used for floor and links and Fruin stairway values will be used for stairs and escalators Finally custom 4 3 3 7 8 Instantaneous Density 146 Instantaneous density maps can be used to produce a live animated display of what parts of one or more objects are most crowded The colour at each point indicates the current density agents per square metre in a circle about that point The circles used to calculate density have a standard Fruin area of 3 25
126. f the query period if the agent is still on in the object area Entering The trip ends at the moment the agent enters or crosses the last object last item Note that for the special case of analysis cordons all of the above options are equivalent and simply refer to the time at which the agent crossed the cordon If therefore the trip is defined as starting and ending at cordons the options chosen are irrelevant Collections in trips If a collection is part of a trip agents are considered to complete that part of the trip if they reach any of the members in the collection This can be used to construct more complex trips with branching routes A current limitation on trips is that each object may only appear once per trip however collections can be used as a workaround For example to create a round trip from FloorA to FloorB and back a trip can be created consisting of FloorA FloorB and a collection containing only FloorA 4 3 3 6 Graphs Graph queries plot the number of agents under various conditions over time including at certain locations or in crowds above a certain density Once evaluated graphs can be exported as an image or a CSV file of the plotted values The following image formats are supported png svg pdf Graph Styles The title and axis labels of graphs can be set for each graph as well as the inclusion of a legend The colour of datasets is set by the groups in the graph structure see below Sever
127. formation see Banks Perimeters Perimeters which the path is a member of if any For more information see Perimeters 4 3 1 8 Portal Portals act as both entrances and destinations for agents in the simulation All portals can serve as an entrance specified through agent creation events Portals are by default also enabled as destinations allowing agents to seek them as intermediate destinations or final simulation exits Destination portals require additional time to initialize during simulations If simulation initialization is too time consuming consider changing some portals into Entrance Only A portal 2015 Oasys Software Limited 99 Flow 4 3 1 9 100 Restrictions on Geometry e Portals must be flat e Portals must be approximately rectangular or trapezoidal to allow proper construction of the goal line e Portals must be positioned between 0 01m and 0 2m above a floor and no closer than 0 2m to a floor edge Properties General Type Agent Placement Distribute Agent Placement Start Angle Ramp How events and agents will interact with the portal Entrance and Destination Agents may enter and exit the simulation at this portal as well as use it as a waypoint Entrance Only Agents may enter the simulation at this portal but may not use it as a destination or waypoint Defines how newly created agents are placed in the simulation envronment Along Spawn Line Agents appe
128. from individual components can be displayed as well Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files P i Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV 4 3 3 6 6 Population Count Population count graphs can be created to measure the total number of agents over time in specified areas Groups in a population count graph are composed of one or more areas Each group can be 2015 Oasys Software Limited 137 Flow configured to produce multiple series showing the population counts in each of the selected areas independently or one series showing the population count treating all selected areas as a single combined area If a group of areas is created under a filter only agents satisfied by that filter will be included in the associated counts Note the distinction between using a filter such as holding token versus are ever holding token In the first case agents will be included in the
129. from the start of a specified event negative offset values can be start used if necessary Simulatio A specified offset from the start time of the simulation n start Simulatio A specified offset from the end time of the simulation in this case a negative offset n end value should probably be used Time Reference Ranges In some places time ranges can be specified using time references as above instead of simple times In these cases the following options are possible 2 All All after From the From the specified time reference to the end ofthe simulation time reference to the end of the simulation All From the beginning of the simulation to the specified time reference before The entire simulation KAP Betwee Starting from one specified time reference continuing until a second specified time n times reference Over Starting from one specified time reference continuing for a specified duration duratio n 2015 Oasys Software Limited 75 Flow 4 2 6 4 2 7 76 Issue Window The issue window lists the results of a validation or audit In the case of validation the window shows potential errors in any object or the project settings The issue window can be accessed from the bottom right of the main window listing the results of the last validation A similar issue log panel is available at the end of a simulation listing any issues which arose during the course of the simulation Issue
130. g how agents may interact with the Value scene Duration Distributions A duration distribution is used to determine agent arrival times within an interval There are fewer options than with a standard distribution as the min and max are taken automatically from the event start time and duration The specified distribution automatically uses 0 as the min and the event duration as the max Values generated by the distribution are added to the event start time to produce an agent s ultimate arrival time 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Possible distributions are as follows Agents are assigned random start times according to a uniform distribution With a large enough number of agents this should converge on results similar to the constant distribution Agent start times will follow a normal distribution Mean The mean of the normal distribution relative to the start of the event Std The standard deviation Triangular Agent start times will follow a triangular distribution Mode The mode of the triangular distribution is relative to the start of the event Log Normal Agents will have start times as if they were assigned by a log normal single value distribution with Shift as the event start time and Max as the event duration in seconds Mu The normal mean Sigma The normal standard deviation Exponential Agents will have start times as if they were assigned by an exponential single value distribution with Shift as
131. gents to clear and controlled flow if using people minute metre Calculate from Geometry The default setting where the width m is calculated from the goal line width Specify Manually Allows the effective width m of both the box and ball connections to be set to specific values Gate Enable use Configures the object as a gate closing the objects to all agents unless as gate explicitly opened through events see Open Gate Event Gate Wait style Sets the behaviour of agents waiting for the path when the gate is closed Stand Still Agents will stop moving after stepping onto a floor connected to the path Spread Out Agents will spread out on the floor after stepping onto a floor connected to the path Focus On Target Agents will move to and wait by the path Gate Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Gate Commit to Sets whether agents will commit to the gate once it has been chosen wait When checked agents will wait for this object regardless of changes in route costs elsewhere on the floor Limit Flow Cap When enabled the flow of entering agents is not permitted to exceed the flow of entering specified rate If demand exceeds capacity agents are held at the goal agents line until there is available capacity Limit Flow Rate Sets whether the flow rate is calculated as
132. gents can be assigned custom geometry This option displays agents using that geometry If the project does not contain custom agent geometry the low resolution pegs are used A low resolution simple peg The size of the peg will change with the radius of the agent Decorations Decorations can be turned on or off for specific objects by right clicking on an object and using the Display menu All decorations of a given type can be enabled or disabled globally through the visibility options of the scene view 58 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Directio Displays whether a connection object is unidirectional or bidirectional allowing agents to cross in each direction See Links and Connection Objects for more information Displays whether a connection object is gated During authoring and playback the symbol is white In simulation the gate is coloured red when closed yellow when open for some agents and green when open for all agents See Links and Connection Objects for more information Displays the goal lines of portals and connection objects Goal lines are coloured green when connected to an underlying floor and grey otherwise Connection objects have two goal lines one with box terminals and one with balls See Connecting Objects Together for more information Displays the start angle for portals Agents created at this portal will be created facing this direction Priority Displays which side will yield whe
133. ght clicking on the simulation run and enter the agent ID directly Finding Object References The Find command in an object s right click menu will search a project for objects that relate to the selected object s For example it is possible to find all members of a collection or find all events that reference a particular gate find the reference geometry used to generate a stair or find all actions that use a particular token This can be useful when determining why a gate is opening at an unexpected time or which events are creating agents at a given portal Debugging a Simulation Running a simulation in debug mode provides more than just a graphical view of what is going on It also gives access to many of the low level properties used by agents in their decision making It can reveal why agents are being deleted or making unexpected decisions In the simulation launch dialog specify a breakpoint time to have the debug simulation automatically pause when it reaches that time Object Properties The right panel of the Debug Simulation Window shows the compiled properties of the selected object See Object Properties for a detailed list of these properties Agent properties are particularly 2015 Oasys Software Limited 3 5 6 Flow useful when tracking down why an agent is being deleted or not behaving as expected The task panel shows the list of tasks in the agent s to do list including the current active task The
134. h Traveled when congested m Desired Innate desired speed of the agent as designated by the agent s profile Speed m s The end state of the agent after leaving the simulation or the simulation ends in simulation still in scene at simulation end exited with success exited simulation as expected exited with error was deleted from simulation with an error 4 3 3 8 5 Agent Timetable Summary Agent timetable summary tables can be used to display information for a set of agents associated with a set of reference events from a particular Timetable object Reference events are not visible to any object outside of the Timetable object in which they are defined The timetable summary table allows for queries that target agents generated by a Timetable schedule that were based on one or more reference events For example if the timetable is describing the operations of an airport and reference events correspond to flights the table can be made to display information about all those agents who were either arriving or departing on a particular flight The name of the table Pa The simulation run for which agent summaries should be calculated Agents A special type of time range only agents that were alive at any point during the alive at given interval will be included in the table Values in the table duration distance traveled etc will still refer to the entire lifetime of each agent Agent Filter Can be used to further restri
135. h region times should be calculated The time period over which times should be calculated 152 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Agent Filter Used to select when agents should be included in the area times see the column descriptions below for details Areas Which areas should be included in the table A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent Agents will only be included in the table if they satisfy the given filter during the given time range and are ever in any of the given areas during that time range Agent ID Internal agent ID Names One column per selected areas showing how long the agent spent in that area variable while simultaneously satisfying the given filter For instance using an in trip filter will result in each row showing the amount of time one agent spent in various areas while undergoing a particular trip 4 3 3 8 2 Agent LOS Time Agent LOS time tables can be used to determine how long different agents spend at different levels of service The name of the table gee The simulation run for which LOS times should be calculated The time period over which times should be calculated Agent Filter Used to select when agents should be included in the LOS times see the column descriptions below for details A simple field that can be used to
136. hat arrival Fixed saved views for orthogonal viewpoints top down front etc Fixed agents losing their way when seeking servers on a virtual floor Fixed audit false positives in objects with disabled properties Fixed issue with playback agents not hiding when on hidden floors Fixed inconsistencies in how multi run simulation run names were generated Fixed resize behaviour of object choosers when widget resizes Fixed false positive issue raised when DefaultProfile deleted Fixed false positive error warning in simulation console when overwriting old database file Fixed issue where where importing from an old IFC file or one with invalid geometry could cause a crash Fixed issue where some types of agent filters did not work with agent density graphs Fixed issue where server population graphs could not be toggled between combined series series per server 10 2015 Oasys Software Limited Part Ill Flow 3 1 12 User Guide The user guide provides a brief introduction to Flow It describes some of the key concepts and outlines basic project workflow It is intended to be used in combination with the introductory video tutorials available at http www oasys software com and the comprehensive Reference section Installation The most up to date version of Flow may be downloaded at http www oasys software com Once the download has completed users can double click on the msi file to launch the installer Users should follow th
137. he entire time range Average Frame Duration s Display the average time the simulation spent on 2015 Oasys Software Limited 159 Flow 160 each simulation component for each frame Maximum Frame Durations s Display the maximum time the simulation spent on each simulation component for each frame The time period over which simulation statistics should be calculated A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one simulation run Simulation Name of the simulation run Run Population Information about each simulation run s population over the specified time range Data Avg Population The average population over the time range Avg Density The average population density over the time range Max Population The maximum population over the time range Max Density The maximum density over the time range Timing Timing information from when the simulation was run Aggregates of each Information simulation component s run time are displayed here Entire Frame The total time taken to process a frame If the aggregation type is Total Duration this column will list the total time the simulation took to run If the aggregation type is Average Frame Duration this column will list the average time to simulate one frame If the aggregation type is Maximum Frame Duration this will list th
138. icular agent The greater the variation in weights the greater the variation in decisions made by a given population Please see Agent Navigation for a description of the cost components Horizontal Distance Cost Applied to the horizontal distance cost component Vertical Distance Cost Applied to the vertical distance cost component Queue Cost Applied to the queue cost component Processing Cost Applied to the closed penalty cost component This includes all penalties from from any gate or priority access wait when closed penalties delays or controlled flow restrictions on near floor connection objects 4 3 2 10 Reference Time 4 3 2 11 118 Reference times are virtual events that do not directly impact simulation They are useful for representing significant times in a simulation such as a fire alarm or the end of a concert If other dependent events refer to the reference time then only the reference time need be modified to reflect operational changes See time references in Working with Time Properties Properties Timing When the reference event is considered to have started Start Timetable Timetable objects allow for the rapid and potentially automated creation of large numbers of agents and coordinated events They are suitable for modeling train schedules flight schedules bus schedules university lectures intersection gate timings or any number of additional scenarios Timetables allow for the
139. idered for Agent Movement speed calculations or Agent Navigation If connected objects are completely separated by barriers on the floor it is more appropriate to 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow separate the floor into two separate floors Agents attempting to traverse a floor between two links completely separated by a barrier will be removed from the simulation with an error Impact on Agent Speed By default agent speed is unaffected by floor traversal Speed can be capped at a specific value by enabling the Limit Speed property See Agent Profile for information on agent speed Properties Costs Distance Defines any distance penalty or modified cost to be added to the floor A added positive value will add a distance and hence make the route less desirable for agents and a negative value will remove a distance Distance is measured in metres Physical Map Determines the resolution of surface maps created for agent navigation resolution Smaller values describe floor and barrier edges more accurately resulting in more precise walkable area definitions but increase memory and processing requirements during simulation Traversal Walk Defines the manner in which agents will cross the floor type Standard Agents will consider other agents barriers and personal speed characteristics to calculate their trajectories This is the default for floors Ignore Barriers As above with the exception that agents will ignore
140. ilable through one or more simulation run objects This section expands on a number of concepts that are important to many of the analysis functions in Flow This section also details how to export agent position data images and videos For a comprehensive description of all the available analysis functions please refer to the Analysis Objects section Agent Observer The Agent Observer window is used to view properties about a particular agent from a recorded simulation run The window can be shown by right clicking on an agent and choosing Observe or by selecting an agent and using the main window s View gt Observer Agent menu The focus button at the top of the window will focus the window on the currently selected agent The agent ID and simulation run are displayed immediately below the focus button The target button to the right of the simulation run can be used to find the agent in the scene It is possible to change the simulation run or manually enter a new agent ID Manually entering an ID is useful when trying to find agents mentioned by errors during the simulation Right click on an object in the agent s route to find the object in the scene or jump to the time when the agent enters or leaves the object HA PU ae Tina cet ot eis The state of the agent Waiting The agent is executing a wait task In Transit The agent is moving freely towards its target Queuing The agent is queuing for its target Waiting
141. imulation end time minus start time Distance Total distance traveled by the agent Traveled m Desired Innate desired speed of the agent as designated by the agent s profile Speed m s 4 3 3 8 6 Agent Token Time Agent token time tables can be used to determine how long different agents spend holding different tokens The name of the table ga The simulation run for which token times should be calculated The time period over which token times should be calculated Agent Filter Used to select when agents should be included in the token times see the 2015 Oasys Software Limited 157 Flow aa column descriptions below for details Which tokens should be included in the table A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent Agents will only be included in the table if they satisfy the given filter during the given time range and ever possess any of the given tokens during that time range Agent ID Internal agent ID Names One column per selected token showing how long the agent spent holding that variable token while simultaneously satisfying the given filter For instance using an in trip filter will result in each row showing the amount of time one agent spent holding various tokens while undergoing a particular trip 4 3 3 8 7 Agent Trip Time Ag
142. ing Scaling Objects or components can be moved around the scene using the transform manipulators These manipulators are available under the Transform section of the Model Panel Select an object or component select the transform rotate or scale manipulator then either enter numbers directly or drag the manipulator to achieve the desired transform In the case of the translate or rotate manipulator the Shift key can be held to snap movement to discrete increments In the case of translation the axis arrows can be used to translate along a particular axis Clicking between two axes will drag within the plane defined by the two axis a yellow square indicates the plane of translation When scaling the axis arrows can be used to scale only in a particular direction Clicking between two axes will scale uniformly within that plane both directions will scale equally Clicking away from the manipulator such that the entire manipulator is yellow will scale equally in all directions Extruding Growing The grow manipulator can be used on mesh objects to extrude one or more edges or faces In the case of line based objects like paths end vertices can be grown to extend the line Select a vertex line object edge mesh object or face mesh object and use the Grow button in the Model Panel The grow manipulator is shown similar to the translate manipulator The first drag will create a duplicate of the selected component and begin a t
143. ing requirements during simulation Defines how the width of the stairs connections is calculated The width is used to calculate queue times how long it will take for a queue of agents to clear and controlled flow if using people minute metre Calculate from Geometry The default setting where the width m is calculated from the vertices of the stair edges Specify Manually Allows the effective width m of both the box and ball connections to be set to specific values Recess Tab Gate Enable use as gate Gate Wait style Gate Cost of waiting Gate Commit to wait Limit Flow Cap flow of entering agents Limit Flow Rate type 2015 Oasys Software Limited Configures the object as a gate closing the objects to all agents unless explicitly opened through events see Open Gate Event Sets the behaviour of agents waiting for the stair when the gate is closed Stand Still Agents will stop moving after stepping onto a floor connected to the stair Spread Out Agents will spread out on the floor after stepping onto a floor connected to the stair Focus On Target Agents will move to and wait by the stair Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Sets whether agents will commit to the gate once it has been chosen When checked agents will wait for this object regardless of
144. ing the project file seed Override the seed value from the seed 44321 project settings with the given seed value The same project run multiple times with the same seed value will always produce the same results If no seed value is specified the seed value from the project settings is used Use the specified number of threads 1 all operations are performed in the main threads threads in executing a simulation thread By using multiple threads threads 8 8 threads are used multiple operations can be performed at the same time greatly improving performance The default number is equal to the number of system processors e g 4 for a quad core computer A value of 1 will disable multithreading Note that more threads does not necessarily mean faster execution given the overhead required to start stop and manage each thread The default 172 2015 Oasys Software Limited Control the number and verbosity of messages written to the project log txt file Possible values include ERROR only log error messages WARNING log error and warning messages APPLICATION log errors warnings and standard messages VERBOSE DEBUG The default is APPLICATION Display a 3D view of the scene The view can be navigated and controlled using the same controls as the regular Flow 3D scene view but there are no menus and it is not possible to run more than one project Running with the 3D view shown wi
145. ion for servers Simulation Run A simulation run represents a single iteration of a Flow simulation It maintains a connection to a generated database and is used by both playback and analysis queries to extract results from disk A simulation run can be created automatically when a simulation is executed with results written to the specified database file see Simulation Data An empty simulation run can also be created from the main window s analysis ribbon An empty simulation run can be used to connect to an existing database file by editing the simulation run properties This is useful when comparing results from different projects a simulation run object can be created in one project that is then set to point at the results generated from a different project so that they can be compared For the purposes of playback and queries it is possible to have multiple simulation runs reading from the same database file at the same time perhaps highlighting different areas by using the run s agent filter However only one simulation may be executed at once During simulation any other simulation runs which point to the same database will be prevented from reading the database until the simulation is complete Similarly when using the movie and image export tools a lock is placed on the simulation runs used and they may not be used for simulation until the export window is closed Object Properties The properties of a simulation run object a
146. ion for which agents will circulate The duration is measured separately for each agent relative to the time at which the agent was created 112 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow The time at which agents will stop circulating Count The number of portals an agent will visit before considering the circulation finished Wait After When the count and duration or end time are used together this determines the Count agent behaviour when they finish the circulation count before the specified duration limit or end time If true agents will continue to wait at their last circulation portal If false agents will ignore the incomplete duration or end time and proceed to their destination Circulation The portals agents should circulate between Portals can be weighted to adjust Portals their chances of being chosen when agents are determining the next leg in their circulation See Choosing Objects for more details E Whether agents should wait at their origin portal before starting to circulate Wait Style How agents should position themselves as they wait at a circulation portal Spread Out Spread out over the floor near the portal Stand Still Stop moving as soon as the portal is reached Dwell When an agent reaches a circulation portal the agent will wait or dwell at that Duration portal for a period of time The time is randomly generated according to a distribution as specified by the dwell duration rules Agents will sear
147. ions 2015 Oasys Software Limited 35 Flow Slopes on Floors Agents walking unobstructed on a floor will always move at the same horizontal speed regardless of the slope of the geometry under them In the images above the agents on both the flat and sloped configurations will take the same time to reach the exit For this reason it is recommended that floors be constructed with geometry that is as close to flat as possible Agents will adjust their vertical position by tracking top surface of a walkable object but this has no impact on their horizontal speed 3 4 1 2 2 Connection Objects Connection objects are used to provide access between pairs of floors in the form of doorways stairs ramps etc They act as decision points providing options for agents during route selection see The Network They can be used as statistic collection points for graphs or tables The available connection objects are escalators links paths ramps and stairs As described in Connecting Objects Together there are a number of geometric limitations on link objects As shown below links must overlap the floors that they connect to but care should be taken to minimize the amount of overlap to the minimum In the left hand example the overlaps have been minimized enabling a smooth approach flow through the Ink In the right hand example the overlaps are far too generous leading to agents approaching the goal line from both the front and back sides of the
148. irectionality is set to bidirectional 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow The elevator links must be gated Set priority access to give priority to agents leaving the elevator Use controlled access to limit the number of people that can enter the link to simulate a fixed car capacity For each gate event add the corresponding gated elevator link enable cycling set the on duration to be the time the elevators doors will remain open and the off duration to be the time it takes the elevator to leave the floor and return 3 4 1 2 9 Collections A collection is a group of one or more objects Some collections such as banks perimeters and zones have a particular function within the simulation All collections can be used to help manage a scene or perform analysis Visibility When a collection is shown or hidden all members are shown or hidden This can be useful for quickly controlling which elements of a scene are visible In an office tower there might be one collection for each floor or level Showing hiding levels then is just a matter of showing hiding the appropriate collections Intelligent Member Selection A collection can be specified as an input to many objects for instance the entrance portals in a journey event The object will pull only those members from the collection that make sense in the particular context For the entrance property of a journey only portals would be used from the specified collection and all o
149. ist and collections Collection Portals Portal_1 Portal_2 Portal_3 Journey origins ignoring weights Objects Ignore weights in list and collections Portal_4 Portal_5 Find All Members Collection members ignoring weights Automatic Each item in the list is weighted equally in the example below the three top level portals and the collection would each have a weight of 0 25 For any item that is a collection the collection s weight is then divided between the collection s individual member items based on each item s weighting within the collection Again in the example below the two portals inside the collection would both have a weight of 0 125 half of 0 25 each weights in list Origins Automatic weights in list Name Collection Portals Portal 1 Portal 2 Portal 3 Journey origins with automatic weights 70 2015 Oasys Software Limited Objects Automatic weights in list Name Portal 5 Portal 4 Find All Members Collection members with automatic weights Manual weights Each item in the list of origins is assigned a manual weight the two in list equalizer buttons can be used to quickly set all weights equal or normalize them force them sum to 1 while keeping the same relative proportions For any item that is a collection the manual weight assigned to the collection is then divided between the collection s individual member items based on each member s weighting within the collection In the exampl
150. k menu to select Properties Or inspect the properties of a single object then use the Multi button at the top of the window to add objects to the current session The editor dialog allows editing of any properties that the chosen objects all have in common When editing objects of similar type all properties are available If multi editing a floor and link only shared properties such as the map resolution can be modified In all cases setting the value of a property will set that value on all objects Editing Names When inspecting the properties of multiple objects the name entered will be applied to all objects being edited Numeric suffixes will be added as needed to ensure that all names remain unique For instance if three objects are selected then e Entering a name of NewName will result in the objects being renamed to NewName NewNamet and NewNamez2 Entering a name of NewName will result in the objects being renamed to NewName1 NewNamez2 and NewName3 Entering a name of NewName10 will result in the objects being renamed to NewName10 NewName11 and NewName12 Property Indicators The small coloured property indicators to the left of each property field are especially important when editing multiple objects Different colours and shapes of the property indicator indicate different states aaa All edited objects have the same valid value for this property 2015 Oasys Software Limite
151. l 1 Part IV 3 Welcome to Flow 7 What s New in 8 9 User Guide 12 installati AA AH 12 System Requirements sei ssscccssccssescvcescscssecessescssscvsscecsasearccscesccecessecd assets iacteseacccesessssecesteacssscecscetsczenrsazcnsszetessesscsse 12 LICONSING PA AA AA PAA 12 Mass Motom Se FIOW mama ANAN NANANA NIN KINAT AARAL 13 How FIOW WOMKS sanag kaaa ka a Dna gas cniscwadnadaeasa Napa a E sauvestea daa nanaga NAN ANA 14 MNO SC OMG ANA HAHAA APA NA HAAN PAMPAGANA PAA SAAN MAAN PAN AA 14 People as AG OMS NANNING RA 19 User Interface OVENieW sA KANAN KANG GRAN NTG AR BANGAG 24 Main Window aaa ANAN NADAANAN ARKA NAA NAA AA 24 0 o o e PA PAANAN PAA AA AA 25 Selecto AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA 26 Project WOKE OW 2 aaa AN Aa anas 26 Authoring Simulation Analysis LC EL AA 50 Audihgi E E EAE NINANG DNNAN ANNA NANARUNAANNN NANA INANAN AA DAANG Malidation a E AGA AD RA OBSERVING AG EMUS sesasiccsscezeieevscaceizscetsscaids AA AA AA Finding Object References Pebugging ANS INMIATION ama AN NBP E E A A E ANA DAN AA ANN Using Analysis to Dagnose ISSUES isnan rarene e aa ARENA 51 Reference 53 lad Ko An PAA AA APA NAA PAA 53 Project Settings aman BIBIGAT GBIIIN GRIT RNB RENTA NAANANNN 53 Merging Projects naaa GIG IBIGIN GBIENIDIITNG BG BNG DIN B GINANG NAAN ND NN 54 Importing and Exporting ODjeCts amma IN BB UA GYA NAB GRKIKIRBBIBINIR RENT AN ARINA NG 54 FICS aaa ma INA KANA AA NANANA 55 User Interface siren aE E Ea
152. l and obstacle distances on this object Population Current number of agents on object Rise Angle deg The angle of inclination for the stair ramp or escalator not available for links 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 4 4 Flow Distance Penalty m The distance penalty added to all distance based route costs for this object Queue Penalty Factor The cost factor applied to all queuing at this object Indicates perimeter membership Bank Indicates bank membership Is Gated True if the object is configured as a gate and can be opened or closed Wait Style The agent behavior when waiting for a gate Route Information See the description of Waypoint Route Information in the table below S Available Width m The width of the goal line between the connected floors Flow Limit ppl min Cap if any on the allowed flow rate through the waypoint Flow Average ppl min The average flow rate through the waypoint over the previous 5 seconds Total Processed The number of agents who have successfully been processed by this waypoint Approaching The number of agents currently approaching but not queuing or waiting for the waypoint The number of agents currently queuing for the waypoint an agent is only considered queuing if it has the waypoint as its Next Waypoint and has a speed below a certain threshold Running from the Command Line A simulation can be executed using FlowConsole from a DOS command prompt
153. ladder can be modelled using a path Geometry Ensure that the final line segments on either end of the path are flat 2015 Oasys Software Limited 43 Flow A ladder modelled using a path Properties If the ladder is only to be used in one direction set the path to the desired direction If two way travel is required enable priority access If there is a clear priority direction set the priority direction appropriately and ensure that the option Primary will yield is checked so that agents will only use the path in one direction at a time 3 4 1 2 8 Hevators 44 There is no built in object type for elevators but elevators can be approximated using a combination of gated links floors and paths Note that elevator approximations will not model true car capacity or proper car timing but will rely on controlled flow and set door opening times An elevator can be modelled using a combination of floors gated links a path and a gate event Floors Links and Path Create a small floor for each level at which the elevator will stop Connect these elevator floors to their levels with gated links Connect each elevator floor to the floors above and below using a path The paths will allow agents to travel between levels while the gated links will control access to the elevator opening when the elevator is at a particular floor Create a separate gate event to control each elevator link Properties Ensure the path d
154. lation Information is unique to the type of object currently selected 2015 Oasys Software Limited 167 Flow The unique agent ID How long this agent has been in the simulation Avatar The avatar currently used by this agent This is initially assigned by the schedule which created the agent but may be modified mid simulation by an action Profile The name of the profile used by this agent The current body radius of the agent Tokens A list of tokens currently held by the agent this can change over the course of the simulation Active Task The current task being performed by the agent In the case of the Seek task the ultimate goal of the agent is also listed Active Dispatch The name of the dispatch currently controlling the agent Next Waypoint B gt C The agent s next floor transition moving from B to C where C is considered the local goal Current Floor The floor link stair escalator or ramp that the agent believes it is standing on Last Waypoint A gt B The agent s previous floor transition moving from A to B Speed Current m s The current speed of the agent Speed Current Max The current maximum speed the agent could achieve affected by m s local limits imposed by the current floor link escalator ramp or stair or by density related constraints Speed Default Natural The natural walking speed of the agent if on flat ground and Walkway m s unconstrained by neighbours Activity Wh
155. lection and agent population and has buttons for showing the console and issue windows See Main Status Bar for more information Objects Much of the data in a project is represented in the form of objects The Flow interface is designed around viewing and managing these objects Some objects have a physical presence These objects are referred to as scene objects and are visible in the graphical scene view All objects are displayed in the list view Properties Each object contains a list of properties These properties can be modified using the property window which is available through the object s right click menu or by double clicking on the object in the scene or list views Objects which share common properties can have those properties edited in batch all at once using object multi edit Some properties can refer to other objects See Choosing Objects A property can be either valid or invalid based on its value The validity of a property is displayed by the property indicator beside it These indicators can be used to reset a property to its default value or to copy values from one property to another either by right clicking or dragging the indicator In some cases a property will be shown as valid but still fail validation This occurs when the cause of the problem is only uncovered by checking against other objects or property values Selected All objects can be selected Objects that have been hidden will not appear
156. lembic Export can be used to export animated agent models for use in animation visualization packages 2015 Oasys Software Limited 55 Flow 4 2 4 2 1 4 2 1 1 56 User Interface Main Window List View The list view presents the name and type of all objects in the project The list can be filtered to display only objects meeting certain criteria List View Navigator arrows Search by name or type Filter by type menu View columns Name All Objects Focus on selection button Visibility indicator Object name Object type CTUSSWaIKO Crossw DefaultProfile DefaultRun LITIK Open Gate Open Gate Profile Simulation Run Portal Portal Portal Portal Portal Portal EastBoundCarl EastBoundCar2 EastBoundCar3 EastBoundCar4 EastBoundCar5 EastBoundCar6 EastBoundTrain EastBoundTrains Collection Vehicle EscalatorActor Escalator EscalatorActorl Escalator EscalatorA Escalator EscalatorActor3 Escalator EscalatorActor4 Escalator Escalator Link Link Link EscalatorActor5 The list view has built in filters accessible through the Filter by type menu Alternatively right clicking on objects in the list view or scene view and using a Find command will create a custom filter presenting only the found objects Navigator Arrows Go backwards and forwards through the history of displayed objects Search by name or type Filter by type menu Search objects by name or type Obj
157. lied after the model has already been scaled from its original units into metres Reference The reference geometry objects included from the file Geometry Objects 4 3 1 2 Barrier 86 A barrier describes a region through which agents cannot pass The default new barrier is a 1m x 1m x 1m cube which can be then edited to any size or shape Barrier geometry interaction with walkable geometry The blocked region on a floor is determined using the volume of intersection between the floor and the barrier Those portions of the barrier that do not intersect with the floor are ignored Those portions of the barrier that are more than 40cm above the floor are ignored Intersection tests are performed using the bounding box of the floor which is formed using the highest and lowest points on the floor including the underside If barrier walls or columns on a floor intersect with the underside of the floor above they will impact agent movement on that floor To avoid this ensure that barriers for a lower floor terminate just below the upper floor Y bi 1m tall barriers arranged at various heights relative to a floor The red line marks the 0 4m cutoff Measuring distance from floor to barrier top is 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 6 1 0 1 3 1 7 The resulting obstacle map shows the first and last barriers are below and above the cutoff The 5th barrier has top and bottom beyond the cutoff so only the walls are included Notes on barrier
158. live at the current time This counts includes hidden agents ignoring the simulation run filter and visibility state of the simulation run Show the issue window including the most recent list of issues or audits Console Window Show the console window Editing Object Properties Object properties can be edited using the Properties Window This dialog is available through the object s right click menu or by double clicking on the object in the scene or list views Objects which share common properties can have those properties edited in batch all at once using object multi edit For some query types this allows the results to be saved to an image or CSV file For agent actions the action graph image can be exported Additionally for any object type this allows the current object s to be exported to an XML file for use in another project Select the objects currently being edited useful for then finding them in the scene or choosing them elsewhere in the user interface Choose which objects are currently being edited see Editing Multiple Objects for details Generate Used by graph map and table queries to calculate results Evaluate Help Display the help page for the inspected object Cu For table and graph queries which generate data the arow will show or hide the results Object Header The header consists of a colour swatch object name and object indicator This header is visible for all object types regardle
159. ll analysis map textures from all surface objects in the scene does not apply to textured reference geometry Show Help Display the Flow user guide Graphics Driver Displays the current OpenGL wersion as well as any issues detected Diagnostics Flow requires OpenGL version 3 0 or higher for full functionality If you are having problems with graphics not being displayed properly or crashes when attempting to open or create a project please include this diagnostic information in any support request About Flow Display information on the current version of Flow 4 2 1 6 Main Status Bar The main window status bar is at the bottom of the main window Displays the name of the object currently selected If more than one object is selected the number of objects selected is displayed If object components are selected the number of components is displayed Distance Displays the length of the edge currently selected along with the 66 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 2 2 Flow component horizontal and vertical lengths If more than one edge is selected the total length of all edges is displayed If two vertices are selected the distance between the vertices is displayed If the measure tool is active the total distance measured is displayed In all cases the number is in metres The current selection mode object face edge vertex Population The total of all agents from all connected simulation runs that are a
160. ll have a negative impact on performance 4 4 5 Generated Simulation Files verbosity DEBUG verbosity APPLICATION The following files can be produced when execution a simulation Flow verbosit y DefaultRun mmdb An sqlite database file containing all of the information required to analyse and playback a single simulation run For information on the database see Simulation Data For information on using map table and graph queries to interrogate the database see Analysis A text log file is created each time a simulation is run The file contains diagnostic information on project initialization execution and general performance All output displayed in the Flow console is also written to the log file The file is created in the same folder as the database file and given DefaultRun txt the same name A simulation can be configured to generate debug information about the project The files are placed in a debug folder created inside the project s working path Obstacle Map jpg surface edge 2015 Oasys Software Limited File jpg containing a visual map of the available space on the given surface and the distance from every point to the nearest obstacle or 173 Flow 4 4 6 4 4 6 1 174 White Point farthest from obstacle or surface edge or indicates the presence of a corner Black Point closest to an obstacle or surface edge Red Covered by obstacle or not on the surface
161. llection can be used to alter the distribution of profiles amongst the population Vehicle Origins The portals and collections of portals at which alighting agents will be created Portals can be weighted to create more agents than others See Choosing Objects for more details Vehicle The portals and collections of portals to which alighting agents will travel Destinations Agent goals can be set to either travel to a portal assigned by weights or to the nearest portal available If using Assigned agent goals the portals can be weighted to be a destination for more agents See Choosing Objects for more details Create boarding Enable the creation of boarding agents 120 2015 Oasys Software Limited Timing Before arrival Population Profile Population Demand Vehicle Origins Vehicle Destinations The time before vehicle arrival that boarding agents start being created The profile used to create boarding agents Ifa collection is specified each agent will be assigned one of the profiles from the collection A weighted collection can be used to alter the distribution of profiles amongst the population The number of agents the event will create and when they will be created relative to the start of boarding arrivals as specified by the Before arrival and vehicle arrival times If demand duration exceeds headway time separate distributions of boarding agents will overlap Evenly spaced The specified n
162. llow users to change which database file is connected as well as the appearance of agents displayed by the object 2015 Oasys Software Limited 123 Flow 4 3 3 2 124 Database File Agent Colour Agent Filter Agent Filter The file to which the object is connected Simulation execution writes to this file while playback and analysis read from this file The status of the simulation run s connection to the database Users can refresh the connection by pressing the refresh button The colour of agents from the simulation run The following options are available Custom User specified colour Simulation Run Colour The colour of the simulation run object Database The agent colours stored in the database This is the default setting Database Darkened The agent colours stored in the database but darkened Database Lightened The agent colours stored in the database but lightened Fruin LOS auto Use object type specific Fruin Level of Service colouring The exact colour cutoff values will vary by the type of object agents are on eg stairs vs floors Fruin Queuing Platform LOS Use standard Fruin colouring for queuing Fruin Stairway LOS Use standard Fruin colouring for stairs Fruin Walkway LOS Use standard Fruin colouring for walkways IATA Wait Circulate LOS Use standard IATA International Air Transport Association Wait Circulate colouring Simulation runs can use an agent filter to modify how ag
163. ls about the state of the currently selected agent or scene object The debug simulation window toolbar contains buttons on the right hand side for hiding and showing the list view scene view console issue windows and object details pane Simulation Scene View The Debug simulation window has 3D view controls similar to those of the main window as described in 3D Scene View In addition there are controls for pausing stepping resuming the simulation and options for displaying debug information about individual agents and scene objects Simulation Control Simulation execution can be paused and controlled using the keyboard 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Space Bar Toggles the simulation paused state Up Arrow Key Left Arrow Advances the simulation by one frame at a time This feature is only available when Key the simulation is paused Agent Display Options Right clicking on one or more agents in a debug simulation window will bring up a context menu with various options under the Display sub menu that are not available during playback These include Displays the local area vision bounds and indicates neighbouring agents within the selected agent s awareness Note The information displayed is for the previous simulation frame YelloLines from central agent to surrounding Displays instantaneous costs distance queue vertical total that the agent is subjected to Red lines connect selected agents to o
164. lters instant 2015 Oasys Software Limited 127 Flow 128 Created by Entered simulation at Exited simulation at From profile Has end state At transition Current speed References Agents inluded One or more Agents included by none of the referenced filters at a given filters instant Timetable or Agents that were initially created by the referenced timetable or schedule schedule Portal Agents that entered the simulation at the given portal With collections Agents that entered the simulation at any of the portals in the collection are included Portal Agents that exited the simulation at the given portal With collections Agents that exited the simulation at any of the portals in the collection are included Profile Agents that were created with the referenced profile With collections Agents that were created with any of the profiles in the collection are included Agents that finished the simulation with the specified state in simulation still in scene at simulation end exited with success exited simulation as expected exited with error was deleted from simulation with an error Serve Agents that are at the referenced server Agents are considered to be at a server from the first time when they are either being processed by the server or are queueing for the server blocked by another agent that is at the server until they are finished being processed by the server With c
165. lude in the table A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV The resulting table will contain one row for every entrance portal in the model and one column for every exit portal Each cell in the table corresponds to an entrance portal exit portal pair The value of the cell is the count of agents who during the given time range entered the simulation at the corresponding entrance portal and exited at the corresponding exit portal An additional row is included for agents that are Present at Start of the time range Two additional columns are added for agents Present at End of the time range and for agents Removed in Transit via actions or an error Thus agents that do not completely enter and exit the simulation during a time range can also be accounted for Agents will only be included in the counts if they satisfied the given filter during the given time range 4 3 3 8 9 Performance Table Performance tables can be used to compare performance statistics about different simulation runs This includes both population data and timing information from when the simulation was run Name The name of the table Simulation The simulation runs to be analysed run Aggregatio How timing information for each frame should be combined n Total Duration s Display the total time the simulation spent on each simulation component over t
166. med within in the view Use the F key to centre and zoom to frame within the view the currently selected object s The selection object s will become the new focus for any camera rotations Right Advance one frame in playback Arrow Left Rewind one frame in playback Arrow Up Arrow Play pause simulation playback Down Pause simulation playback Arrow Left Click Selects an object or agents in the scene Click and drag to box select multiple objects Dragging right will only select objects fully enclosed by the box dragging left will select any object within or overlapped by the box Ctrl Key Hold this key while selecting objects to toggle add remove objects in the current Left Click selection Shift Hold this key to add objects to the selection Key Left Click While an object is selected switch to edge selection mode Only edges of selected objects can be selected T While an object is selected switch to vertex selection mode Only vertices of selected objects can be selected Y While an object is selected switch to face selection mode Only faces of selected objects can be selected Enter or exit process chain edit mode for editing the connections between servers only availble in MassMotion 2015 Oasys Software Limited 77 Flow Object Selection Ganto Space Return to object selection mode Any manipulations will also be stopped paaa Deselect all and retum to object selection m
167. member floors Chosen floors and all connections Allows only floors to be selected as members Automatically adds portals and connections touching any member floor The explicitly chosen members of the zone These may be floors links stairs escalators ramps and paths depending on the Type Both the explicitly and implicitly chosen members of a zone may be selected by right clicking on the zone in the List View and selecting Find gt Collection Members 4 3 1 1 5 Reference Model Reference models are automatically generated when importing geometry and will contain all imported reference geometry objects from a single file Reference geometry objects cannot be directly edited or modified and so reference model objects provide a way to reposition them to fit into the scene All objects from a single file can be scaled rotated and translated in bulk using the reference model Deleting a reference model will delete all associated reference geometry objects from the scene Reference geometry objects can also can be deleted individually Scale Rotation These can be modified to rescale and move reference geometry objects to Translation better fit the scene Scale will be applied first then rotation then translation Note that this means that the translation values will be in metres the Flow unit of measurement rather than the original file s units 2015 Oasys Software Limited 85 Flow since the translation values are app
168. n agents approach a connection object from both sides Displays the entry point and direction of a server 2015 Oasys Software Limited 59 Flow Neighb ourhoo d Obstacl e Map 60 Displays the end point of a server Displays an agent s neighbourhood in debug simulation See Simulation Scene View for more information Displays the obstacle map for surfaces in debug simulation See Simulation Scene View for more information Displays how agents perceive the network in debug simulation See the Simulation Scene View for more information 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Displays an agent s awareness of its immediate surrounding in debug simulation See the Simulation Scene View for more information 2015 Oasys Software Limited 61 Flow 4 2 1 3 Model Panel The model panel provides tools for manipulating scene objects Many of these tools can be accessed using keyboard and mouse controls Modelling Panel Object select mode Spacebar Vertex select mode T Edge select mode E Polygon select mode Y Position indicator editor X axis Y axis Z axis Transform indicator editor Move mode V Rotate C Scale X X axis Y axis Z axis Split Simplify Delete Grow G Knife K Measure M s Chains Process Edit Mode Q Connect Servers Disconnect Servers Selection The selection mode can switch between Object Vertex Edge and Face mode Polygon See Editing Ge
169. n be selected in the dialog then the scene focus button can be used to view the selected object graphically Selection Mode The default selection mode is Object Agent In this mode entire objects or playback agents can be selected The component selection modes are only available when one or more objects are selected The component selection modes allow for the selection of face edge or vertex components of the selected object s The selection mode can be changed from the Model Panel in the Main Window or using keyboard shortcuts Selecting in the Scene View In the scene view an object can be selected by clicking on it with the left mouse button Holding down CTRL will add each subsequent object to the selection A selection box can be used by left clicking and dragging the mouse If the mouse is dragged from left to right only those objects or components which are entirely inside the box will be selected If the mouse is dragged from right to left all objects or components which intersect with the box will be selected See 3D Scene View for more information Project Workflow There are three main stages to working with a project authoring simulation and analysis The evolution of a project is often iterative with results from simulation or analysis leading back to authoring changes and additional simulation runs Authoring The process of authoring involves constructing the scene establishing a network of connected
170. n closed volumes in which case agents will be counted when passing into or out of the volume e During analysis agents will be considered at the cordon when the centre point between their feet crosses any surface of the cordon object Properties There are no properties for objects of this type Region Analysis region objects are used when performing analysis but have no impact on the simulation itself Agents will ignore objects of this type It is possible to create and use region objects for analysis on previously generated simulation runs without having to re execute the run Agents are considered inside a region when their feet are inside the region Notes on geometry e Must be a single polygon mesh object or a collection of polygon mesh objects e During analysis agents will be considered in the region if the centre point between their feet is within any of the volumes defined by the meshes Properties There are no properties for objects of this type Trip A trip in Flow is a way of describing a particular route or path through the model It is defined by a list of one or more areas cordons portals or servers Agents are considered to complete a trip if they crossed each of the objects in the trip in sequence There may be gaps in between objects For instance a trip could be specified as two links Agents that crossed the first link then traversed an intermediate floor then crossed the second link would be consid
171. n combine any number of simulation runs and values Flow Count Counts the number of agents crossing various transitions Performance Compares performance of simulation runs Graph Population Counts the number of agents in different areas Count gion Density Computes the average density over time for one or more regions Server Counts the number of agents at various servers Population Count 4 3 3 6 1 Agent Density An agent density graph is a special graph type that shows the breakdown of agents within different density ranges see LOS Colour Mapping The graph will be shown as stacked areas with each band corresponding to one density range The name of the graph Pa The simulation run for which counts should be calculated Reporting The time period over which counts should be calculated period Sampling How frequently to count the numbers of agents at different densities Specifying a period larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the graph but using very large values runs the risk of missing peaks in density that may occur between samples Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files Xaxis X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files Normalized If checked agent counts will be normalized to sum to 100 i e displayed as percentages instead of absolute values Show
172. n system is aware of congestion as it builds up around each link and will factor that in when choosing between the two routes x Left Agents are not aware of congestion at the left opening as it occurs in the middle of the floor and are not even aware of the right channel as an option Right Agents are aware of congestion at the left link and can choose to take the right resulting in more balanced loading This process of splitting floors to ensure agents fully consider route implications is useful in a number of situations including e narrowing due to barriers as above e bifurcation of routes due to a barrier or void in a floor as with stairs escalators in the middle of train platforms e heaw flows compressing around an obstruction despite available space as with jogs in corridor alignments Considerations While splitting floors up and introducing additional links to enhance network choice can be beneficial there are counterbalancing factors to consider Agents are only able to perceive 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow congestion associated with links that are connected to their current floor In the image below it can be seen that agents will continue to select the nearest route despite the fact that the narrow link in the connecting corridor has become congested and the alternate route has become more efficient This is by design as in most real world cases people are not able to see downstream congestion but this
173. n the agent at the time in entered the simulation Name The name of the table ulation The simulation run for which agent summaries should be calculated run Agents A special type of time range only agents that were alive at any point during the alive at given interval will be included in the table Values in the table duration distance traveled etc will still refer to the entire lifetime of each agent Agent Filter Can be used to further restrict which agents are included in the table A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent Agents will only be included in the table if they satisfy the given filter during the given time range Agent Summary Columns Agent ID Internal agent ID 2015 Oasys Software Limited 155 Flow Entrance What portal the agent entered the simulation at What portal the agent exited the simulation at If the field is blank the agent was still in the scene when the simulation ended Start Time What time the agent entered the simulation End Time What time the agent exited the simulation Agents still in the scene when the simulation ended will list the simulation end time CC Total amount of time the agent spent in the simulation end time minus start time Distance Total distance traveled by the agent This includes any stuttering back and fort
174. nalyse Most graphs only operate on a single simulation Simulation run and have it as a separate General parameter Run 2015 Oasys Software Limited 131 Flow 132 2 Graph The type of data to graph Composite graphs can combine different Flow Counts Type Population Counts or Server Population Counts 3 Filter An agent filter that limits which agents are counted optional 4Group A dataset The colour shown in the graph is set by this item 5 Group Sources of data which are grouped into a dataset Counts from individual group Members members can either be summed or displayed as separate series on the graph Composite graphs allow full use of this tree structure Graph amp DefaultRun amp Population counts Entire model amp Population counts Filter Group F Addy Composite graph tree structure Most graphs however use a more simplified tree structure and implicitly add simulation run and graph types Graph Y Filter Group WU Exiting area Floor_0_0 Group WU Entering area Floor_0_0 I Group WU Entering area Floor 1 0 F Addv Flow graph tree structure Agent density graphs generate the entire tree structure implicitly Agent Density Counts the number of agents at various levels of crowd density Agent Speed Counts the number of agents with different ratios of actual to desired speed 2015 Oasys Software Limited posite Fully customizable graph which ca
175. national Air Transport Association Wait Circulate standard can be used If Fruin auto is used Fruin walkway values will be used for floor and links and Fruin stairway values will be used for stairs and escalators Finally custom density ranges and corresponding colours can also be defined See Working with Colours and LOS Colour Mapping for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 10 Static Cost Static Cost Maps show how agents perceive the network and the cost in seconds to arrive at given portals from each point This map does not take crowds into account and can be evaluated before a simulation is run Evaluating this map rebuilds the scene network which can be time consuming and the evaluate command cannot be canceled Vertical costs of vertical elements such as stairs or escalators and other cost penalties are applied as a single step before the next object which may lead to visual discontinuities Within an object only horizontal costs are considered Costs are calculated using a nominal agent speed of 1 m s Distance penalties and link directionality will have an impact on the final result Name The name of the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as times in seconds See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to
176. nd properties the file object is ignored If the same object exists in both the file and current project and the versions are different then there is a conflict with that object and the user must resolve the conflict manually Project Settings If the project settings from the imported project are different in any way from the current project they will be marked as in conflict and must be resolved Resolving Conflicts There are three options for dealing with object or settings conflicts e Use existing will use the version from the current project and ignore the file e Use imported will use the version from the file overwriting the current project e Advanced allows the user to choose between Use existing and Use imported for settings and conflicted objects on an individual basis Importing and Exporting Objects Objects can be imported and exported using the File menu or buttons in the Project tab of the main window s ribbon and can also be exported while editing object properties Exported objects include both geometry and properties References between objects are maintained provided all referenced objects are either included in the export or are already present in the destination project for instance when exporting importing between different versions of the same project When an imported mmxml file contains objects with the same name as existing objects the newly imported objects will be renamed by adding a numerical
177. ndow is an embedded version of the issues window that shows warnings and errors that were encountered while running the simulation The buttons along the top of the issue window allow expanding or collapsing all items saving the issues to a file or clearing all current issues Simulation At the bottom of the console simulation window is a progress bar showing Controls the current progress of the simulation and buttons for pausing the simulation or stopping it entirely The reload button will reload any changes made to the current project and then restart the simulation with those changes Debug Simulation Window Running a debug simulation creates a new window that allows visual debugging of the simulation The debug simulation window includes all the functionality of the console simulation window including a console window for displaying information about simulation execution an issues window for displaying warnings errors and controls for reloading pausing resuming and stopping the simulation see Console Simulation Window for details In addition the debug simulation window has a list view that works exactly the same way as the main window list view to allow selection of objects in the simulation and its own scene view similar to the one in the main window but with additional functionality available only while simulating see Simulation Scene View for details A properties pane is also available on the right hand side to vew detai
178. ng of agent filters through copy paste and drag drop re order items by dragging the handle to the right of the filter Added orthogonal Side camera viewpoint can be rotated horizontally Added camera rotation snapping hold shift to snap to the nearest 15 degree rotation Added application preferences from Edit menu for default movie export settings Added support for virtual paths Added ability to rename objects directly from the main window using F2 Added opacity parameter to agent path map and modified its behaviour to take agent colour from the source simulation run Added dynamic path map for showing agent trails Added speed ratio graph for showing counts of agents with different actual desired speed ratios Added support for importing reference geometry as ramps including auto detection of IfcRamp 2015 Oasys Software Limited 9 Flow objects Added ability to create normalized graphs stacked bars or areas that sum to 100 instead of an absolute value Changed simulation run objects to point to database file rather than results folder Improved Find object context menus to provide more information Improved options for circulation end conditions Improved behaviour of mesh simplification Improved performance when closing projects with thousands of objects Improved visibility of measuring tool points Fixed bug where vehicle arrivals within 10 seconds of simulation start would not produce alighting agents for t
179. ng the object can range capture priority access Priority Move When enabled agents in the counter flow direction will move aside to aside accommodate the priority flow Priority Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Priority Commit When enabled agents that have chosen the object will continue to wait to wait until they have access regardless of changes to costs in other routes on the floor Queue Spacing This determines how closely each agent will follow a previous agent This can be set as a distribution in metres see Single Value Distributions for more information Delay On Enter Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping onto a path This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information Ifa path is gated and closes before the delay finishes the agent will wait until the next time the path opens before attempting to step on again Delay On Exit Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping off an path This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information Traversal Walk Defines the manner in which agents will cross the path type Standard Agents will consider other agents barriers and personal speed characteristics to calculate their trajectories Ignore Barriers Id
180. nimum and maximum value according to a regular triangular distribution with values being more likely around the mode Min The minimum possible value Max The maximum possible value Mode The mode of the triangular distribution Resultant Mean Min Max Mode 3 0 Log Normal A value is produced by iteratively generating numbers using the given boundless log normal distribution shifting the resulting values by the minimum and rejecting any values that are greater than the maximum Shift The minimum possible value This value is added to the number produced by a regular log normal distribution Max The maximum possible value Mu The normal mean Sigma The normal standard deviation Resultant Mean Min e Mu Sigma 2 2 Exponential A value is produced by iteratively generating numbers using the given boundless exponential distribution shifting the resulting values by the minimum and rejecting any values that are greater than the maximum Shift The minimum possible value This value is added to the number produced by a regular exponential distribution Max The maximum possible value 1 Lambda The average inverse of the lambda rate Resultant Mean Min 1 0 Lambda 176 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 5 4 5 1 Flow Analysis amp Reporting Analysis is accomplished through the creation and evaluation of graph map and table objects These objects rely on simulation results made ava
181. nk should be created for the stair and whichever escalator is likely to see the most traffic during the simulation Please see Banks for more information 3 4 1 2 6 Switchback Stairs 42 Switchback stairs such as those commonly found in the evacuation cores of buildings present a set of unique challenges These stairs are generally narrow with constrained landing areas where agents must make abrupt changes in direction Geometry If flow rates on switchback stairs are not at the desired level angle the ends of the stair landings to help guide agents in a smooth transition from one stair to the other 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Initial switchback stair landing Modified switchback stair landing Note that if goal lines are placed at too great an angle to one another the outside corners of the landings will present such acute angles that agents can have trouble squeezing onto the landings along the outside edges Moderate angles like those demonstrated above are recommended Properties Given a demand at or below level of service D switchback stairs process agents at a rate roughly equal to similarly sized straight stairs For level of service E or F there can be a 10 drop in processing rates despite the geometric adjustments described above To achieve the same rates as straight stairs even in high density situations set the switchback stair property for agent body radius to a value of 0 2m 3 4 1 2 7 Ladders A
182. nsity at each point d Density Instantaneo The current density at each point This map is live and updates with simulation us Density playback Maximum The maximum density at each point Density Static Cost The cost perceived by agents to reach various destination portals This map does not require a simulation run Static The measured distance to various destination portals This map does not require Distance a simulation run Time Above The time agents spend above a specified density at each point Density 2015 Oasys Software Limited 141 Flow Time The time for which each point is occupied by an agent Occupied Time Until The time before the last agent leaves each point Clear The time agents spend looking at a surface This map can paint barriers 4 3 3 7 1 Agent Count Agent count maps can be used to display how many different agents use different parts of a walkable object The colour at each point will indicate the number of unique agents that ever stood at that point during the given time range The name of the map ga The simulation run for which the map should be generated Time range The time period over which map values should be computed Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to consider when generating the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as agent counts See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map
183. nsity that may occur between samples Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files Style Densities can be displayed as either curves stepped curves or bars If stepped curves or bars are chosen a bin size must be specified Each bar will then correspond to an interval of time with the size specified and the associated value will be the average density within that time interval If sampling period exceeds bin size zero values will be present Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files Regions Which regions to include in the graph Each region will correspond to one graph series Density Which colours and density ranges to use for the coloured background stripes of Ranges the graph Any of the standard LOS Colour Mapping types can be used or custom ranges and colours can be specified A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the graph This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV 4 3 3 6 8 Server Population Count Server population count graphs can be created to measure the total number of ag
184. nt machine and then activating it on the new one This licensing scheme does not require an active internet connection to function although an internet connection is required for initial activation and transfer To activate or move your license see http www oasys software com support licensing html for details Shared 8 Virtual Licenses 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Shared licenses may utilized by any machine with Flow installed within an organization provided that the total number of concurrently active Flow users does not exceed the number of shared licenses within an organization It is also the required licensing option for virtual machines This floating license scheme is typical of CAD packages and other high end technical software It requires an active internet connection to function To activate your license see http www oasys software com support licensing html for details University Licenses Site licenses are typically used by educational institutions and licensing is controlled by designated IP address Any machine that connects to the internet using the IP address will be granted a 60 day license that will be automatically renewed each time Flow is launched while the machine is connected to the internet through the designated network To activate your license see http www oasys software com company university_licensing html for details MassMotion amp Flow Oasys offers two crowd simulation products
185. nts may re enter previously evacuated zones so generally subsequent zones should contain prior zones Agents created outside evacuation zones will simply head to their destination portals Only agents created by this event will evacuate the given zones or head to the destination portals Timing The reference time when the event starts See Working with Time for more Start Time information Population The profile used to create agents If a collection is specified each agent will be Profile assigned one of the profiles from the collection A weighted collection can be used to alter the distribution of profiles amongst the population Population The number of agents the event will create and when they will be created relative to Demand the event start time Evenly spaced The specified number of agents will arrive at a constant rate over the duration Instant The specified number of agents will arrive all at once at the event start time Random The specified number of agents will arrive according to the specified distribution over the duration See Duration Distributions for information on arrival distributions Table Complex agent arrival is described by a series of rows Each row contains the duration of an interval and the number of agents to create over that interval The first interval starts at the event start Subsequent intervals begin when the previous interval ends Agents are created according to a uniform distri
186. objects and creating events The geometry for a scene can be either imported from other modeling packages or created from 2015 Oasys Software Limited 3 4 1 1 Flow scratch In both cases the geometry of the resulting objects can be edited to achieve the desired form The section on scene objects outlines recommended strategies for representing real world objects and spaces Finally events are used to populate the scene with agents Working with Geometry 3 4 1 1 1 Importing Geometry Flow can import geometry from a variety of formats 3ds dae dxf fbx ifc obj Imported geometry is classified as Reference Geometry and grouped under a single Reference Model collection This collection allows the reference geometry to be scaled rotated translated or hidden as a group Reference geometry itself cannot be edited and will not be included in any simulation or analysis Reference geometry can be imported through the Scene tab of the main window escalator barrier or portal Once used the reference geometry is automatically marked as used and hidden There are two ways to convert reference geometry into a Flow object Duplicate as and Use to Generate Reference geometry can be used through its right click menu to generate a floor link stair ramp Duplicate as Right click on Creates an object of the specified type using duplicates of a selection of the selected faces as its geometry faces Use to
187. ode Any manipulations will also be stopped Open a context specific menu which can be used to modify objects view their properties find related objects or create new objects in the scene view Object components have a separate context menu specific to the type of component X C V Starts scaling rotating and translation manipulations respectively See Editing Geometry for more information D Duplicate the currently selected object The new object will be selected Starts a growing operation when a vertex edge or face is selected See Editing Geometry for more information oo Opens the measure tool See Model Panel tools for more information Opens the knife tool See Editing Geometry for more information Delete selected objects or components 4 2 8 Application Preferences MassMotion provides a number of preferences that apply to all projects These preferences can be accessed under Preferences in the main window s Edit menu emer Scene View Background colour to use when displaying scenes Background Scene View Near Minimum distance from the camera at which objects are visible Decrease clip distance to avoid clipping objects at the cost of rendering accuracy objects will be more likely to appear to overlap each other Scene View Far Maximum distance from the camera at which objects are visible Increase clip distance as necessary for very large scenes at the cost of rendering accuracy objects will
188. of simulation run playback or queries by separating out specific sub populations of agents Agent filters can isolate agents that entered at a particular portal or who are on a specified floor or who have ever crossed a certain link The filters can then be fed into maps graphs tables or general playback to customize the query or playback output Reporting Simulation run data can be exported to text files images or videos For information see Reporting Playback A simulation can be reviewed in the scene view through the main window s playback controls The run will populate the view with agents as they were at the specified time in the recorded simulation Each simulation run in the project will play back a separate population of agents These populations are presented over top of one another This can be very useful when comparing populations from runs with slightly different setups The colour of agents is taken from the colouring in the simulation The colouring can be changed through the properties of the simulation run object Agents can be set to a single colour in order to distinguish the populations of one run from the population of another or the agents can be coloured by density It is also possible to use an agent filter to colour a sub population The current time and count of agents shown in the scene can be displayed in the 3D scene view by enabling the appropriate scene view overlay Reporting Data can be exported from
189. ollections Agents that are at any of the servers in the collection are included Transition Agents that are currently performing the specified transition this will only be true for an instant for any agent and so is often used in combination with Are ever Upper and Agents that currently have a local density around them that is in lower density the given range bounds Upper and Agents whose speed is currently in the given range lower speed bounds Agents currently holding the referenced token With collections Agents currently holding any of the tokens in the collection are included Agents currently in the given area With collections Agents currently in any of the areas in the collection are included Agents currently in the referenced trip have started and have not yet finished See Trips for a description of when an agent is considered to be in a trip 2015 Oasys Software Limited 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 5 Flow Cordon Analysis cordon objects are used when performing analysis but have no impact on the simulation itself Agents will ignore objects of this type It is possible to create and use cordon objects for analysis on previously generated simulation runs without having to re execute the run Notes on geometry e Must be a single polygon mesh object or a collection of polygon mesh objects There are no other restrictions on shape or orientation cordons can be horizontal vertical curved or eve
190. ometry for more information Position The position fields display the location of the current selection In the case of indicator vertices the values represent the location of the selected vertex In the case of editor objects faces or edges the values display the location of the centroid In all cases modifying the values will move the current selection s to the new location If more than one object or component is selected and they have different values for X Y or Z a will appear instead of a value Transform Translation rotation and scaling to geometry and scene objects can be indicator activated here In addition to using a manipulator in the scene view the precise editor values of a transformation in each axis can be directly edited See Editing Geometry for more information Subdivide a selected edge or face See Editing Geometry for more information Split 62 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Operations Merge edges and faces to reduce geometric complexity without changing the Simplify object shape See Editing Geometry for more information Operations Delete selected objects or components Delete Extrude a selected edge or face See Editing Geometry for more information Tools Knife Cut selected objects along a cutting plane See Editing Geometry for more information Tools The measure tool is used to find the distances between points in the scene Measure Clicking any two points will display th
191. omposite graphs are an advanced feature that allow data of different types and or from different simulation runs to be compared For instance flow counts could be compared between two different simulation runs with slightly different configurations or flow counts and population counts could be compared on the same graph The tree structure used to define composite graphs has a more complex structure than other graph types In addition to filters groups and group member items composite graph trees have separate items corresponding to different simulation runs and different graph types As with other graph types composite graphs are built top down Items are added in the following order 1 Simulation run 2 Graph type population count flow count or server population count 3 Filter optional 4 Group 5 Group members Multiple items can be added at each level for instance multiple graph types can be added under a single simulation run and a graph type can have multiple groups or filtered groups beneath it Name The name of the graph Reporting The time period over which results should be calculated period Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files Xaxis X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerat
192. on run results folder Examine images for those objects that are involved in a problem and verify that goal lines appear as expected and that there aren t any unexpected barriers interfering with walkable space Using Analysis to Diagnose Issues The Analysis system of queries and agent filters can be very useful for verifying the integrity of a project or tracking down the cause of any problems The Origin Destination table is useful for quickly making sure the expected number of agents are entering and leaving at the expected places The Agent Path map will trace the route taken by a set of agents The Agent Summary table can indicate which agents failed to exit the simulation cleanly When diagnosing issues with agent route choice the Static Cost map can help understand cost or distance gradients throughout the scene Unintentional distance penalties on links forgotten one way stairs or accidentally virtual floors will all present as discontinuities in the map The Has end state Agent Filter can be useful for isolating those agents that were deleted with errors or that unexpectedly remained in the simulation after completion Use the filter within a Simulation Run to only show those agents that have been deleted or use in combination with an Agent Path to examine the path problem agents took through the scene The Selected agents Agent Filter can also be useful for limiting a query to only the selected agents 2015 Oasys Softwar
193. on at one of the destination portals The same portal may be used as an origin circulation and destination portal Agents may visit the same circulation portal more than once ar 2015 Oasys Software Limited 111 Flow Timing The reference time when the event starts See Working with Time for more Start Time information Population The profile used to create agents If a collection is specified each agent will be Profile assigned one of the profiles from the collection A weighted collection can be used to alter the distribution of profiles amongst the population Population The number of agents the event will create and when they will be created relative to Demand the event start time Evenly spaced The specified number of agents will arrive at a constant rate over the duration Instant The specified number of agents will arrive all at once at the event start time Random The specified number of agents will arrive according to the specified distribution over the duration See Duration Distributions for information on arrival distributions Table Complex agent arrival is described by a series of rows Each row contains the duration of an interval and the number of agents to create over that interval The first interval starts at the event start Subsequent intervals begin when the previous interval ends Agents are created according to a uniform distribution within each interval The portals and collections of
194. on objects ie links stairs ramps escalators and paths When a route involves crossing a link that is a member of a perimeter it is said to be a route which crosses that perimeter A route will be considered invalid and so hidden from agents if it crosses the same perimeter more than once Connection objects maybe be part of several different perimeters Impact on available routes Given a region of floors completely enclosed by members of a perimeter access across the boundary to that region will be permitted only to those agents either originating inside the region or seeking a destination within the region Agents wanting to simply pass through the region will be forced to go around Figure 1 demonstrates the effect of perimeters on available routes through a network 2015 Oasys Software Limited 83 Flow 84 Shortest Route Shortest Route TS tink L_ Link with Perimeter between A and B gt between A and C Figure 1 Example floor plan with and without a perimeter Care must be taken when constructing perimeters It is important that all links that can be used to access an area are included in the perimeter If there is a single link left out the perimeter is said to have a hole and will not be effective The impact of a hole on a perimeter is shown in Figure 2 Link Link with Perimeter Shortest Route between A and B Shortest Route o between A and C Figure 2 Example floor plan with incomplete pe
195. oor or portal where the agent entered the simulation Start Time The time at which the agent entered the simulation Task Stack The queue of tasks that are currently part of the agent s itinerary Tasks are executed in order from top to bottom with new tasks added to the top of the list The current task is indicated in bold Token List Enumeration of all the tokens that the agent is currently holding Action List A list of the actions that have been applied to the selected agent Each action is represented as an expandable group with the title of the group containing the time at which the action was applied the name of the action and the manner in which the action was triggered e g entering a zone from an event The expandable group contains a record of the operations carried out by the action including TEST DO MODIFY and TASK 2015 Oasys Software Limited 169 Flow 170 imme a e Travel Type Indicates if agents will traverse floor instantly virtual ignoring barriers or normally Surface Resolution Sampling frequency for goal and obstacle distances on this floor Population Current number of agents on floor Route Information See the description of Waypoint Route Information in the table below a EE OOOO onrar e manear te tar unar memar CS e O E aa Travel Type Indicates if agents will traverse floor instantly virtual ignoring barriers or normally Surface Resolution Sampling frequency for goa
196. or explanation about the graph This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Style Population counts can be displayed as either curves stepped curves stacked areas stepped stacked areas bars or stacked bars If stepped curves stepped areas bars or stacked bars are chosen a bin size must be specified Each bar will then correspond to an interval of time with the size specified and the associated value will be the average population within that time interval If sampling period exceeds bin size zero values will be present If stacked areas stepped areas or stacked bars are chosen a Normalized option 138 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 3 6 7 Region Density Region density graphs can be used to show how the average density total population divided by total area varies over time within one or more Region objects Each region will have a corresponding series on the graph showing its average density over time and the graph will have coloured horizontal background stripes indicating different density ranges The name of the graph a The simulation run for which densities should be calculated Reporting The time period over which densities should be calculated period Sampling How frequently to measure each region s population and calculate its density period Specifying a larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the graph but using very large values runs the risk of missing peaks in de
197. our will take approximately 1 MB therefore a 2 hour simulation with a sustained population of 10 000 agents will result in a database approximately 20 GB in size Recovering a Project The database file referenced by the simulation run contains not just the results of the simulation but a copy of the project used as input to the simulation The original project can be recovered by opening the mmdb database file as if it were a regular project file mm using the Open button in the main window s project ribbon Analysis Each time a simulation is executed the results are recorded in a simulation run Tools are provided in Flow for playing back the simulation or extracting data from the run in the form of a query Queries can be customized for a particular project saved and re applied to additional runs Playback The results from a simulation run can be reviewed through playback It is possible to view agents from multiple simulation runs at the same time For more information see Playback Queries Analysis queries take the form of Graphs Tables or Maps Graphs display information such as population counts or flow counts over time Tables provide summary information about a particular population of agents Maps represent spatial information such as density by painting colours directly onto the 3D scene objects 2015 Oasys Software Limited 3 4 3 1 3 4 3 2 Flow Agent Filters Agent filters allow for further customization
198. over which counts should be calculated period Sampling How frequently to measure the server population Specifying a larger value will period reduce the amount of time needed to generate the graph but using very large values runs the risk of missing peaks in population that may occur between samples Graph title will be included in exported images and CSV files X axis label will be included in exported images and CSV files Y axis label will be included in exported images but not CSV files is available If selected population counts will be displayed as percentages instead of absolute values and will always sum to 100 Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the graph This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Style Server population counts can be displayed as either individual curves stacked areas bars or stacked bars If either bars or stacked bars are chosen a bin size must be specified Each bar will then correspond to an interval of time with the size specified and the associated value will be the average count within that time interval If sampling period exceeds bin size zero values
199. p Custom views can be saved and applied in this menu as well management Visibility Change the appearance of objects in the scene view These settings are very options useful when setting up the scene to export a move or image Agents Change the appearance of agents See below for a description of agent appearance options Decoration Toggle the appearance of decorations in the scene view See below for a description of all available decorations Overlay Toggle the appearance of overlays which display information such as the current simulation time and visible population It can also be used to hide the reference axes which appear at the top right and the legend which can be displayed when maps are shown in the scene Render Type Switch between shaded and wireframe representations Draw Geometry Edges Toggle the highlighting of geometry edges Hide Agents On Hidden Floors Agents on hidden floors and other geometry will not be shown A graphical representation of all visible scene objects view Expand Expand and collapse scene views By default only one scene view is displayed collapse but three are available If only one view is visible clicking this button will shrink view that view so all three are shown If all three views are visible clicking any one of them will expand it to be the only one shown Bile Animated The default animated avatar with articulated arms and legs For a project containing advanced features a
200. peed Limit Cap Enables a maximum threshold for agent speed Agents traveling above the agent speed specified maximum will have their speed reduced to the maximum Speed Limit Sets the maximum speed in metres per second Maximum GollectonsTab a Zones which the floor is a member of if any For more information see Zones Link Links are the most basic type of connection object They act as bridges or doors through which agents may pass from one floor to the other The default new link is a 1m x 2m flat rectangle Links will ignore changes in elevation and do not add any vertical route costs A series of gated links with priority flow enabled Restrictions on Geometry In order to support properly formed goal lines geometry used for links should be very close to flat and approximately quadrilateral a rectangle trapezoid or parallelogram although they may consist of a large number of individual triangles The link must be placed such that each goal line is between 0 01m and 0 20m above a floor at least 0 20m from the edge of the floor The two floors must be different a link cannot be used to connect two portions of the same floor Links must be at least 0 4m wide to allow proper generation of goal lines Impact on Agent Speed By default agent speed is unaffected by link traversal Speed can be capped at a specific value through enabling the Limit Speed property See Agent Profile for information on agent speed
201. people minute or people minute type metre If using people minute metre the effective width general tab property is used Limit Flow Max Sets the maximum flow rate Flow rate will be measured according to the rate rate type shown above Priority Enable Enables a limited yield system where agents moving in one direction priority access receive preferential access This is useful for constrained geometry where the majority of the flow is in one direction or for cases such as train doors where alighting passengers often have priority over those boarding Priority Primary Sets the direction in which agents will have primary access The counter direction flow direction will yield 2015 Oasys Software Limited 97 Flow One way Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents moving in the counter flow direction will not enter the object when there are agents moving in the priority direction with priority access If Primary will yield is set agents traveling in the primary direction will yield if they arrive at the object while it is already being used by agents in the counter flow direction This is useful for scenarios such as ladders where usage should be restricted to one direction at a time Two way Agents in either direction can claim priority access Priority access is maintained for a given direction until there are no more agents crossing in that direction Priority Capture Sets the distance in metres from which agents approachi
202. plied by observing an agent during playback Analysis Filters e Improved editing through drag and drop copying and re ordering of sub components e New Has end state filters agents by the manner in which they left the simulation exited with success exited with error still in scene at end of simulation Rendering e The playback of a simulation run can be exported to alembic animation files for rending in 3rd party applications like Softimage or 3ds Max e Create import or edit the static avatar objects used to represent agents Application Preferences e Set default values for the various movie image export settings available through Edit menu Full Release Notes Added authoring of agent avatars Added actions field in agent observer window for vewing agent action history Added ability to specify weighted collection of profiles in events Added Instant event demand type for creation of agents all in a single frame Added Table of intervals event demand type for complex arrival patterns Added Color Scheme option for colouring agents in events by entrance exit Added ability to specify dwell times per portal in circulate events Added alembic export for rendering of simulation playback in other applications Added new Has end state agent filter for isolating error agents during playback analysis Added colour legends as overlay when displaying an analysis map Added new region density analysis graph Added improved editi
203. r a specified period of time by the server then be released when downstream servers have the available capacity to receive the agents Process chains are ideal for designing security ticketing or other processes which are evaluated on their throughput efficiency and wait times Servers and process chains can only be created or edited in MassMotion 3 4 1 3 3 Actions 3 4 2 Actions are operators that can be selectively applied to agents as they move through the scene Actions can be applied as an agent enters the simulation as it transitions between links and floors as it enters or exits zones as it reaches destination portals as it finishes processing at a server or through the use of time triggered action events Possible operations include changing the agent colour giving the agent a new goal or instructing the agent to wait for a specific interval Actions may only be created or edited in MassMotion Simulation Once authoring has reached a stage where the scene contains a viable network and there are events for generating agents the project can be simulated See running a simulation for information on how to launch a simulation See simulation data for information on the data produced by a simulation Validation When a simulation is launched the project is automatically validated Validation involves verifying that all objects and their properties are in a consistent state that all object references can be resolved and that
204. r agents at a particular cordon as it is not clear what that would mean but it is possible to create such a table for agents that are ever at a particular cordon Collections in agent filters Collections can be used to define agent filters and allow for the creation of more complex filters It is also more convenient to use a single in area filter with a collection as opposed to an any of filter followed by several individual in area filters All agents All agents Selected Agents that are currently selected Note that this filter is live agents and refers that whatever agents are selected when the filter is actually used not when it is created For instance if an Agent Path map was created using this filter whatever agents were selected when the Evaluate button was pressed would have their paths shown If later on a different set of agents was selected and the map was re evaluated the map would change to show the paths of the newly selected agents filter Are ever Filter Agents that are ever included by the referenced filter at any instant during a particular time period Not Filter Agents not included by the specified filter Compound Two filters Agents included by the two filters combined with the specified filter logic All of One or more Agents included by all of the referenced filters at a given instant filters Any of One or more Agents included by any of the referenced filters at a given fi
205. r agents in front of them and analysis cordons and regions The voxel based approach can cause certain vsual artefacts may occur as voxels obscure each other 150 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow Figure 1 Voxels in corners have no set values because they are blocked by adjacent voxels This map is very resource intensive consuming both CPU time and memory Changing the sampling period is an effective way of speeding up the map computation the amount of memory consumed can only be reduced by choosing a smaller set of objects The name of the map Sima The simulation run for which the map should be generated The time period over which map values should be computed Sampling How frequently to sample agent positions when generating the map Specifying a period larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the map but decrease accuracy Colouring The colours that will be used in the map The default values may need to be changed as value ranges change dramatically based on the population counts and characteristics See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Unlike most maps vision maps can also Objects include barriers as surface objects The amount of memory used during vision map computation depends on the size of a rectangular box that fits around all selected objects Therefore selecting a very large object or even two small objects that are far apa
206. ra a r a 164 Running from the Command Line isssissscssescisssnsessscstescessascsucscassscssrsesevsccaseasedsacesnssessonesevanceccsavescessacedzastevencasen 171 Generated Simulation Files RaNdOMMES S aan aE R aan a e eaa or a aaa NAIN a ANAANN 5 Analysis amp Reporting cccccceeee cree ee ee eres ee ee ee ee eee eeeeee ee eeeeee ee eeeseeeeeeeseeeeeeseeeeeeeesenseeeesenees Agent Obseren ssccccsccssssscscstsscessacccesscersacescsecsssscsecscecvasnccssstcsccedcoesssescetecesvaaccesaterseccadsscsssscsecateavasscesageseceseessee 177 Areas Transition LOS Colour MAPPING AA 180 Alembic EX PORT T a aa E R a R Aa 181 Agent Position Export sssscscossiissccscacsesstetsascssastcvsanscaacessessstssacssesszsessiesssacdacessctcuessceianscsdusdendanecuacedsescsssaascdsteriestes 182 Movig and Image EXpoN za a TE NANA AA AA ANAN 183 2015 Oasys Software Limited 5 Part Flow 1 Welcome to Flow 7 m Oasys MassMotion C MM Beta Manchester SquareCirculate mm All Objects Name The field of pedestrian planning is rapidly growing as design professionals respond to a world where population density is increasing This leads to greater emphasis on the efficiency and safety of commercial buildings performance venues schools transit facilities and public areas The process of understanding how people will move through and occupy a finished project is both challenging and fascinating Flow is developed to enable design an
207. ransition occurs when an agent enters at a portal exits at a portal or reaches a portal that they have been given as a target such as by a Seek Portal task With a collection Agents at any portal within the collection are at the transition Transition occurs when an agent steps from one given object to a second given object With a collection as the from object Agents stepping off any walkable in the collection to the to object are at the transition With a collection as the to object Agents stepping off the from object to any walkable in the collection are at the transition With collections as both from and to objects Agents stepping off any object in the from collection onto any walkable in the to collection are at the transition The same collection can be used for both from and to to track internal transitions Transition occurs when an agent passes through a given analysis cordon With a collection Agents crossing any cordon in the collection are at the transition Transition occurs when an agent enters a given area or enters the simulation in the given area With a collection Agents entering the areas in the collection are at the transition Internal transitions between areas in the collection are not counted Transition occurs as soon as agent enters simulation from a given portal With a collection Agents entering the simulation at any of the portals in the collection are at the transition Transition occu
208. ranslation operation So for instance selecting an edge then growing the edge away from the rest of the object will produce two new faces connected the previously selected and newly grown edge 28 2015 Oasys Software Limited Before grow faces After grow operation on the selected faces Before grow edge 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 29 Flow After grow operation on the selected edge Before grow vertex After grow operation on the selected vertex Splitting Edges or faces can be split to provide additional edges or vertices for manipulation Select one or more faces or edges and use the Split button in the Model Panel or component right click menu 30 2015 Oasys Software Limited Before split edge After split operation on the selected edge Before split face 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 31 Flow After split operation on the selected face Slicing Knifing The knife tool is used to create new edges in an object along a user defined line Select an object in the scene and then enable the knife manipulator in the Tools section of the Model Panel Drag a line across the object where the slice is to be made The new edges can be useful for isolating a section of an object The new section can then be deleted to create a hole or grown to produce an extrusions Note that only objects that are actually contacted by the line will be cut in shaded display mode the c
209. rcentages instead of absolute values and will always sum to 100 Curves and stacked areas use a single frame as the interval and are therefore difficult to read but may useful when exported to CSV for further analysis Show Display graph legend will be included in exported images but not CSV files Legend Graph must be regenerated to update dataset labels Show Display information about the MassMotion version and database file used to Metadata generate the graph will be included in exported images and CSV files Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the graph 136 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV 4 3 3 6 5 Performance Performance graphs can be used to compare time and operations required to process simulation steps for each simulation frame The name of the table pag The simulation runs to be analysed Reporting The time period over which counts should be calculated period How performance statistics should be listed Duration ms Time required Operations Operations required 1000 Duration ms Operations Time per operation 1000 Duration ms Population Time per population Performance statistics to display e Entire Frame Processing an entire frame e Serial Components Processing the serial components of a frame e Threaded Components Processing the threaded components of a frame Information
210. resent an ordered series of locations an agent may traverse over its lifetime A query analysis object that produces graphs Agent Density Counts the number of agents at various levels of crowd density Agent Speed Ratio Counts the number of agents with different ratios of actual to desired speed Composite Fully customizable graph which can combine any number of simulation runs and values Flow Count Counts the number of agents crossing various transitions Performance Graph Compares performance of simulation runs Population Count Counts the number of agents in different areas Region Density Measures the average density over one or more regions Server Population Count Counts the number of agents at various servers A query analysis object These queries paint objects in the scene based on the behaviour of agents With the exception of the Vision Time Map all maps may only be applied to walkable objects Agent Count Counts the number of unique agents that cross each point Agent Path Traces the route taken by each agent Agent Time to Exit The time required for an agent to exit from each point Average Density The average density at each point Average Non Zero Density The average non zero density at each point Dynamic Path The average non zero density at each point Experienced Density The experienced density at each point Instantaneous Density The current density at each point This map is live and 20
211. rimeter Connection objects in series within a route should not be part of the same perimeter For example given a flight of stairs with two stairs connected by a simple floor landing if both stairs are part of the same perimeter the flight of stairs will become unavailable for use Name The name of the perimeter Members of the perimeter These must be connection objects ie links stairs escalators ramps and paths 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 1 1 4 Zone A zone is a collection of objects that define a conceptual area in the simulation Zones are specified using a set of primary members but then will automatically include additional secondary members based on the Type property setting as described below The areas in a zone do not need to be connected to one another Objects may be members of any number of zones All members both explicitly and automatically chosen can be found by using the Find All Members button or by right clicking the zone in the list view and using Find Collection Members Zones are required for use in evacuation events Determines the manner in which members are specified Chosen objects Allows all walkable objects to be chosen as members Automatically adds portals connected to member floors Chosen floors and interior connections Allows only floors to be selected as members Automatically adds portals connected to member floors as well as connections between any two
212. rnative routes See Agent Navigation for more information Physical Map Determines the resolution of surface maps created for agent navigation resolution Smaller values describe ramp and barrier edges more accurately resulting in more precise walkable area definitions but increase memory and processing requirements during simulation 2015 Oasys Software Limited 101 Flow Physical Effective Defines how the width of the stair s connections is calculated The width is used to calculate queue times how long it will take for a queue of agents to clear and controlled flow if using people minute metre Calculate from Geometry The default setting where the width m is calculated from the vertices of the ramp edges Specify Manually Allows the effective width m of both the box and ball connections to be set to specific values Gate Enable use Configures the object as a gate closing the objects to all agents unless as gate explicitly opened through events see Open Gate Event Gate Wait style Sets the behaviour of agents waiting for the ramp when the gate is closed Stand Still Agents will stop moving after stepping onto a floor connected to the ramp Spread Out Agents will spread out on the floor after stepping onto a floor connected to the ramp Focus On Target Agents will move to and wait by the ramp Gate Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will s
213. rs when an agent exits a given area possibly by exiting the simulation With a collection Agents exiting the areas in the collection are at the transition Internal transitions between areas in the collection are not counted Transition occurs when an agent exits the simulation at the same time as reaching a portal This usually occurs when simply exiting at a destination but may also happen when removed by an action as an agent reaches a portal they have been given as a target With a collection Agents exiting the simulation at any of the portals in the collection are at the transition 179 Flow Server begin Server end Transition occurs when an agent enters the pre contact stage of a given server With a collection Agents entering the pre contact stage of any server in the collection are at the transition Transition occurs when an agent leaves a given server With a collection Agents leaving any server in the collection are at the transition 4 5 4 LOS Colour Mapping 180 Colour mapping describes how density values are converted into colours in maps and graphs Density colour mapping can also be used to colour agents during playback through the simulation run Values are taken from standard Fruin and IATA International Air Transport Association LOS mappings When used in maps black is used to indicate no data no agent walked in that area Fruin Walkways Fruin Stairways Fruin Platforms Q
214. rt will require a large amount of memory Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 2015 Oasys Software Limited 151 Flow 4 3 3 8 Tables Table queries all produce tabular data in different forms Once evaluated tables can be exported to a CSV file Additionally right clicking on any table column allows the generation of a histogram of the values in that column which can itself be exported to CSV List of Tables Table Type Agent Area Lists the amount of time agents spend in given areas Time Agent LOS Lists the amount of time agents spend at each level of service Time Agent Lists the amount of time agents spend in a process chain Process Chain Time Agent Provides general information about each agent Summary Agent Provides general information about agents produced by a given timetable Timetable Summary Agent Lists the amount of time agents carry given tokens Token Time Agent Trip Lists the time required for agents to complete a given trip Time Origin Counts the number of agents entering and exiting at each portal Destination Performanc Provides diagnostics for simulation runs e Table Server Lists queue times and other information for servers Summary 4 3 3 8 1 Agent Area Time Agent area time tables can be used to determine how long different agents spend in different areas The name of the table aoe The simulation run for whic
215. s used 93 Flow Limit Flow Max Sets the maximum flow rate Flow rate will be measured according to the rate rate type shown above Priority Enable Enables a limited yield system where agents moving in one direction priority access receive preferential access This is useful for constrained geometry where the majority of the flow is in one direction or for cases such as train doors where alighting passengers often have priority over those boarding Priority Primary Sets the direction in which agents will have primary access The counter direction flow direction will yield One way Ball to Box or Box to Ball Agents moving in the counter flow direction will not enter the object when there are agents moving in the priority direction with priority access If Primary will yield is set agents traveling in the primary direction will yield if they arrive at the object while it is already being used by agents in the counter flow direction This is useful for scenarios such as ladders where usage should be restricted to one direction at a time Two way Agents in either direction can claim priority access Priority access is maintained for a given direction until there are no more agents crossing in that direction Priority Capture Sets the distance in metres from which agents approaching the object can range capture priority access Priority Move When enabled agents in the counter flow direction will move aside to aside accommodate
216. s can be imported e 3DS Max 3ds e Collada dae e AutoCAD Drawing Exchange Format dxf e FBX fox e Industry Foundation Classes ifc e Wavefront obj Used to model queues and more complex agent behaviour only available in MassMotion stair A vertical connection object which represents a stair Cosmetic objects that enhance the look of the scene Collections Collections are a versatile way of using and interacting with objects Some collections have an impact on simulation execution All collections can be used as simple containers for controlling scene object visibility in bulk or referencing a set of objects all at once Members of a collection can be selected using Find gt Collection Members in the right click menu or the Find all members button in the collection properties Collections as parameters A collection can be chosen in most places where multiple objects are expected such as the gated links for an open gate event Choosing a collection is similar to individually choosing its various members When a collection contains members that do not make sense for the given choice those members are ignored For instance a general collection called EastWing might include a combination of links floors and portals Using that collection within an open gate event would only make use of the gated links while all other members would be ignored The type of objects used from a collection will be indicated
217. save comments or explanation about the table This will be saved but will not be exported to CSV Each row of the table has information on one agent Agents will only be included in the table if they ever satisfy the given filter during the given time range Agent ID Internal agent ID Total Total amount of time that the agent satisfied the given filter Note that this number Duration may be less than expected if the agent entered or exited the simulation during the specified time range LOS A B C Total amount of time that the agent spent at each level of service while 2015 Oasys Software Limited 153 Flow D E F simultaneously satisfying the given filter For instance using an in area filter with Duration a particular floor each row will show how long one agent spent at each level of service while on that floor The level of service is calculated based on standard Fruin values with the LOS type determined by what sort of walkable object the agent is standing on Floors and links use Fruin walkway LOS values and stairs and escalators use Fruin stairway LOS values 4 3 3 8 3 Agent Process Chain Time Agent process chain time tables can be used to produce agent summary information about a given process The name of the table a The simulation run for which process chain times should be calculated Finished A special type of time range only agents that left the final server in the process end server
218. se in cost 1 Business Case Development Manual Transport For London May 2013 Appendix E 3 1 Agent Movement Finding the Target Agents moving towards a local target will determine the direction to that target by looking at the approach map for the target s goal line The agent extends feelers out in various directions and measures the distance to the target along each of the feelers The feeler that ends up closest to the target goal line is taken as the direction to goal Agent awareness of direction to target Neighbours Each agent is aware of other agents that are within a particular range This range changes with the speed of the agent and the local density Other agents inside the awareness range are called neighbours An agent is aware of the location speed and size of its neighbours 2015 Oasys Software Limited 21 Flow 22 Agent awareness of surrounding neighbours Social Forces The social forces algorithm generates a series of forces based on the agent s desired target the presence of neighbouring agents and the location of obstacles These forces are summed together and used to modify the agent s acceleration Forces acting on agent Neighbour Repulsive force from each neighbour within range Force required to nudge agent so that it is at its desired speed heading towards its target Force pushing towards centroid of neighbours with similar targets Force pushing agent away from collisions
219. should be generated The time period over which map values should be computed Sampling How frequently to sample agent positions when generating the map Specifying a period larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the map but decrease accuracy density ranges and corresponding colours can also be defined See Working with Colours and LOS Colour Mapping for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Any of the standard Fruin metrics plus the IATA International Air Transport Association Wait Circulate standard can be used If Fruin auto is used Fruin walkway values will be used for floor and links and Fruin stairway values will be used for stairs and escalators Finally custom 4 3 3 7 5 Average Non Zero Density 144 Average non zero density maps are the same as Average Density maps except that zero density values are not included in the average Therefore long stretches of time with no agents will not affect the computed values Name The name of the map The simulation run for which the map should be generated run The time period over which map values should be computed Sampling How frequently to sample agent positions when generating the map Specifying a period larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the map b
220. signed by weights see Choosing Objects or to the best often closest portal available Colours Event colour Agents are assigned the same colour as the event object Lighten event colour Agents are assigned a lighter version of the event object colour Darken event colour Agents are assigned a darker version of the event object colour Rule based Agents are assigned a colour according to the colouring rules Working from top to bottom agents will use the first colour for which the condition evaluates to true Specified colour Agents are assigned the specified colour Collections in open gate events Collections can be used in the Origins and Destination properties The collections can be weighted changing the distribution of agents going from to various portals Open Gate Open gate events are used to control accessibility through various connection objects Escalators links paths ramps and stairs must have gates enabled in their Access properties before they can be used in an open gate event A gated connection object will be closed by default preventing any agents from stepping onto it unless an open gate event is used A gated connection object can be used in multiple open gate events and will be open if any of the events opens it 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow A vehicle event is a convenient combination of an open gate event and a journey event Properties The time reference range over which the even
221. square metres Name The name of the map The simulation run for which the map should be generated run density ranges and corresponding colours can also be defined See Working with Colours and LOS Colour Mapping for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Any of the standard Fruin metrics plus the IATA International Air Transport Association Wait Circulate standard can be used If Fruin auto is used Fruin walkway values will be used for floor and links and Fruin stairway values will be used for stairs and escalators Finally custom 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 3 7 9 Maximum Density Maximum density maps are similar to average density maps but show the maximum density ever reached at each point during the given time range The name of the map Ea The simulation run for which the map should be generated The time period over which map values should be computed Sampling How frequently to sample agent positions when generating the map Specifying a period larger value will reduce the amount of time needed to generate the map but decrease accuracy specifically density peaks will be missed if they fall in between sample times Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Any of the standard Fruin metrics plus the IATA Inter
222. ss of the properties 2015 Oasys Software Limited 67 Flow 4 2 2 1 68 Colour Swatch The object colour can be modified by clicking on the colour swatch Left click to bring up the colour chooser Right click to pick a specific colour or reset to the object s default colour See Working with Colours Valid object names must begin with a letter then be followed by any combination of letters numbers underscores or dashes Object Indicator The object indicator displays the status of the object If all properties in the object are valid the indicator will be green Red indicates that at least one property is invalid Right clicking on the indicator can be used to reset all object properties to their default values Properties Below the name field is a list of properties for the particular object being inspected Beside each property is an indicator The indicator changes colour depending on the state of the property green for valid red for invalid It is possible to reset a property to its default value copy the value paste a value or set the value from another source object all through the right click menu of the indicator Property values can be copied within an object or even between objects by dragging the indicator of the source property onto the destination property Editing Multiple Objects Flow supports editing the properties of many objects simultaneously Select multiple objects and then use the right clic
223. t can be used to simulate the brief pause from dealing with fares or navigating the tumstile Delay on exit is recommended over delay on enter so that paused agents do not interfere with the limit flow control over inbound flow rates If the turnstile widths are exceptionally narrow less than 0 6m or if the turnstile is not aligned with the scene axes it may be necessary to also do the following 1 For each turnstile object set the traversal type property on the agent behaviour tab of the link s property window to ignore barriers This will free up space for the agents along the edges of the link surface 2 For each floor on either side set the physical map resolution to 0 05m or even 0 02m This will enhance the resolution of the edge barrier condition on the approach to the turnstile channels and provide more effective width within the approach channel Banks of Turnstiles Turnstiles are often positioned in groups bridging the same two floors To ensure that agents use all available turnstiles and consider all turnstiles equally links in the same direction should be banked Please see Banks for more information 3 4 1 2 5 Stairs and Escalators 40 Stairs ramps and escalators vertical circulation elements or VCEs are link objects that connect floors of different heights using a sloped vertical transition They have much the same best practice guidelines that are described in the Doors guide to simple links and in the Connecting O
224. t is active See working with time for more information Timing By default an open gate event will open its gates for the entire time it is active It can Cycle be set to instead cycle between open and close over its active duration Open The gate will open for this duration after becoming active or until the event is no longer active Closed The gate will then close for this duration before opening again When enabled the gate will only open for those agents holding the specified tokens If an agent does not hold one of the tokens the gate is perceived as closed only available in MassMotion Gated connection objects that will be opened by the event A connection object may be used by several different open gate events Collections in open gate events Collections can be used in the Gates property All member links with gates enabled will be opened as if they were directly used 4 3 2 9 Profile Every agent is created with a set of unique properties that define the agent s physical characteristics and personality The range of possible values for each agent is defined by the profile used to create that agent See Single Value Distributions for more information Events which create agents will have a Profile property which determines which profile will be used Profile Properties The physical properties of the agent define radius speed and general movement characteristics 2015 Oasys Software Limited The size
225. t simulation run Multiple Objects Similar to single objects clicking on the mouse cursor icon or in an empty multi object field will bring up a separate selection dialog The two arrows in this dialog can be used to move valid objects between the Available and Selected columns Alternatively objects that are currently selected can be directly added or removed to or from the chosen objects field using the plus or minus buttons For instance one or more links could be selected in the 3D view and then added or removed from a bank by using the plus and minus buttons In some cases the order of chosen objects is important such as when defining a trip In these cases the multi object field will additionally have up and down arrows that can be used to change the order of selected objects Finally chosen objects can sometimes have weights assigned to them such as the origin portals in a journey event In the following table assume that three individual portals and one collection of two portals have been set up There are then three options for how to assign and use weights Ignore weightsin All individual objects in the list and all member objects of any collections list and in the list are merged into a single large set and weighted equally In the collections example below each individual portal would have a weight of 0 2 since there are a total of 5 portals 2015 Oasys Software Limited 69 Flow Origins Ignore weights in l
226. ter standing at that point For instance in an evacuation scenario points far away from the exits would have a large value since agents standing at those points would take a long time to be able to exit the simulation Points near the exits would have small values since agents at those points would exit the simulation shortly after the evacuation begins The name of the map anuna The simulation run for which the map should be generated Time range The time period over which map values should be computed Agent Filter Used to select a subset of agents to consider when generating the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Ranges are given as times in seconds See Working with Colours for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map 4 3 3 7 4 Average Density Average density maps can be used to display what parts of an object were on average most crowded The colour at each point will indicate the average density agents per square metre over the given time range in a circle about that point The circles used to calculate density have a standard Fruin area of 3 25 square metres The average density is defined as Z density n t Average Density Map Parameters LOS t Name The name of the map 2015 Oasys Software Limited 143 Flow Pd The simulation run for which the map
227. the delay finishes the agent will wait until the next time the escalator opens before attempting to step on again Delay On Exit Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping off an escalator This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information Traversal Walk Defines the manner in which agents will cross the escalator type Standard Agents will consider other agents barriers and personal speed characteristics to calculate their trajectories Ignore Barriers As above with the exception that agents will ignore any barriers on the surface This is the default for escalators Virtual Agents will move instantly across the surface to their intended goal ignoring all obstructions on the surface Commonly used for areas of a simulation environment where the agent route choices are important but crowding characteristics are not important Body Radius Set If enabled the body radius for all agents on the surface will be changed to agent radius the specified value This can be useful in areas where crowding conditions are governed by geometric or behavioural conditions outside of normal open space standards Agents approaching the escalator will slowly over a range of 2 3m transition to the new radius to avoid instantaneous changes This setting should be used with caution as a it applies to all agents regardless of their profile settings and b agent movement has only been 2015
228. the event start time and Max as the event duration in seconds 1 Lambda The mean start time relative to the start of the event 4 4 6 2 Standard Distributions Many object numeric properties are described using a distribution These properties resolve to single values based on the probability function of the distribution For example a profile defines agent speed according to a distribution with each agent given a single speed value according to the distribution For information on duration based distributions used by some events in describing agent arrival times see Duration Distributions The following single value distribution types are supported Constant The distribution will always produce the same constant value Value A single number Resultant Mean value The distribution will produce a random number between the minimum and maximum value All values within the range are equally likely 2015 Oasys Software Limited 175 Flow Min The minimum possible value Max The maximum possible value Resultant Mean max min 2 0 A value is produced by iteratively generating numbers using a boundless normal distribution and rejecting any values that lie outside of the allowed range Min The minimum possible value Max The maximum possible value Mean The mean of the normal distribution Std The standard deviation Resultant Mean Mean Triangular The distribution will produce a random number between the mi
229. the priority flow Priority Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Priority Commit When enabled agents that have chosen the object will continue to wait to wait until they have access regardless of changes to costs in other routes on the floor Delay On Enter Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping onto a link This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information If a link is gated and closes before the delay finishes the agent will wait until the next time the link opens before attempting to step on again Delay On Exit Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping off a link This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information Traversal Walk Defines the manner in which agents will cross the link type Standard Agents will consider other agents barriers and personal speed characteristics to calculate their trajectories Ignore Barriers As above with the exception that agents will ignore any 94 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow barriers on the surface Used mainly for connection objects links stairs escalators ramps Virtual Agents will move instantly across the surface to their intended goal ignoring all obstructions on the surface Commonly used for
230. ther members would be ignored A single collection could contain all of the floors door links and portals associated with a train car The same collection could then be specified for the gates in a gate event and the portal origins in a journey event When a particular type of member is expected from a collection the collection name is appended with that member type name MyCollection Portals MyCollection Areas MyCollection Gates Please see Collections for more information on referencing collections from other objects A bank is a collection of connection objects ie links stairs ramps escalators and paths that bridge the same two floors and are spatially close to one another When an agent chooses a route through a bank it selects which of the bank members to take based only on near distance and queue cost ignoring any downstream costs This can be useful for maximizing flow through a set of tumstiles See Bank for more information Collection A general purpose collection with no special purpose beyond the grouping of member objects See Collection for more information Perimeter A perimeter is a collection of connection objects ie links stairs ramps escalators and paths marking a boundary around a special area Routes that cross this boundary more than once are disallowed By adding all turnstile links to a perimeter routes leading into and out of the fair paid area will be permitted but through traffic agents will be prevent
231. ther waypoints on the floor Dista Total distance cost nce cost QueuTotal queue cost proportional to size of e queue cost Opp Cost proportional to the magnitude of the osin flow in the opposing direction g cost V Verti Total vertical cost proportional to vertical cal stair ramp escalator height cost 2015 Oasys Software Limited 165 Flow Cumulative cost cost Note Total cost may not always equal the sum of individual costs as only significant individual costs are shown Agents can be presented with multiple choices e g 3 doors meaning more than one exit on a floor can have an associated route cost Different colours of text indicate different messages Ka a route has been chosen as the target en RedThis route is not an available OO ow Backtracking costs may be applied Whi This route has not been chosen to travel Slightly te different pale colours are used for each route to pal allow them to be distinguished from each other Displays the social forces to which the agent is subjected Green force destination Bright Obstacle Repels from surrounding Yellow constrain neighbours Purple Drift force Drifts an agent in direction of bias when interacting with oncoming crowd oise veer force in a head on collision Orang Collision Slows down and torques agent to e yield avoid perpendicular collision force Lee Se Cera omer agents together within a force crowd Pushes agents
232. to queue for the target calculated using the number of people queuing in front of the agent and the expected flow rate onto the target Agents are only aware of queuing for objects leading off of their current floor Opposing Flow A penalty time based on the magnitude of the oncoming flow across the target Closed Penalty A penalty time if the target is currently closed to the agent See Connection Objects for information on gates and priority access 2015 Oasys Software Limited 3 2 2 3 Flow Route Gost Components Backtrack Penalty A penalty time if the agent has already used the target bias against backtracking Stochastic Elements There are two areas where randomness is introduced into the navigation process agent personality and choice variability Each agent is assigned a unique personality based on a set of costing weights These weights are applied to the various cost components when evaluating routes The weights are calculated from distributions defined in the agent s Profile An agent with a high queue cost weight and a low horizontal distance weight will tend to avoid large queues in favour of longer uncongested options Each route choice is assigned a small random factor This factor will be different for each agent each time the agent steps onto the floor As a result agents will on occasion choose slightly less than optimal routes ensuring that not all agents make the same choice when routes are very clo
233. try Select the desired face components right click on the selected faces and choose the desired creation option 2015 Oasys Software Limited 27 Flow e Duplicate as Copy the selected faces and combine them into a single new object e Extract as Remove the selected faces from the original objects and combine them into a new object e Use to generate Copy the selected faces and use them to intelligently construct an object of the specified type 3 4 1 1 3 Editing Geometry Many of the tools for editing geometry have shortcuts for quick access Selecting Objects or Components To select an object for editing click on the object with the left mouse button To select components for editing first select the object then change the selection mode in the top right of the main window then click on the desired components with the left mouse button Possible components include vertex edge or face polygon Setting Positions Objects or components can be set to a specific location using the Position entries in the Main Window s Model Panel This is useful when a number of vertices need to be along the same line Select one vertex note the X Y or Z value Select multiple vertices enter the required X Y or Z value If setting the Y value all of the vertices will then be at exactly the same height In the case of objects faces or edges the position displayed is of the combined object or component centroid Translating Rotat
234. ueuing Area of circle used to calculate density 3 24m 3 2 32 gt x gt 1 39 719 lt x lt 1 075 eo nn 0 719 lt x lt 1 076 1 395 x gt 0 93 1 076 lt x lt 1 539 0 93 5 x gt 0 65 65 gt x gt 0 37 37 gt x E x lt 0 826 0 826 lt x lt 1 075_ 1 21 gt x gt 0 93 2015 Oasys Software Limited IC 4 075 lt x lt 1 538 0 93 gt x gt 0 65 ID 4 538 lt x lt 3 571 0 65 gt x gt 0 28 E 3 571 lt x lt 5 263 0 285 x gt 0 19 495x IATA Wait Area of circle used to calculate density 2 70m Circulate A k lt 0370 2 2 x lt 0 370 B 0 826 lt x lt 0 435 2 705 x gt 2 30 C 0 435 lt x lt 0 526 2 305 x gt 1 90 pD 0 526 lt x lt 0 667 1 90 gt x gt 1 50 E 0 667 lt x lt 1 00 1 50 gt x gt 1 00 E ftoo lt x 00 gt x 4 5 5 Alembic Export Alembic is an open computer graphics interchange framework Alembic distils complex animated scenes into a non procedural application independent set of baked geometric results For more information please visit www alembic io MassMotion provides the ability to export Alembic files abc containing animated agent meshes that can be imported into visualization software such 3DS Max or Maya for inclusion in rendered scenes The Alembic export option can be found on the Simulation amp Analysis tab of the main window Note that the exported data does not currently include the sc
235. umber of agents will arrive at a constant rate over the duration Instant The specified number of agents will arrive all at once at the event start time Random The specified number of agents will arrive according to the specified distribution over the duration See Agent Start Distributions for information on arrival distributions Table Complex agent arrival is described by a series of rows Each row contains the duration of an interval and the number of agents to create over that interval The first interval starts at the event start Subsequent intervals begin when the previous interval ends Agents are created according to a uniform distribution within each interval The portals and collections of portals at which boarding agents will be created Portals can be weighted to create more agents than others See Choosing Objects for more details The portals and collections of portals to which boarding agents will travel Agent goals can be set to either travel to a portal assigned by weights or to the nearest portal available If using Assigned agent goals the portals can be weighted to be a destination for more agents See Choosing Objects for more details Alighting Defines the colour scheme for alighting boarding agents Boarding Colours Event colour Agents are assigned the same colour as the event object Lighten event colour Agents are assigned a lighter version of the event object colour Darken event colour
236. ut decrease accuracy density ranges and corresponding colours can also be defined See Working with Colours and LOS Colour Mapping for more information Surface Which objects to apply the map to Objects Notes A simple field that can be used to save comments or explanation about the map Colouring The colours that will be used in the map Any of the standard Fruin metrics plus the IATA International Air Transport Association Wait Circulate standard can be used If Fruin auto is used Fruin walkway values will be used for floor and links and Fruin stairway values will be used for stairs and escalators Finally custom 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 4 3 3 7 6 Dynamic Path Dynamic path maps are similar to agent path maps but the trails left behind agents fade out over a set period of time The net effect is that each agent can have for instance a trail showing where it has been in the last 10 seconds which can be useful for visualization purposes A couple of techniques that can be used with dynamic path maps include e Setting the decay time to zero and opacity to a small value 10 20 this will have the effect of adding a small circular shadow under each agent e Setting up a dynamic path map and then hiding the corresponding simulation run in this way only the paths themselves will be shown which can be useful in visualizing overall flow patterns Dynamic path maps can be used when exporting movies but can
237. ut line must touch at least one triangle of a mesh and in wireframe display mode the cut line most touch at least one edge Before knife 32 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow After two horizontal knife operations on the object Deleting Select an object or component and use the delete button in the Model Panel to delete the selection Before delete face After deletion of selected face Simplifying If an object has been sliced split or grown many times there can sometimes be an excess of faces Use the Simplify command in the Model Panel or object right click menu to reduce the object 2015 Oasys Software Limited 33 Flow to its simplest form The overall shape of the object will not be altered A AA Before simplify pa After simplify operation on object 3 4 1 2 Scene Development The contained sections detail strategies for modeling real world objects in Flow 3 4 1 2 1 Floors Floors are the basic building block of Flow scenes and getting them right is important to developing effective simulations They represent the spaces rooms hallways plazas sidewalks train platforms which define the program areas of a design Each floor defines a separate walkable area with agent movement constrained to the boundary of a single floor Links ramps stairs escalators and paths act as connections between floors enabling agents to transition from one floor to another Size The size of
238. vF IOW Flow Help Guide Oasys YOUR IDEAS BROUGHT TO LIF 13 Fitzroy Street London W1T 4BQ Telephone 44 0 20 7755 3302 Facsimile 44 0 20 7755 3720 Central Square Forth Street Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 3PL Telephone 44 0 191 238 7559 Facsimile 44 0 191 238 7555 e mail lt EMAIL_ADDRESS gt Website lt HOME_URL gt 2015 Oasys Software Limited Flow 2015 Oasys Software Limited All rights reserved No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means graphic electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording taping or information storage and retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and or registered trademarks of the respective owners The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for anyloss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document Printed September 2015 Flow Table of Contents Part Part Il Part Il
239. y Agents in either direction can claim priority access Priority access is maintained for a given direction until there are no more agents crossing in that direction Priority Capture Sets the distance in metres from which agents approaching the object can range capture priority access Priority Move When enabled agents in the counter flow direction will move aside to aside accommodate the priority flow Priority Cost of Sets the penalty in seconds for agents waiting If this penalty is too high waiting agents will seek alternative routes to their goal See Agent Navigation for more information Priority Commit When enabled agents that have chosen the object will continue to wait to wait until they have access regardless of changes to costs in other routes on the floor Delay On Enter Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping onto an stair This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information If a stair is gated and closes before the delay finishes the agent will wait until the next time the stair opens before attempting to step on again Delay On Exit Sets how long an agent will be delayed before stepping off a stair This can be set as a distribution in seconds see Single Value Distributions for more information Traversal Walk Defines the manner in which agents will cross the stair type Standard Agents will consider other agents barriers and personal speed

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