ProcessFlow - Change Visual

[zixuan_xiong]

[ FlexSim 7.7.4 ]

I have used a "Move Object" activity to load one "taskexecuter Flowitem - Operator" into another "taskexecuter Transporter" and i want to change the visual look of the person standing inside the forklift, like relative location, rotation, color, even 3D shape (Change to sitting position). Is that doable? i tried that and no matter what i changed in the change visual activity, it stays unchanged.

[Matthew_Gillespie · Accepted solution]

In general Process Flow makes changing visuals like this very easy. For example, in the attached model I use Process Flow to create a pallet, move it, create a box in the pallet, change its shape to a sitting person, center it, and change its color.

However, moving someone into a Transporter is a more complicated issue. The transporter has some default logic that places objects put inside it on top of its forks. This makes it hard to put a person in the transporter at the right location.

In the attached model I have an alternate solution. I have an OnReset trigger on the transporter that hides the operator inside it. Then I use Process Flow to create a person, have him walk to the transporter, and then I show the operator in the transporter and get rid of the first person before telling the transporter to go somewhere.

changevisualexample.fsm

[zixuan_xiong]

Thanks Matt! I think that helped me. I don't we can access the visual 3D object like this. Thanks again!

[alan_zhang]

This is a great model to learn concept of using Process Flow together with objects in 3D model space. Thanks for sharing!

It is actually two models. I split it into two models and added some description in the model itself. Please see attached. Hope this helps users who is new to Process Flow module (like me :-)).

[zixuan_xiong]

If I have to keep the flowitem operator to use that as a label for other purpose, can we do this? I try to hide the flowitem operator after I move them into the forklift and show the operator inside the transporter like what you taught me. However, when I load the pallet into the transporter, the pallets are going to stand on the top of the operator, even if the operator is not showing. Is there a way to change the relative location inside the transporter or can I change the rank inside the transporter to make the operator to be the last one? @Matthew Gillespie

[zixuan_xiong]

I used a function called setrank(operator, content(transporter)) and solved the problem.

[jing_chen]

I had tried to solve this problem in last year. My solution is similar with Matt, but I use normal code with the old forlift shape rather than Process Flow, While the PF module had not yet public.

I made it by Version 7.3, and it opened and upgraded for 7.5, 7.7 and 2016 without problems.

the-op-go-into-forklift-jingv73.fsm

[zixuan_xiong]

Hi Matt, I have to come back to my old question. I customized the visual look of a transporter and made that looked like a pallet jack. Now when I load another forklift driver into it, the default z coordinate is 29.48 (inches) within the transporter. My question is that this number can not be changed either using Change Visual processFlow or even drag the visual object or hard keyin another number under the Quick Properties Menu. The x, y and rotation numbers are all fine. I figured that this is because the original transporter sets up the default z to be 29.48 to fit the fork height. Is there a way to change this? @Matthew Gillespie