One of the most powerful uses of a Fixed Resource Process Flow is to unify a set of machines and operators as a reusable entity. For example, many factories have several production lines. Simulation modelers often wonder what would happen if they could either open or close more production lines. If you were to open a new line, would the increased output be worth the cost? Or if you were to close a line, would the factory still be able to meet demand? These are the kinds of questions modelers often ask, and by using a Fixed Resource Process Flow, you can answer this question. This article demonstrates how to use a Fixed Resource Process Flow (or FR Flow) to coordinate several machines and operators as a single entity. The example model represents a staging area, where product is staged before being loaded on to a truck. However, most of the concepts that are discussed could be used in any Fixed Resource Process Flow. Creating a Collection of Objects When you set out to build a reusable FR Flow, it is usually best to start by making a single instance of the entity you want to replicate. Often, it is convenient to build that entity on a Plane. When you drag an object in to a Plane, it is owned by the Plane, which makes the Plane a natural collection. If you copy and then paste the Plane, the copy will have all the same objects as the original Plane. This makes it very easy to make another instance of your entity: just copy and paste the first. If the Plane is attached to an FR Flow, then the copy will also be attached to the same Flow, and will then behave the exact same way. In the example model, you will find a Plane with a processor, five queues, and two operators. This makes up a single staging area. The Plane itself is attached to the FR Flow, meaning an instance of the FR Flow will run for the Plane. It also means the Plane can be referenced by the value current . (You may find it helpful to set the reset position of any operators, especially if they wander off the plane at any point during the model run.) Using Process Flow Variables In order to drive the logic in your entity using an FR Flow, you will need to be able to reference the objects in each entity, so that they will be easily accessible by tokens. For example, if items are processed on Machine A, Machine B, and Machine C, in a production line, then you would want an easy way to reference those machines in each line. This is where Process Flow Variables come in. In the example model, you will find the following Process Flow Variables: Every staging area has a Packer, a Shipper, and a Palletizer, each referenced using the node command. Remember that current is the instance object, which is the Plane. Once these variables are in place, you could create an FR Flow like the following: If you ran this model with the Plane shown previously (complete with correctly named objects) and this flow with the shown variables, then the Packer operator would travel to the Palletizer. If you then copied the Plane, you would see that all Packers go to their respective Palletizers, as shown below: Using Variables and Resources Together Sometimes, you may want to adjust the number of operators per line, or even the number of operators in a specific role. To do this, you can again you Process Flow Variables. The sample model includes these variables: The sample model also includes these resources; the properties for the Shipper Resource are shown: Because this resource is Local, it is as if each attached object has its own version of this resource. Because it references a 3D operator, it will make copies of that operator when the model resets. The number of copies it creates will depend on the local value of the ShipperCount variable. To edit the value for a particular instance object, click on that object in the 3D view, and edit the value in the quick properties window. Disabling Entities Often, modelers simply want to "turn off" parts of their model. If that part of the model is controlled by a fixed resource flow, then you can easily accomplish this task. In the example model, you will find the following set of activities: The Areas resource is numeric, and it is global. The Limit Areas activity is configured so that any token that can't acquire the resource immediately goes to the Area Disabled sink. If the token that controls the process dies, then the area for that token is effectively disabled. The example model uses a Process Flow Variable to control how many areas can be active at a time: The Areas resource uses this value to control how many shipping areas are actually active. If this number is smaller than the number of attached objects, then some of the areas won't run. Note that the order the objects are attached in matters. The first attached area will be the first to generate a token in the Init Area source, and so will be the first one to acquire the area. Using Process Flow Variables in the Experimenter/Optimizer Currently, only Global and User Accessible variables can be accessed in the Experimenter. In the sample model, the only variable that can readily be used in an experiment is the TotalAreas variable, which dictates how many areas can be active. This allows the Experimenter or Optimizer to disable lines. To make it possible for the Experimenter or Optimizer to vary the number of Shippers or Packers per Area, the ShipperCount and PackerCount could be changed to Global Variables. You could put labels on the instance object (the Plane) that are read by the variable, like so: Then the experimenter could set the label value on the Plane object that is attached to the FR Flow. The Experimenter would set the label, which would affect the value of the Variable, which would affect how many copies of the Packer were created by the Packer resource. You could do the same for the ShipperCount variable. Sample Model The attached model (usingfixedresources-6.fsm) provides a working model that can demonstrate the principles in this article. It comes with only one Plane object attached to the FR Flow. Here are some things to try with the model: Reset and run the model to see how it behaves with a single area, where that single area has only one Packer and one Shipper. Create a copy (use copy/paste) of the Plane. Reset and run the model again to see how a second area is automatically driven by the same flow. You may need to adjust the TotalAreas variable if the second doesn't run. Adjust the number of Packers and Shippers (using the Process Flow Variables) on each Plane. Reset and run the model to see how adding more packers and shippers affects it. Create many copies of the first Plane (it is best to set the PackerCount and ShipperCount to 1 before copying). Reset and run the model, to observe the effect. Add or remove some staging areas (queues) to an Area. This model handles those changes as well (in the Put Stations On List part of the flow). Try to set up an experiment or optimization, that varies how many lines are active, and how many Packers and Shippers are in each. In general, play around with the sample model, or try this technique on your own. Other Applications This technique can be used to create production/packaging lines, complex machines, or any conglomerate of Fixed Resources and Task Executers. If you follow the methods outlined in this article, you will be able to create additional instances of complicated custom objects with ease. You will also be able to configure your model for use with the experimenter or optimizer.

[ FlexSim HC 5.1 ] FlexSim HC 5.1 is available. The start page will automatically notify you of the update and allow you to download and install the update from within FlexSim. To manually download the installer log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space. Missing DLL Error when Installing This version of HC requires certain files that should be present on windows if you're up to date on windows updates. If you're experiencing this error or another similar one please refer to this answer for more information. 5.1.0 Release Notes New Features Added a getremainingprocesstime() command. Areas can now be added as members to a shift schedule. Added support for code labels in Appointments table Added ability to resize code snippet windows. Added support for areas as well as locations in the Stop/Resume Flow pick list options. Improved the First Activity Satisfying All Its Requirements pickoption in the Next Activity field. Added pickoptions to easily diplay variables, labels, and table values on the screen. Column width and Row heights of the PCI table are now saved. Added a checkbox dashboard widget. Added more Data Collector pickoptions. Updated the ambulance and helicopter shapes. Added helicopter rotor animation. Added more chair and med station shapes. Added label columns to the Custom Arrivals table Bug Fixes Fixed Based on Simulation Time pickoption not working for weekly tables after the first week. Fixed a bug with undoing after deleting a network node. Fixed the resource utilization box plot when showing multiple periods. Fixed Experiment Variable drop down placement when the panel is scrolled. Fixed model resetting when Flowchart window was opened. Fixed the By Patient's location/area pickoption for the Process Time field so that quotation marks are no longer required. Fixed console errors being thrown by the Start Animation pickoption. Fixed console errors from the Patient's label pickoption for the Next Activity field. Fixed bug when a low priority OffSchedule event happens when a lower priority Lunch request is already queued up. Fixed Stop/Resume pick list error in User Event Trigger. Fixed a bug with reassigning task sequences when a resource goes off schedule and the resource's group is in an Alternate Group. Fixed refresh issues in the Sample Set Filter popup. Fixed a memory issue with the Entrance Criteria pickoption code. Fixed window positioning so they open centered on the application window. Fixed bug in "Based on Nurse Workload" pick list option for Patient Destination field. Fixed Output Raw Data not writing State headers. Improved positioning of ambulances and helicopters after a transport activity

[ FlexSim 2016 ] FlexSim 2016, version 16.0.5, is available. To download the installer log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section and click on More Versions. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes Fixed sin() command not displaying in the Command Helper. Fixed a bug when shift-selecting entire rows and columns of global tables. Fixed C++ Variant comparisons where the primitive is on the left side. Fixed the return values for CURRENT_MINUTE, CURRENT_SECOND, and CURRENT_MILLISECOND in getmodelunit(). Fixed a bug with SQL parsing of FlexScript functions returning doubles in 32-bit FlexSim. Fixed some pin buttons in the Stats window. Fixed a bug in a Pull From List pick option. Fixed Crane and Robot speeds not scaling with model units. Fixed a bug with the From/To Lookup Table popup not putting quotes around table names. Fixed a bug with exporting Custom Chart data as CSV sometimes not working. Fixed some UI issues with the Edit Name box for User Libraries. Fixed an exception in the Set Label trigger popup. Conveyor Fixed header for OnMessage trigger of Photo Eyes. Fixed decision point rotation in a rotated container. Fixed a bug with calculating the time that items will split off from each other when an ahead item speeds up. Fixed a rare crashing issue with accumulated items. Fixed an issue with resuming nonaccumulating conveyors that weren't stopped. Process Flow Fixed a UI bug with the process flow variable panel in Quick Properties when opening a model. Fixed some instance references from showing just the name to now showing the path to better distinguish objects in containers. Fixed an extra line being added in the token Shared Assets list when requesting a Zone. Fixed the Quick Library so you can collapse sections. AGV Fixed issue with click-creating AGV control points before creating paths. Fixed issue with calling stopobject() on an agv when it has arrived at a control point at (near) zero speed.

[ FlexSim 2016 ] FlexSim 2016 Update 2 is available. FlexSim's start page will automatically notify you of the update and allow you to download and install the update from within FlexSim. To manually download the installer log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes Added support for STEP and IGES 3D shapes. Added a Quick Library popup when you double-click on empty space or A/S Connect to empty space in the 3D view. Improved object rotation manipulation in the 3D view. Added sorting to toolbox for top level items. Added the ability to use the query() command with partitioned lists, using ListName.$1 or ListName.PartitionIDStr syntax. Added support for the ON clause in SQL queries using the query() command. Added support for the ARRAY_AGG() aggregation function in SQL queries using the query() command, in the manner of PostgreSQL. Added an "Allow Multiple Pushes Before Back Order Fulfillment" setting to lists. Added a "Reevaluate All Values On Push" setting to lists. Added a Date Based feature to gantt charts. Updated the auto-numbering mechanism when naming new objects. Updated file browse dialogs to remember the last used directory. Changed the default directory for opening and saving user libraries to be within documentsdir(). Added a colors tab to the tracked variable dashboard chart. Updated the Presentation Builder interface to make the timeline more useable. Updated the Animation Creator interface. Updated the Stop Time interface. Added range and type validation to many edit fields. Overhauled the FlexSim Web Server interface. Added functionality to the Webserver to restrict access to certain models using Windows Authentication. Fixed a bug with the window docking system that caused sizing to not work properly sometimes. Fixed TimeTable Excel Import bug not working with Daily/Weekly Repeat table. Fixed the Visual Studio project files so they don't give you the linker errors when you compile flexsimcontent.dll with Visual Studio. Fixed a bug with cell heights and widths when inserting and deleting table rows or columns. Fixed line charts continuing to collect data beyond their collect time. Fixed the query() command so that it can be called within List fields. Included fixes listed in 16.0.5. Process Flow Improved Process Flow view performance. Added Split, Join, and Synchronize activities. Added right-click options for re-ranking activities in a block and removing an activity from a block. Added tooltips to activities that show you the activity type. Added copy and paste options to the Process Flow right-click menu. Populated field names of lists for SQL drop-down menu options. Updated Text editing interface to be more user friendly. Added an "Assign Event Object To" option to the Wait For Event and Event-Triggered Source. Fixed a bug with Zone Partitions not being able to be graphed. Fixed an issue with connectors losing their ranks when clicking and dragging them. Fixed the List Back Order Reevaluation Events so you can listen to activity events. Fixed the Experimenter duplicating TEs/FRs attached to Process Flow objects not properly duplicating the Process Flow instance. Fixed Sub Flows that have Resources pointing to 3D objects in the model not properly creating/destroying copies of the 3D object. Fixed Resources in Fixed Resource and Task Executer Process Flows losing their references when being updated by a user library. Fixed a bug with the Pull from List where releasing the token and leaving the back order on the list would not give you all of the pulled results when using the 'Assign To' option. Fixed a bug with capturing ProcessFlow views at resolutions larger than the window size. AGV Added new agvinfo() command options. Updated paths so that they can be contained within visual tools. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Fixed issues with routing through path junctions where 3 or more paths connect. Conveyor Fixed an issue with manually moving a waiting item off a conveyor with a restart delay.

FlexSim 2016 Update 2 Beta is available. To get it, 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 [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes Added support for STEP and IGES 3D shapes. Added a Quick Library popup when you double-click on empty space or A/S Connect to empty space in the 3D view. Improved object rotation manipulation in the 3D view. Added sorting to toolbox for top level items. Added the ability to use the query() command with partitioned lists, using ListName.$1 or ListName.PartitionIDStr syntax. Added support for the ON clause in SQL queries using the query() command. Added support for the ARRAY_AGG() aggregation function in SQL queries using the query() command, in the manner of PostgreSQL. Added an "Allow Multiple Pushes Before Back Order Fulfillment" setting to lists. Added a "Reevaluate All Values On Push" setting to lists. Added a Date Based feature to gantt charts. Updated the auto-numbering mechanism when naming new objects. Updated file browse dialogs to remember the last used directory. Changed the default directory for opening and saving user libraries to be within documentsdir(). Added a colors tab to the tracked variable dashboard chart. Updated the Presentation Builder interface to make the timeline more useable. Updated the Animation Creator interface. Updated the Stop Time interface. Added range and type validation to many edit fields. Added functionality to the Webserver to restrict access to certain models using Windows Authentication. Fixed a bug with the window docking system that caused sizing to not work properly sometimes. Fixed TimeTable Excel Import bug not working with Daily/Weekly Repeat table. Fixed the Visual Studio project files so they don't give you the linker errors when you compile flexsimcontent.dll with Visual Studio. Fixed a bug with cell heights and widths when inserting and deleting table rows or columns. Fixed line charts continuing to collect data beyond their collect time. Fixed the query() command so that it can be called within List fields. Process Flow Improved Process Flow view performance. Added Split, Join, and Synchronize activities. Added right-click options for re-ranking activities in a block and removing an activity from a block. Added tooltips to activities that show you the activity type. Added copy and paste options to the Process Flow right-click menu. Populated field names of lists for SQL drop-down menu options. Updated Text editing interface to be more user friendly. Added an "Assign Event Object To" option to the Wait For Event and Event-Triggered Source. AGV Added new agvinfo() command options. Updated paths so that they can be contained within visual tools. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Fixed issues with routing through path junctions where 3 or more paths connect.

FlexSim Answers is designed to make information available to the FlexSim community. However, there are times when you will need help with a model or project that contains proprietary or otherwise confidential information. Here are a couple ways of getting the help you need while protecting sensitive information. Private Questions When you create a question you can mark it as Private. The question is then only viewable to FlexSim employees. A lock icon will show up next to the question for those who can see the question Comment Visibility (Currently this option is only available to moderators, but moderators may use it to make comments visible only to you and other FlexSim employees) You can also post private comments by setting the visibility level of your comment. Setting the visibility of the comment to Viewable by Moderators will make the comment visible only to FlexSim employees. Posting private comments is useful for posting confidential information to questions that aren't private.

I'm attaching a user library and an example model that contains process flows for two types of merge controller. The main advantage of both of these is that the release strategy is consolidated into a single list pull query, so that you can have incredible flexibility in defining custom release strategies just by adjusting a single query. Several query examples are included and explained. The DPClearingMergeController uses the standard merge controller mechanism that utilizes decision points and the merge controller's lane clear table to determine when slug lanes are clear for release. Alternatively, the FixedGapMergeController customizes lane release times for an optimal target gap between released slugs. This, combined with a good release strategy, can maximize total merge throughput. Here's a view of the fixed gap merge control running. Notice how it tries to time the releases so the slugs line up pretty close on the take away lane (the target gap here is 3 feet). And below is a screenshot of the fixed gap merge control process flow. mergecontrollerprocessflows.zip This model and library were created in 16.1.0.

[ FlexSim 16.1.0 ] Attached is an example model that uses both of the new template process flows for AGV and AGV elevator control, available in FlexSim 2016 Update 1. Thanks @Katharina Albert (I believe), who provided the seed model, which I adjusted/extended as I implemented these process flows. This model enumerates many of the control point connections and path configurations you might use in an AGV model when using these template process flows.

FlexSim 2016 Update 1 is available. Download it from: https://www.flexsim.com/account/#/downloads If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes FlexSim 16.1.0 Added group commands (groupaddmember(), groupmember(), groupnummembers(), groupremovemember()). Global Lists will now update their Initial Content on reset when connected to a Group if the group's members change. Added support for the UPDATE clause in SQL. Added support for the RAND expression in SQL (uses stream 0 and will always be the same for a given query/row selection combo). Improvements to speed and memory usage when performing SQL inner joins. Tracked variables with type Categorical can now store arbitrary states. Added a Kinetic Level tracked variable type (e.g. Battery Level). You can now hold down the Alt key while clicking and dragging in the 3D view to ignore all objects. You can now resize objects while maintain their aspect ratio by pressing both the left and right mouse buttons down on a sizer arrow. Updated dashboard charts to support x-axis scaling. Added OnStop and OnResume events to 3D objects for use with event listening objects (Wait for Event and Event-Triggered Source in Process Flow). Video Recorder can now record Dashboards. Time Tables, MTBF/MTTR and User Events can now be disabled. Experiment variables can be set to enable/disable these objects. Fixed an issue with the VideoRecorder not loading properly. Fixed issues with windows and popups not opening on the correct monitor when using a multiple monitor setup. Fixed Fluid Conveyor throwing exceptions on reset. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Updated to OpenGL 3.1. Deprecated OpenGL functions, such as glBegin(), glEnd(), glVertex(), glNormal(), and glTexCoord(), may no longer work correctly on some graphics cards. You should instead use the mesh api. Changed the way that fixed resources (except the Combiner) receive items when they are being transported in. Previously, when they were notified that an item was being transported in, they would close their inputs and create an event to receive the next item. This would cause problems if the upstream objects had multiple items to send because their routing strategy would work differently when transporting vs not transporting. We have fixed this so that routing strategies will work the same when transporting as when not transporting. This may change the way that old models work because it changes the events that are created, and, obviously, it fixes routing strategy logic. menumain(), menubelow() and getviewmenu() have changed. Instead of returning a double, they now return a var. Any calls to these commands will need to be updated to use var or the value returned will be 0. double myMenu = getviewmenu(); Changes to: var myMenu = getviewmenu(); Conveyor Added Ports to the Entry and Exit Transfers. Added a Restart Delay setting to Conveyor Types. Fixed the Join Conveyors Tool when connecting conveyors with a custom conveyor type. Various bug fixes and improvements specifically with regards to items moving between conveyors and transfers. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed the way stopping a non-accumulating conveyor works when propogating stops to straddled conveyors. When a conveyor is stopped, it will act the same as if an item on the conveyor were stopped. Process Flow Added Preemption activities (Save Token Context, Release Token and Restore Token Context). Added gettokens() and getbatch() commands. Added Templates for Fixed Resource and Task Executer Process Flows. Added a Token Data to Preserve option to the Sink and Finish activities. In the Tokens window you can view Dead tokens and explore their data. Token Trace History is now stored as a label on the token. Added a Speed Type and Repeat Type to the Run Animation activity. A lot of improvements to the Zone. Updated the evaluation of the Return Value from the Finish activity so that executesubflow() can get a return value from multiple Finish activities. Added Activity Profiles to the token trace histories. Fixed a bug causing the Wait for Event to evaluate its Max Wait Timer even if the token left the activity. Fixed issues with the releasetoken(), createtoken(), and releasebatch() commands working differently when running vs stepping. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed the way that a token manually released (preempted) from waiting in a task sequence activity manages the task that it's waiting on. Now the task will be removed, and the task executer preempted if currently working on it. This may change older models that release tokens in task sequence activities. AGV Added Event info to AGVs and Control Points for use with event listening objects (Wait for Event and Event-Triggered Source in Process Flow). Added AGV templates to Process Flow. Fixed bug with way points not firing their OnArrival for redirected AGVs. Fixed issue with arrival waypoints not firing correctly with non-zero end speed travel tasks. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Fixed the order by which AGV trailers are attached to their AGV. This will affect old model trailer ordering.

FlexSim 2016 Update 1 Beta is available. Download FlexSim 2016 Update 1 Beta (updated 17 June 2016) If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes FlexSim 16.1.0 Added group commands (groupaddmember(), groupmember(), groupnummembers(), groupremovemember()). Global Lists will now update their Initial Content on reset when connected to a Group if the group's members change. Added support for the UPDATE clause in SQL. Added support for the RAND expression in SQL (uses stream 0 and will always be the same for a given query/row selection combo). Improvements to speed and memory usage when performing SQL inner joins. Tracked variables with type Categorical can now store arbitrary states. Added a Kinetic Level tracked variable type (e.g. Battery Level). You can now hold down the Alt key while clicking and dragging in the 3D view to ignore all objects. You can now resize objects while maintain their aspect ratio by pressing both the left and right mouse buttons down on a sizer arrow. Updated dashboard charts to support x-axis scaling. Added OnStop and OnResume events to 3D objects for use with event listening objects (Wait for Event and Event-Triggered Source in Process Flow). Video Recorder can now record Dashboards. Time Tables, MTBF/MTTR and User Events can now be disabled. Experiment variables can be set to enable/disable these objects. Fixed an issue with the VideoRecorder not loading properly. Fixed issues with windows and popups not opening on the correct monitor when using a multiple monitor setup. Fixed Fluid Conveyor throwing exceptions on reset. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Updated to OpenGL 3.1. Deprecated OpenGL functions, such as glBegin(), glEnd(), glVertex(), glNormal(), and glTexCoord(), may no longer work correctly on some graphics cards. You should instead use the mesh api. Changed the way that fixed resources (except the Combiner) receive items when they are being transported in. Previously, when they were notified that an item was being transported in, they would close their inputs and create an event to receive the next item. This would cause problems if the upstream objects had multiple items to send because their routing strategy would work differently when transporting vs not transporting. We have fixed this so that routing strategies will work the same when transporting as when not transporting. This may change the way that old models work because it changes the events that are created, and, obviously, it fixes routing strategy logic. menumain(), menubelow() and getviewmenu() have changed. Instead of returning a double, they now return a var. Any calls to these commands will need to be updated to use var or the value returned will be 0. double myMenu = getviewmenu(); Changes to: var myMenu = getviewmenu(); Conveyor Added Ports to the Entry and Exit Transfers. Added a Restart Delay setting to Conveyor Types. Fixed the Join Conveyors Tool when connecting conveyors with a custom conveyor type. Various bug fixes and improvements specifically with regards to items moving between conveyors and transfers. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed the way stopping a non-accumulating conveyor works when propogating stops to straddled conveyors. When a conveyor is stopped, it will act the same as if an item on the conveyor were stopped. Process Flow Added Preemption activities (Save Token Context, Release Token and Restore Token Context). Added gettokens() and getbatch() commands. Added Templates for Fixed Resource and Task Executer Process Flows. Added a Token Data to Preserve option to the Sink and Finish activities. In the Tokens window you can view Dead tokens and explore their data. Token Trace History is now stored as a label on the token. Added a Speed Type and Repeat Type to the Run Animation activity. A lot of improvements to the Zone. Updated the evaluation of the Return Value from the Finish activity so that executesubflow() can get a return value from multiple Finish activities. Added Activity Profiles to the token trace histories. Fixed a bug causing the Wait for Event to evaluate its Max Wait Timer even if the token left the activity. Fixed issues with the releasetoken(), createtoken(), and releasebatch() commands working differently when running vs stepping. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed the way that a token manually released (preempted) from waiting in a task sequence activity manages the task that it's waiting on. Now the task will be removed, and the task executer preempted if currently working on it. This may change older models that release tokens in task sequence activities. AGV Added Event info to AGVs and Control Points for use with event listening objects (Wait for Event and Event-Triggered Source in Process Flow). Added AGV templates to Process Flow. Fixed bug with way points not firing their OnArrival for redirected AGVs. Fixed issue with arrival waypoints not firing correctly with non-zero end speed travel tasks. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Fixed the order by which AGV trailers are attached to their AGV. This will affect old model trailer ordering.

Using Mixamo Fuse, Mixamo, and (optionally) 3ds Max, you can create animated characters for use with FlexSim. For modifying the existing operators' animations, see Adding More People Animations From Mixamo Character Creation You can customize a character’s look using Mixamo Fuse: After creating the character, you can save your character as a .fuse file in case you want to edit it again later in Mixamo Fuse. Character Rigging From Mixamo Fuse, you can press the Animate button in the upper-right corner to upload the character to Mixamo’s website to apply animations. You will need to log in with a Mixamo account. You will be presented with the Mixamo Auto-Rigger. After a few moments, your character will appear in a view with a default animation applied. Choose whether to enable facial blendshapes and select the appropriate level of detail for the skeleton, such as 2 Chain Fingers, and then press Update Rig. The auto-rigger will reapply and the view will be updated with the newly rigged character. If the settings are good for your needs, press the Finish button. Character Animating Once the character is rigged, you can select it on the Mixamo website and press Find Animations to find animations to apply to the character. You can search for animations and add them to packs. For each animation, you can adjust various parameters to fit your character to that animation better. Exporting the Character and Animations Once you have applied and customized animations for your character, you can add them to the Cart and checkout in order to have them available for download. After checking out, you can select an animation or animation pack to download on the My Animations page. You can apply the same animation sets to different characters using the Change Character button after selecting the animation set. Press the Queue Download button to tell the Mixamo server to create the files for download. You want to use the FBX format so that we can edit it with 3ds Max. The pose can probably be T-Pose or Original because the Original is probably a T-Pose anyway. I use 30 Frames per Second for consistency and ease of timing animations. Keyframe Reduction didn’t seem to do anything in my tests, and you can do it yourself with more control in 3ds Max so I use “none.” If you exported multiple animations, the output will contain one fbx file that is the character shape and several other fbx files that contain only animation data for each animation. (Update) Important Note: Starting with FlexSim 2017 Update 2, the rest of the steps in this document are no longer necessary. FlexSim 17.2 added support for embedded textures, specular maps, and gloss maps that fix the material issues directly without modification in 3ds Max. FlexSim 17.2 also added support for assigning animations to a shape from multiple files, so you can import the mixamo output files directly without having to merge all the animations into a single file. The following steps can be used if you want to optimize or otherwise modify the shape files, but are no longer required. Preparing the Character using 3ds Max Import the character shape .fbx file into 3ds Max and save the file as a .max file. You will want to resave as a .max file at different points with different file names as you progress so that you can easily revert back to a previously known working point if something messes up. The FBX Import window will show you lots of options you can modify. The defaults seemed to work fine. I tried messing with the “Units” scale factor and file unit conversions, but I was unable to find any options that improved the scaling in FlexSim. Ultimately, I found it best to just use Automatic and sort out the units myself using FlexSim’s shape factors. Export the file as fbx and bring it into FlexSim to see how it looks. Again, the default options seem to work fine. In FlexSim, the size will probably be 100x too big (no matter what “unit conversion” options I seemed to set in the import/export options). Resize the character to be 100x smaller. Fixing the Materials in 3ds Max When you first bring in a Mixamo Fuse character into FlexSim, it will probably look shiny and dark. That can be fixed in 3ds Max. Open the Material Editor using the button Double-click each material in the list of Scene Materials on the left to add it to the middle view for editing. Press the “Lay Out All – Vertical” button to arrange the nodes nicely in the middle view. When you imported the .fbx file, 3ds Max should have automatically unpacked its textures into a directory called CharacterFileName.fbm. When you double-click on a texture node in the Material Editor view, you should be able to see and edit the path where it is referencing each texture in the Material Parameter Editor pane on the right. Removing the shininess Each material has Ambient, Diffuse and Specular colors, in addition to any textures that are mapped to various channels. The operator is shiny everywhere because each material’s Specular color is set to White and their specular maps are mostly black. Since FlexSim doesn’t currently read specular maps and gloss maps, the white specular color is being applied everywhere instead of the black color from the specular maps. To fix it, click each specular map and gloss map in the center view and delete them with the Delete key. Then double-click on each main material and set its specular color to black to turn off the shininess. Save the .max file with a new name, and re-export the .fbx file to test it in FlexSim. The shininess should be gone. Brightening the darkness FlexSim uses Assimp to read fbx files. Assimp’s fbx importer is setting a default Ambient color value of dark gray to the materials instead of leaving it off. This is why the character looks darker than he should. To fix it, we can simply specify an ambient color of white on each material. For each material, set the ambient color to white and check the Ambient Color box under Maps: Save the .max file with a new name, and re-export the .fbx file to test it in FlexSim. The darkness should be fixed. Setting local texture paths Based on the procedure above, the texture paths are likely to be absolute paths when you export the fbx file. You can fix that by saving the .max file, the .fbx file, and the textures all in the same directory. In Windows Explorer, copy all the useful textures from the CharacterName.fbm directory into the same directory where you have been exporting the .fbx file. Then also save your .max to that same directory. Once everything is in the same directory, you can reselect the texture file paths for each material so that they are pointing at these files instead of the other files. Then, when you export the fbx file, each texture’s path will be relative so you can copy all the necessary files onto any computer and use them correctly. After changing all the materials, export the fbx file again. You should be able to copy the fbx file and all its textures into a directory on a different machine and have them display properly. Save your .max file with all the updated materials. Making part of the object change color To make a material show the FlexSim color, append _fsclr to its name in 3ds Max: Configuring Animations With the character loaded, you can import the fbx files with just animation data, and it will automatically apply that data to the shape. The slider at the bottom controls the currently applied keyframe. The buttons in the bottom corner play the animation, pause, or step between keyframes. Animation data can be stored beyond the relevant range. You can open the Time Configuration dialog by pressing the button in the bottom corner. In that dialog, you can specify the speed of the playback and set a Start Time (keyframe number) and End Time for the animation you want to see in the viewport when you play. This dialog is only changing the playback options in the software; the actual data outside the specified range is still preserved. You may need to adjust these values as you import/modify/combine animations into one Timeline. Keyframes If you push the button on the top toolbar, it will open the Track View – Curve Editor. You can edit and modify Keyframes through this view. Click in the left pane and press Ctrl-A to select everything in the model. You should see keyframes appear if you have animation data loaded. Sometimes this window doesn’t refresh correctly and you can’t find keyframes. You can try closing it and reopening it, or pressing the and buttons to re-center the view on the keyframes in the configured time range. To edit the animations, you need to be able to see the keyframes in this view. You can drag the current frame by dragging the yellow bar around. You can zoom by scrolling the mouse wheel. Ctrl-mouse wheel will zoom the timeline (X-axis) without zooming the key values (Y-axis). You can select keyframes by dragging a rectangle around them. You can delete selected keyframes with the Delete key. You can move keyframes by dragging them. If you hold Ctrl while dragging them, then it will force the movement to be only along the X-axis and not along the Y-axis so that you don’t actually edit the keyframe’s values, just its time. You can duplicate keyframes by holding Shift and dragging them. Again, holding Ctrl will prevent the new keyframes’ values from shifting by holding the Y-axis still. You can scale keyframes by selecting them, putting the key keyframe indicator on the first keyframe in the selection, picking the menu option Edit > Transform Tools > Scale Keys Tool, and then clicking and dragging on one of the selected keyframes to scale all of the selected keyframes towards the yellow bar. This can be helpful to sync the timing of animations, such as walking empty vs. walking loaded. Preparing Animations for Merging When you load an animation into the file, the Track View – Curve Editor will show you the individual components that have keyframe animations. Different animations may affect different components and the interpolation of transformation information between keyframes may get messed up when you merge different animations that affect different components together into one timeline. To fix this, you can stamp a keyframe at the beginning and end of each animation that stores each component’s position at that point. You can also duplicate the first and the last keyframes to make it easier to specify perfectly-repeating animation clips in FlexSim later. Stamp a keyframe by moving the current frame (yellow line) to the keyframe you want. Then select all within the Track View – Curve Editor to select every component. Finally, press the Set Keys button ( ) at the bottom of the main 3ds Max window to store each component’s value as a keyframe. Duplicate keyframes by holding Shift and dragging them. Also holding Ctrl will prevent the new keyframes’ values from shifting by holding the Y-axis still. Merging Multiple Animations into One File To merge multiple animations into one file, you need the export each of the animations as an animation file (XML Animation File (*.xaf)). Then you can import each of these animations into a specific range of keyframes in the timeline. From the .max file without any animations loaded, import one of the fbx animation files. It will automatically apply it to the shape. Click in the Perspective view and press Ctrl-A to select everything. Then prepare the animation using the information above. Lastly, select the menu option Animation > Save Animation to save the animation as an XML Animation File (*.xaf). Reload the .max file without any animations and repeat this process for each animation you want to merge. Reload the .max file without any animations loaded. Click in the Perspective view and press Ctrl-A to select everything. Then select the menu option Animation > Load Animation to load an animation into the timeline. On the right side of the Load XML Animation File dialog, you can specify the keyframe number at which the animation should be inserted. Do not insert the animation at keyframe 0; make sure that keyframe 0 is the bind T-pose. This will be important later if you want to edit the mesh without breaking the skeletal rigging. You also need to be sure to specify Absolute and not Relative. Select the animation you want to import, specify the keyframe you want to insert at, and then press Load Motion to load the keyframes into the animation. Do this for each animation file you want to merge. Use the Track View – Curve Editor to determine the keyframe at which to insert each subsequent animation. Save your .max file with all the merged animations to a new file. Modifying the Mesh without Breaking the Rigging Sometimes you may want to modify the mesh after you have applied animations. I can’t guarantee that this always works perfectly, but there is a way to make some tweaks even after animations have been applied. Before trying to edit a skinned mesh, be sure to save your work so you can revert back to a clean state if something don’t work correctly. First, you need to be sure that the bind pose is frame 0 and that you are set to frame 0 on the timeline. Second, click on a mesh in the scene and click on the Modifiers tab. You will probably see an Editable Poly with a Skin modifier applied. If you click on the Skin modifier and expand the Advanced Parameters, you will see an Always Deform checkbox. If you clear the Always Deform box, you can then click on the Editable Poly and modify it. You then need to recheck the Always Deform box on the Skin modifier once you are done making edits. Ensure that your animations still work after making edits. In my tests with the operator shape above, when I cleared Always Deform, the mesh moved up slightly. This made the Tops mesh not line up correctly with the Body mesh. To fix that, I cleared and immediately checked Always Deform for each mesh (each mesh then moved up the same amount). Then I verified that the animations still worked and that the arms still lined up correctly with the shirt. Reducing Polygon Count 3ds Max has features for reducing the polygon count of an object. You can apply these modifiers without breaking the rigging by following certain steps. You can display the polygon count of your shape by clicking in the Perspective view and pressing the 7 key on the keyboard. As stated above, before modifying the mesh, clear Always Deform on the Skin modifier. To reduce the polygon count, you can use the ProOptimizer modifier. After clearing Always Deform, click on the Editable Poly and then select ProOptimizer from the Modifier List to add it to the stack between the Editable Poly and the Skin modifiers. In the Optimization Options, be sure to check Keep Textures. Then press the Calculate button. Then you can specify a Vertex % and it will start to remove vertices from your mesh. After applying the ProOptimizer modifier, the normals on your mesh might be messed up. You can recalculate the normals based on a crease angle using the Smooth modifier. Apply the Smooth modifier after the ProOptimizer and before the Skin modifier. Check the Auto Smooth box and specify a Threshold. You can use a value of 89 to get a very smooth surface, only applying a crease to angles that are greater than 89 degrees. After making these changes, be sure to recheck Always Deform on the Skin modifier, and test your animation to make sure the rigging is all still working properly.

Finding the right answer should be easy. Together we can build and maintain a well organized, growing knowledge base by practicing a bit of good Question and Answer hygiene. Below are 12 tips for using Answers in a way that will help the whole FlexSim community get maximum value from the site, and keep our content organized, efficient, and intuitive. These tips are adapted from this Devada article. Devada makes AnswerHub, which powers this site. Search existing questions before asking. Use the advanced search functionality to look for a question you may have before asking it. You may find your question has already been asked and answered. This saves you and other community members time and effort. Please also search our online user manual. Your answer may be in FlexSim's documentation. Post a model that demonstrates your question. The best case is to make a simple model that demonstrates the question or issue. If the model is sensitive, you can post a private question (see the Private Questions item below for more info). Make your question titles descriptive. Making a question's title descriptive makes it much easier for other people searching the site to find what they need. Question titles like Problem with conveyor are not very helpful when searching, whereas titles like Item gets stuck at photo eye when using area restriction are much more helpful. The question title should not be too verbose, but it should describe the problem well. Post content in the right space. When creating content, it's important to select the appropriate space for it to be posted. Choosing the right space for your content will not only keep the community organized, it's also more likely to be viewed and responded to by the right community members. Need help with some aspect of FlexSim or your simulation? It goes into the Software & Simulation Questions space. Starting a discussion that doesn't have a specific answer? General Discussion is the space it should go in. Don't post an article to ask a question - do that with a question. Don't use a question to request a feature - that should be posted as an idea. Mark correct answers as accepted. It's important to accept a correct answer to a question, especially the questions that you asked. This will make finding the right answer much easier for other members and let the community know that your problem has been solved. Let others know what answers helped you solve questions by upvoting or liking correct answers to show community support. Share your knowledge by answering questions. See a question you know the answer to? Submit an answer with text, images, links, videos, and more to support your answer and to help fellow community members. Use comments and replies. Only post an answer when you're actually answering a question. You can use comments, or directly reply to others' comments to provide support, additional information or ask for further explanations when necessary. Ask experts directly. Want a reliable answer quickly? You can ask an expert directly after creating a question and the expert will be notified. Use the 'at' symbol @ and start typing someone's name, and they will be notified that they were referenced in a post. Be sure to use the autocomplete as you type their name, or you may type it incorrectly and the user will not be notified. A properly formatted @mention automatically becomes a link. If it's not a link (like this: @Ben Wilson!), try again. Avoid overdoing @mentions. Don't make the mistake of @mentioning more people than is necessary to try to draw attention to your question: Your question is just as important as any other question. The community will help you to the best of our ability regardless, so there is no need to spam multiple users in hopes of bumping up your priority. If anything, annoying active members on the community you will only hurt your cause. Monitor reputation points and the leader-board. See how you rank in your community with reputation points. Reputation reflects engagement levels like questions asked, answers submitted, upvotes, and more. Become an expert yourself. Have an area of expertise? By providing knowledgeable answers you can be recognized as a topic expert. The system identifies these users based on the number of accepted answers you provide within a topic. Additionally, you can self-identify areas of expertise in your profile settings. Topic experts receive an elevated role in the community and get notified when content is posted within their area of expertise. Follow topics of interest. Want to continue learning about a specific topic in your community? Follow a topic and receive activity updates in your inbox instantly, daily, or on a weekly basis. Change notification frequency and other settings within your profile. Visit the community often. The more we contribute to the community, the more valuable it becomes for everyone. Have an article you want to share? Post it. Want to share an idea and generate a discussion among other FlexSim users? Answers is a great place to facilitate "ideation" and collaboration. Additional pointers for using answers.flexsim.com: Use the latest version of your internet browser. Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and other modern browsers should be fully compatible with this Answers site. For the safest, fastest, and most compatible browsing experience, please keep your browser version up-to-date with its latest release. Internet Explorer is an older browser and is not supported. Preparation We expect you to have some foundation of FlexSim knowledge and experience before asking a question. If you're new to FlexSim, before asking questions here, please take the time to go through the in-software tutorials. Topics - when you create a post, whether it's a question, article, or idea, you must tag your post with at least 1 topic (and up to 5 topics) to help identify the main issues of your post. As you add topics, autocomplete will suggest preexisting topics. Please select a preexisting topic if it is a good match, rather than creating a new, slightly different spelling of an existing topic. Also, please try to keep new topics to only 1 or 2 words. Ask one question at a time. When composing a new question, limit yourself to a single question. Don't include multiple questions in one post. Each question deserves its own place. When you separate multiple questions into individual posts, it's more likely that more users will participate in your questions, getting you more answer options more quickly, often from multiple individuals. It also makes each post smaller and easier to digest, encouraging more participation. Follow-up questions. Sometimes it's tempting to ask a follow-up question as a comment to an answer, or even more inappropriately, as a new answer to your first question. New questions that can stand alone should be posted as brand new questions. Only clarifying questions should be asked that expand on the original question/answer/comment that is being discussed. This keeps each question post laser-focused on the top question, and each answer directly pertaining to the main question. An answer should really be an answer. Each answer should directly address the top question in a post. An answer is never a 'thank you', a comment, or another question. Those each have their place (usually as a comment), but none of them should be posted as an answer. A question can have multiple answers. The question asker (or 'OP' - original poster) should 'accept' the answer that worked best for them. Users can up-vote answers that are helpful, or down-vote those that are not. The top answers will bubble up to the top. Conversations go in comments - If you need to clarify a part of someone's question ("what version of the software are you using?"), add a comment to that question. If you want to respond to someone's answer ("thank you!" or "that didn't work for me because..."), add a comment to that answer. Need to respond to someone else's comment? Reply specifically to that comment. Simple and specific questions are best. Simplify your question by creating a sample model that shows the issue, rather than posting a large model (perhaps containing proprietary information) where only one small part of it pertains to the question. Use images to show what is going on and what should be happening. Animated GIFs are even better (example). Public questions are best. They add to the public knowledge base. They will get community participation, and thus get more answers, faster responses, and broader participation. They can help others in the future. Whenever possible, simplify your question for a general audience. Private questions are for private information. If you have a question pertaining to your specific license, make it a private question. Only FlexSim US can see the contents of private questions. AnswerHub takes reasonable measures to help protect information (see their privacy policy's Security heading) but this AnswerHub community should not be considered a secure site. Be sure to follow your organization's rules regarding posting of proprietary data, and when in doubt use approved methods to share confidential information. Consider reaching out directly to your local FlexSim representative for phone or email support. Post attachments: Attachments types - If you find that you can't upload a particular file type, simply compress it to .zip and upload that way. Make a note of that in your post so that we can consider allowing your file type. Attachment sizes - We've tried to be quite generous with total allowable upload sizes. If you find that your attachment(s) are too big to upload, first try compressing to .zip. If that still doesn't get your attachments small enough to post, you may be able to use a 3rd party file hosting service such as Dropbox or SugarSync, and include a link to your uploaded file in your post. Make a note of that in your post so that we can consider increasing the file size limit if this becomes a common problem. Attachment count - Again, we've tried to be quite generous with the total number of attachments that can be added to a post, primarily because images count against your attachment count. Let us know if you're trying to make a post but run into the max attachment limit. Advanced search functions: Simple search A search that uses one or more words, separated by spaces. For example: Enter transporter resource to perform a search for transporter, resource, or transporter resource. Refined search You can refine your search by adding different symbols (+, -, [, or ]) to your search. For example: Entering transporter +resource in the search bar returns results that include transporter and resource, but resource is a required term. Entering transporter -resource in the search bar returns results that include the term transporter, but excludes any that contain the term resource. Entering in the search bar returns only results that are tagged with the transporter topic. Entering [resource] in the search bar returns only results that are tagged with the transporter and resource topics. Google search This Answers community includes Google Custom Search to easily enable the use of Google's powerful search engine across all FlexSim web sites, including this Answers community, our old, archived community, our online user manual, and more. Please see this question and answer for details. If you have any questions, comments, or tips of your own that you'd like to share, please start a discussion in the comments below. We can update the article above with the best suggestions or illuminate anything that might be confusing.

FlexSim requires modern graphics support to run well. Most modern computers from the last few years have no problem running most FlexSim models, but sometimes there are graphics configuration issues that keep FlexSim from working properly. Common symptoms The model 3D view is black or blank. You should see the model view default to a 3D grid. The 3D grid appears, but does not respond to user interaction. You should be able to click and drag the grid to pan (left-click-drag) and rotate (right-click-drag) the view. Click the grid to select it then scroll your mouse wheel - this should zoom the 3D view in and out. Unable to drag an object onto the grid. You should be able to click and drag an object from the Library and drop it onto the 3D grid. It should appear at the location of your mouse. Unable to interact with objects in the 3D view. You should be able to double-click an object to bring up its properties window, or single click to highlight, or click and drag to move it about the 3D grid. Conveyors or other objects are not drawing to the view. Unable to create connections between objects. User interface elements and other GUIs are not displaying correctly. Solutions If you are experiencing any of these issues, it is most likely a graphics compatibility issue. Here are common steps you can take to solve the problem: Open FlexSim's default workspace to reset any potentially corrupted view windows. To do so, from FlexSim's main menu, go to View > Open Default Workspace. Any open windows will be closed and the default 3D view and tool panels will be opened. This could clear up potential issues with 3D or Process Flow views, tools panels, or properties windows. Check that your computer meets FlexSim's minimum system requirements. Review FlexSim's minimum and recommended system requirements. Check this article for an in-depth explanation of hardware considerations. Update your graphics driver to the latest version. This almost always solves graphics issues and is the preferred solution whenever possible. It enables the maximum performance from your graphics hardware and eliminates bugs and glitches in previous drivers. Check out HowToGeek.com's article for a primer on updating graphics drivers. Always go directly to your graphics manufacturers website ( Intel, AMD, or Nvidia) to get the latest drivers for your graphics hardware. Do not trust that Windows Update always gives the latest graphics drivers - in fact it rarely does. Not every user has the proper administrator privileges on their computer necessary to update drivers, so you may need to contact someone in your IT department for help. Try a different graphics driver. If the graphics aren't working correctly and you downloaded the latest driver for your hardware directly from Intel, AMD, or Nvidia, try instead using the latest driver from the computer manufacturer such as HP/Dell/Lenovo/Asus/Acer, etc. If you are already using the latest driver from your computer manufacturer, try using the latest driver from the graphics card manufacturer: Intel, AMD, or Nvidia. Try starting FlexSim with higher permissions by right-clicking the program icon and choosing Run As Administrator. If you don't have admin rights, you will be prompted to enter credentials with admin rights. Enter the proper credentials and the software should start with elevated permissions. Does this solve the problem? Some users have reported certain linked libraries used by FlexSim are blocked by default, but can run properly when FlexSim is started with elevated privileges. If you find this is the case for you, work with your IT group to determine how to unblock the DLLs required by FlexSim. Try turning off Shadows by going to File > Global Preferences > Graphics tab, and uncheck the option Use Shadows. Click the Apply button, then close. Restart FlexSim to see how it responds with this changed setting. Try switching to a different OpenGL Context by going to File > Global Preferences > Graphics tab, and make a new selection for OpenGL Context. Hit Apply, then close. Restart FlexSim and see how it responds. Start with Recommended, then try Core Profile (3.3). If Core Profile (3.3) still doesn't work, try Generic. The Generic context is the last resort option, and is equivalent to the Compatibility mode option in versions of FlexSim previous to 2017. Compatibility mode/Generic Context is not intended for long term use. Revert to this mode only if you must use a computer that doesn't meet FlexSim's minimum system requirements. Test with other 3D applications. Your computer hardware or operating system may have an underlying problem that is causing your graphics issue. You may be able to test this by starting different 3D-accelerated applications or games on your computer. Do other applications besides FlexSim have graphics issues? If so, and you have already tried upgrading your graphics drivers as described above, you may need to contact your IT department or your computer's manufacturer for support. You may have hardware or other issues that prevent your 3D graphics from working properly. Contact FlexSim to let us know that your computer meets FlexSim's minimum system requirements you have installed the latest drivers for your graphics card other 3D-accelerated applications on your computer work just fine but your FlexSim installation still has graphics issues. If this is the case, there may be a software problem in FlexSim that should be addressed. When contacting us about your graphics problem, please include the following: Describe your symptoms in detail. Screenshots are very helpful. For each of the troubleshooting suggestions above, what did you try? What was the result? Please include a screenshot of your FlexSim installation's About FlexSim popup (from FlexSim's main menu > Help > About FlexSim...). This gives us info about your FlexSim version, your graphics hardware, and your graphics driver: A screenshot of your Windows Device Manager, with Display Adapters expanded, is also helpful for our troubleshooting. This gives us additional information about your graphics hardware: Special Cases Nvidia Quadro cards have many different driver versions. We have had good success using the ODE driver (‘Optimal Drivers for Enterprise’). Another option that sometimes improves Quadro compatibility with FlexSim is to open your Nvidia Control Panel and change 3D settings to "3D App - Game Development": Your laptop may have both Intel Integrated graphics and Nvidia/AMD accelerated graphics, and the ability to automatically switch between them depending on the application's 3D requirements. This is a great feature and helps to maximize your battery life. FlexSim should be automatically recognized as a program that should use discrete graphics acceleration, but in case it is not, you may need to set it manually within the Nvidia or AMD Control Panel. Here is the Nvidia Control panel. You can specify an acceleration profile for FlexSim under 3D Settings, Manage 3D settings, Program Settings tab: Click 'Add' and browse to the flexsim.exe executable (default install path is C:\Program Files\FlexSim <version>\program\flexsim.exe). You then have the ability to tweak any and all settings for your FlexSim graphics. The defaults are usually fine, but feel free to play around to tweak things to your liking.

FlexSim 2026 Stable is now available for download.   You can view the Release Notes in the online user manual.   FlexSim 26.0.2 Stable Release Notes   If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please create a new post in FlexSim Forums.

FlexSim 2026 Stable is now available for download.   You can view the Release Notes in the online user manual.   FlexSim 26.0.1 Stable Release Notes   If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please create a new post in FlexSim Forums.

This table is meant as a reference and guideline. While we strive to maintain this list regularly, it may be out of date at any given time. If an advertised feature of FlexSim is not listed here, it is generally not subject to limitations by license type.   The Express license type is FlexSim's default, unlicensed state. Downloading and installing FlexSim to a new computer, it will be in Express mode. The other license types require you to obtain a license and apply it to the software. Please refer to FlexSim's End User License Agreement (EULA) for details on allowed uses, restrictions, and other considerations. If you wish to test a particular license type, please contact your local distributor to request a test license.   Please Note: Runtime seats are no longer available for new purchase or renewal but are referenced in this table to support those Runtime licenses still outstanding.   Please Note: Autodesk sells a node-locked subscription license. This is the same as Enterprise in the table below, with some restrictions on moving the license. Please see our article Node-locked license vs Transferable license.       Express Runtime Student Educational Enterprise Use Cases (see EULA) Testing, evaluation, and model viewer only. Run only (no model building). Educational use only. Educational use only. See EULA. Open, Run, Save open and run any size model ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ open and save models in XML format     ✔ ✔ ✔ unlocked random streams   ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ compile models built with C++ (optional, requires Visual Studio)   ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ save model size limitations model size must be under limitations none model size must be under limitations none none experimenter   ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ OptQuest optimizer   with OptQuest add-on license up to 10 optimization variables with OptQuest add-on license with OptQuest add-on license webserver (requires separate download) ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Model Building model building features available ✔ no ability to add objects or activities, but any objects and activities used by existing models are editable ✔ ✔ ✔ create objects and activities ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ object creation limit 30   100 none none process flow activity creation limit 35   250 none none execute FlexScript in script console     ✔ ✔ ✔ tree view     ✔ ✔ ✔ Tool Box Add Tools ✔ no ability to add tools, but all tools used by existing models are editable ✔ ✔ ✔ FlowItem Bin ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Global Tables ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Time Tables ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ MTBF/MTTR ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Down Behavior ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Dashboards ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Groups ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Process Flow (all options) ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Global List (all options) ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Statistics - Statistics Collector ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Statistics - Milestone Collector ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Statistics - Calculated Table ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Statistics - Experimenter     ✔ ✔ ✔ Statistics - Tracked Variable     ✔ ✔ ✔ FlowItem (all options) ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Modeling Logic (all options)     ✔ ✔ ✔ Visual - Model Floor ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Visual - Model Background ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Visual - Video Recorder     ✔ ✔ ✔ Visual - Fly Path     ✔ ✔ ✔ Connectivity - Database Connector ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Connectivity - Excel Import/Export ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔ Connectivity - Visio Import     ✔ ✔ ✔ Connectivity - Emulation (Modbus and OPC DA connections only. Other connection types require an Emulation license.) ✔   ✔ ✔ ✔