topic Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem in FlexSim Forum

Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

dmdurbinMDA — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:58:23 GMT

[ FlexSim 21.0.0 ]

In the attached model, I'm looking at time 8:22:38 AM on "Station 1 Combiner". I have a custom 3D object (Shipping Crate) that arrives on the combiner and flow items that should be placed inside of the Shipping Crate, but they are being stacked on top. I tried adjusting the location of the item but it's adjusting the shipping crate and not the items being inside. What's the best way to place the items inside of the shipping crate when the items are arriving to the combiner in the second port?

Manufacturing Model.fsm

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 02:08:19 GMT

You should create a new packing method for the crate.

I've done something basic in the attached model where the packing method 'Crate' places the first item 6 inches off the base of the crate shape and the rest are packed in alignment with that but within the yellow bounding box of the crate. To get the precise effect either refine the code or adjust the shape factors so that the yellow bounding box is within the crate shape space and reflects the exact 'packing space'. This makes me think we need a seperate 'packing space' cuboid (or cuboids) for a container with location and size both Vec3 - I'll suggest it.

manufacturing-model_jl.fsm

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 02:28:57 GMT

Added xstart and ystart local variables to the Crate packing logic in the attached version.manufacturing-model_jl2.fsm

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

joerg_vogel_HsH — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 03:39:57 GMT

Maybe it is sufficient to choose Packing Method Simple, because it is the default mechanism of a tote.

@doug.durbin if you start to customize items, you can copy first a default container item like a pallet or a tote and then you begin to customize by exchanging the shape.

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

dmdurbinMDA — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 04:03:25 GMT

I edited the model right before you replied! I apologize! I changed the size and rotation of the boxes so that the length of the boxes should go along the length of the crate. I thought this logic would apply but it must determine the orientation of the item first right? I've attached the latest model to this reply. If I edit the size of the item later, I assume I would need to adjust the xstart and ystart local variables as well?

Manufacturing Model.fsm

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 11:22:19 GMT

Simple:

Crate:

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 11:27:06 GMT

Were those the only changes? Since I went through and replaced the EntryTransfer entryOrientation headers for 21.0.1 in the model I posted.

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

joerg_vogel_HsH — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 11:28:56 GMT

Thank you, I didn’t know.

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 11:54:55 GMT

Hopefully this is now what you want - I've changed the triggers again so you can use 20.0.1 without the exceptions in the system console. The startx and starty remain the same

The packing logic is pretty simple, but I've removed the rotate and transposed it so that it works better in this case - you'll see that in the local variables oldsize and newsize.

manufacturing-model2_jl.fsm

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 12:12:52 GMT

Simple should work as it has offset parameters in the template - thanks Jorg. But to me it's more precise/ less trial and error, to position the first flow item exactly and read its coordinates.

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

dmdurbinMDA — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 16:57:21 GMT

This looks really good! Since the code references the old size I assume that the "old size" can be almost any size? I'm asking this because if I decide to change the On Exit trigger for Conveyor1Outbox from size (x:4, y:4, z:96) to (x:1, y:2, z:96) that the logic still applies? It seems like it does and works fine after testing it.

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

jason_lightfoot_adsk — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 19:41:38 GMT

Yes - the old size variable was added just so it's easy to see how the sizes are mapped into different axes. Basically we needed y and z to be swapped I think so whatever size it has when it arrives should be transformed correctly - and if it looks correct then that's a good indication all is well.

Re: Placing Flowitem into imported 3D Object/Flowitem

dmdurbinMDA — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 19:43:55 GMT

Great! Thank you so much Jason!