FlexSim 2019 Update 2 Beta Available

[#1]

FlexSim 2019 Update 2 Beta is available. (Updated 28 August 2019.)

To get the beta, log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section, and click on More Versions. It will be at the top of the list.

If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email dev@flexsim.com or create a new idea in the Development space.

Release Notes

• Added a Storage System object to improve warehouse modeling.
• Improved the Rack object.
• Added more types of racks to the library.
• Updated the Sketchup SDK to load newer skp file versions.
• Added a ray tracing render mode.
• Added a Color Palette tool.
• Improved the color picker popup.
• Updated dashboard charts to use color palettes.
• Added options for showing column names to charts.
• Added options for showing multiple Y-axes on timeplots and histograms.
• Updated box plot options for categorizing and coloring data points.
• Added an option for reordering axis categories on timeplots, histograms, and box plots.
• Added additional line styles and visualization options to timeplots.
• Added Table methods for using indexed columns.
• Added a resetvalues attribute.
• Added Object getVariable() and setVariable() methods.
• Updated the SQL IS keyword to work with expressions.
• Improved performance of SQL queries on tables with indexed columns.
• Added an array parameter to Math.max() and Math.min().
• Added a binary bundle field type.
• Added a button to Model Settings to export embedded media.
• Changed the default Person flowitem into separate Man and Woman flowitems.
• Added options for using the object's color to Person Visuals.
• Added a changepersonvisuals() command and pick options.
• Updated the Model Background properties window.
• Added a right-click option to show/hide model backgrounds from the Toolbox.
• Added pick options for using lists to the Pick Operator field on the processor.
• Updated various pick options to use generic label references.
• Added options to the List for special handling of SELECT values.
• Added Text options to Quick Properties.
• Added mean and standard deviation to the statistical distribution popup.
• Added icons to various pick option menus.
• Improved the Copy Variable function of Edit Selected Objects.
• Added the location coordinate system button to the General tab of object properties.
• Removed the Build menu; its options can still be added to the user toolbar.
• Changed the run speed slider to behave as a ratio of real time instead of model units per second.
• Fixed a bug with deleting array data from a node.
• Fixed an exception with cloning a table without rows.
• Fixed a bug with applying experimenter triggers.

Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave.

• Improved the rendering performance of some imported shapes by optimizing their meshes by material. Some mesh customizations may apply differently for some shapes.
• Charts now ignore null values instead of trying to categorize or plot them.
• Changed the FlexScript + operator to concatenate numbers with strings.
• Fixed some FlexScript math operations with numbers and null variants.
• Fixed an issue with FlexScript downcasting not always type checking properly in certain expressions. For example, "Object obj = param(1);" will now correctly throw an exception if param(1) is a treenode without Object data.
• Updated the Rack's place offset to be the actual location that the item will be placed.
• Fixed a bug with labels added during events at time 0 not being deleted on reset.
• Fixed a bug in Color.random().

Process Flow

• Changed the scroll wheel to zoom instead of panning the view up and down.
• Removed the extra outline around stacked blocks.
• Changed the default option for Release Batch on max wait timer and max idle timer to have Failed unchecked.
• Organized the ProcessFlow list on the toolbar based on the Toolbox folder structure.
• Changed Event-Triggered Source and Wait for Event panels to be collapsible.
• Added an edit field for the number of arrivals on the Scheduled Source.
• Added a getlastacquiredresource() command.

Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave.

• Updated Move Object's Preserve Global Position checkbox to preserve location and rotation.

People

• Added an experiment variable for changing the number of objects in a People group.
• Added a visual indicator to show when objects are acquired by the shift schedule.
• Added A* dividers to waiting lines and other objects.
• Adjusted the Staff's walk back to reset position so that it is preempted if acquired by something else.
• Added a custom window for People Down Behaviors.
• Added a Keep Person on Transport checkbox to the Transport Person activity.
• Changed the default Arrivals activities to randomize the created person's visuals.
• Updated activity subflows so travelers synchronize their speeds when traveling together.
• Moved copying token labels to the created person to after the people settings labels are added so values aren't overwritten.
• Added state history tables.

Conveyor

• Improved naming of various objects.
• Fixed a bug with the height of decision points when created with certain model units.
• Added a chain texture to conveyor belt visual options.

AGV

• Updated curved path quick properties to be able to specify start and end points.
• Improved naming of control points and areas.

A*

• Added the A* Navigator to the Toolbox.
• Updated the A* Navigator Properties window.

[amerloQ2XZU]

Hi,

warehousing is a great library. Is available a manual? The help is empty. Probably a tutorial to explain the basic idea is necessary.

Which are the compatible NVIDIA card for RTX mode? I have a NVIDIA Quadro P3200, but a popup appear when I active the mode. Isn't it enough or I need to active some graphic card configuration?

Probably I found an issue with transporter. It doesn't update correctly the position during travel task to the source.

[philboboADSK]

The new Warehousing objects do not have documentation yet. We are still working on documenting them. More documentation will be available as we release subsequent iterations of the beta.

A Quadro P3200 is built on the Pascal architecture, which should be compatible with RTX Mode. Try updating your graphics driver and make sure you are using 64-bit FlexSim.

Thanks for pointing out the issue with the transporter. We'll look into it.

[joerg_vogel_HsH]

The module Warehousing gets a new basic datatype "bool" for the method hasSpace(treenode item). I am missing the data type announcement in the release notes.

Or should the command hint contain "num"?

[patrick_zweekhorst]

Hi,

Nice addition with all new racks. Some things I found/noticed:

-When I change the visualization of a floor storage rack to "Repeating bay supports" the visualization is a little bit of. The drawn supports are outside the object. This holds for multiple option in the visualization. I don't know if that is a setting that should change in the GUI or if it is a small bug (see picture)

-If you don't drag in a Storage system object you are not able to change the visualization of the rack objects. Not sure if that is intentional or not. I guess I will need to read the manual when it is there.

-The option to collapse event in a wait for event is really nice, it would how ever also be nice if you would be able to remove the first event from a wait for event, now all events can be removed but the first not. Is this something that is forgotten or would this be a new feature?

Thanks for the new Beta.

[philboboADSK]

The transporter's default Flip Threshold was changed from 180 to 179 so that it would back out of a Drive In Rack by default.

We will change it back to 180 so that it works for this situation by default again, and we will add a note to the documentation of the Drive In Rack about how you can adjust the Flip Threshold to 179 for a Transporter to back out.

Thanks again.

[philboboADSK]

1. We'll look into the weirdness of trying to use visualizations on the floor storage that weren't designed for floor storage. Thanks for pointing that out.

2. This is by design. The objects use default visualizations if you don't have a Storage System in your model. If you want custom visualizations, you need to add a Storage System.

3. This has always been that way. In 19.2, we just made it so that the UI is collapsible so that large lists of events don't take up so much real estate on the screen that you can't access the entire popup. I'll add a case to the dev list to consider being able to remove the first event from the list.

Thanks for the feedback.

[philboboADSK]

We didn't add a new "bool" datatype to FlexScript. That's just what the function returns in C++.

When we update the FlexScript API documentation, it should correctly say "int".

Thanks for pointing this out.

[support5CRPZ]

I found an error in the case of using the new storage objects like gravityflowrack etc. The example simple model is the captured;

The error is followed.

time: 0.000000 exception: Exception Caught in ObjectFunction248__project_library_FlexSimObject_behaviour_eventfunctions_OnTimerEvent object: /GravityFlowRack1 i: /GravityFlowRack1>variables/bays/1/levels/2/slots/1/slotItems/1 class: /GravityFlowRack1 time: 0.000000 exception: Exception caught in TreeNode::receivemessage() time: 0.000000 exception: Exception caught in Executive::processeventinlist(). Throwing. time: 0.000000 exception: Exception caught in Executive::steptotime(). Throwing. time: 0.000000 exception: Exception caught in Executive::tick(). Throwing. time: 0.000000 exception: int runthemessageloop() #4 exception: Executive::instance.tick(); time: 0.000000 exception: int runthemessageloop() #6

The error is same with using transporter.

[philboboADSK]

Thanks for pointing this out. We will fix this for the next beta release.

[philboboADSK]

This has been fixed in the 9-Aug beta.

[support5CRPZ]

When making the run speed higher, the model stopped with 'clock overflow, run stopped'.

[philboboADSK]

Thanks for pointing this out. We'll look into it.

[philboboADSK]

1. We've fixed the weirdness of the visualizations drawing outsize of the floor storage area in the 9-Aug beta.

2. We've changed the Storage System object so that it gets asserted when you create a Rack instead of needing to explicitly add it. This way, you'll always be able to see the visualization options.

Thanks again.

[JordanLJohnson]

The beta released on 2019-08-02 had the following issues with tables:

• The PersonWaitForStaffHistory table shows the same data as the StaffStateHistory table.
• The PersonWaitForLocationHistory table shows the same data as the LocationStateHistory table.
• The PersonWaitForTransportHistory table shows the same data as the TransportStateHistory table.
• The PersonWaitForEquipmentHistory table shows the same data as the EquipmentStateHistory table.

This issue has been fixed for the latest release of the beta. However, if you have created a model in the version with this issue, you will need to run the following script, save the model, and then reopen the model to fix the issue:

treenode peopleTables = Model.find("Tools/PeopleTables");
if (!peopleTables) {
    return 0;
}

Array templates = ["StaffStateHistory", "LocationStateHistory", "TransportStateHistory", "EquipmentStateHistory"];
Array badTypes = [2014, 2025, 2034, 2044];
Array goodTypes = [2015, 2026, 2035, 2045];

for (int i = 1; i <= templates.length; i++) {
    treenode table = peopleTables.find(templates);
    if (!table) {
        continue;
    }

    if (getvarnum(table, "type") == badTypes) {
        setvarnum(table, "type", goodTypes);
    }
}

[JordanLJohnson]

In the beta previous to the 9-August-2019 beta, the Escort to Exit activity set contained a corrupted activity. This causes many chart templates, such as the Avg Staytime and Avg Time in State People Templates to not work correctly. To fix models built in older beta versions, you will need to delete the Remove Person activity and replace it with a new one.

[philboboADSK]

This is fixed in the 21-Aug beta.

[philboboADSK]

The latest beta (28-Aug) has more Warehousing documentation in it. See:

• Connecting 3D Object Flows > Key Concepts About Warehousing
• Reference > Tools > Storage System
• Reference > 3D Objects > Warehousing > Paint Slot Labels
• Reference > Coding in FlexSim > FlexScript Class Reference > Warehousing

We are actively adding more documentation prior to the final release (several sections are still incomplete), but there should be enough documentation there now to get started learning how to use the new Warehousing features.

[JordanLJohnson]

I posted an article with a demo warehouse model. I made it in the 28-Aug-2019 version of the beta:

https://answers.flexsim.com/articles/71515/2019-update-2-warehouse-demo.html

[support5CRPZ]

When 3D modeling using Rack and TaskExecuter, the transporter can not move.

rack-test.fsm

rack-test.fsm

[philboboADSK]

The warehousing objects no longer behave as Fixed Resources using traditional port sending logic by default.

When you connect a fixed resource to a rack (or vice versa), it sets a variable called "Use as Fixed Resource" on the rack that tells the object to use the traditional port sending logic:

(The model also isn't working because Use Transport isn't checked on the upstream Exit Transfer.)

This appears to be a bug that the Rack isn't setting that variable automatically when connecting from a Conveyor. You can manually check the box to fix it. Thanks for pointing this out. I'll add a case to the dev list to look into it.

[support5CRPZ]

I found the multilocation layout control property to be disappeared after FlexSim 2019 included.

The layout control feature will be not included in the new release update 2 version?

[Matthew_Gillespie]

Yes, in 2019 and later there is a MultiLocation quick properties panel that lets you enable Edit Mode. When you check that box it lets you edit the position and rotation of each chair individually.

[support5CRPZ]

@Matthew Gillespie

I knew already the edit mode control of up2 version. It's very not comfortable. I am looking for easy control feature of the old 'Layout' features. It provides Columns, Offset, width, Length and orientation for each chair's row and column. The new 2019 version can't provide the good and convenient setting interface like my attached picture. I hope you should use HC 5.3.10 Layout control features.

If you draw 60 chairs of it, will you add the more chairs and change the position again for each chair?