Names and version numbers   FlexSim releases have names like “FlexSim 2016 Update 1”, with corresponding version numbers in the format year.update.bugfix.   The year version number tracks with the “release year” when the software was released. For example, FlexSim 2016, having version number 16.0.0, was released for the 2016 “release year”. A “release year” roughly follows the calendar year, but a 2017 release could come at the end of the 2016 calendar year, for instance. The update version number is a count of how many feature-updates have been produced for a “release year”. For example, version 16.0.0 is the first feature-release for 2016. It is not an update, so the update version number is “0”. FlexSim 2016 Update 1 has version number 16.1.0 – it is the first update to the 2016 release. 16.2.0 is the 2nd update, and so on. Bugfix version numbers change when software is released without significant new features, but where errors, inconsistencies, or other bugs are fixed. For example, the first bugfix release for FlexSim 2016 Update 1 is 16.1.1, the next 16.1.2, and so on. Release schedule   New versions of FlexSim are released on a loose schedule:   Yearly release: November beta, December release. Update 1: March beta, April release. Update 2: July beta, August release. Bugfixes: as needed As with all future-looking plans, this schedule is subject to change. You should not rely on this schedule for making purchasing decisions.   How licensing works for a given version number   A new license is required for feature releases (i.e. year and update releases). Bugfix releases do not need a new license. For example, if you have a 16.1 license, you can license any FlexSim 2016 Update 1 releases, including all its bugfix releases, like 16.1.0, 16.1.1, 16.1.2, etc.   Licenses can also be used for older versions – i.e. they are backward compatible. For instance, if you have a 16.1 license, it can license any 16.1.x release, plus all older versions of the software back to 5.0.0. However, your 16.1 license will not work for any newer versions, such as 16.2.x or 17.0.x.   License Codes   Your license code should look something like mycompany.com03-A9B8C-7D6E5-F4G3H-FSENT17.1. Each part conveys some information:   mycompany.com- means this seat was initially licensed to mycompany. 03 is a unique index number for the license, but the actual number is meaningless. This number persists across upgrades. The mycompany.com03 license, if upgraded to version 18.0 or 18.1, etc, would still begin with mycompany.com03, even though the random characters and version number would change. A9B8C... The middle part of a license code is a unique, random mix of letters and numbers. It is different for each license, and changes when a license is upgraded for the next FlexSim version. FSENT signifies the product, in this case FlexSim Enterprise, but you may also see FSEDU for Educational, or OPTQU for OptQuest, etc. Each FlexSim product has a unique product code. 17.1 specifies the version number this license is good for. It can be used to license any FlexSim 17.1.x version or earlier, back to version 5.0. The license won't work for later software versions, like 17.2 or 18.0. For that, the license must have current maintenance and be upgraded for use with the new version. Upgrading Licenses   To use a new year or update release, your FlexSim license will need to be upgraded.   The exact steps for upgrading your license differ based on your type of license:   License Server - Upgrading your hosted licenses Standalone - Upgrading your license If your maintenance agreement has expired, or if you have timed licenses, your licenses will not upgrade. In either case, please contact your local FlexSim representative.   If you install and run a version of FlexSim software greater than your license’s version number, that newer software won’t be licensed, but will run in the feature-limited "Express" mode. To use a fully-featured, licensed copy of the software, make sure that the software’s year.update version number is not greater than your license’s year.update version number (which is typically visible in the license code itself as the final digits of the code - see License Codes above).   Long-term support (LTS) versions   From Wikipedia: Long-term support (LTS) is a product lifecycle management policy in which a stable release of computer software is maintained for a longer period of time than the standard edition.   FlexSim maintains the year release for more than a year, overlapping with the release of the next yearly release for a few months.   Here is an example of how it works:   In December 2017, the current LTS release was version 17.0.11. That same month version 18.0.0 was released. Because 18.0 was brand new, it was not yet considered the LTS version - we let it mature a bit before promoting it to the current LTS. During the time when 18.0 was the latest version, new bugfix releases were added for both 18.0 and 17.0. Finally, in April 2018, 18.1.0 was released. At that time the 18.0 branch was on its 4th bugfix release, 18.0.4, and the 17.0 LTS branch was up to 17.0.13. With the release of 18.1.0 the 18.0 branch was promoted to our current LTS release, and the 17.0 LTS was retired - it receives no further bugfix releases.   As with all future-looking plans, our LTS plan is subject to change. You should not rely on this plan for making purchasing decisions.   Downloading an appropriate version of FlexSim software   To download the version of FlexSim software that best matches your license version:   Log in to your FlexSim Account at https://account.flexsim.com/login/. Visit the downloads page at https://account.flexsim.com/downloads/. Download the latest bugfix release for your license’s version.   If a version of the software most appropriate for your license version is not listed on the main download page, click the More Versions button next to the product matching your license (see screenshot). This will open an expanded view with older versions of that product. Older software versions are not available for download from within unlicensed guest accounts.     If your FlexSim Account is a guest account (does not own a FlexSim license), only the latest software versions are available for download. Your FlexSim Account must own a license directly, or a license owner can share their license info with you, in order for you to see the More Versions button and have access to download older versions of the software. Visit your Licenses page to see if your account has access to licenses and have them loaded into your account session, then go back to the Downloads page and look for the More Versions button. Older software versions are not available for download from within unlicensed guest accounts.   Model compatibility across FlexSim versions   FlexSim versions are backward compatible, meaning that when a model built in an older year.update release of the software is opened in a newer year.update version, the model is put through an upgrade process that updates the model for use in that later version:     We recommend always saving this updated model under a new file name in order to preserve the original, non-upgraded model file, which you should archive for safe keeping.   FlexSim is NOT forward compatible, meaning that a particular year.update version of FlexSim does not support opening model files saved in newer year.update versions of the software. This is due to changes that are introduced to objects, data structures, added features, etc., that an older version of the software would not support.   A FlexSim model built with a particular year.release version of FlexSim can be opened by any bugfix release of the same year.release version, forward or backward. Bugfix releases do not change objects, data structures, etc., in such a way as to break model compatibility across different bugfix versions of the same year.update FlexSim release.   You should use judgment and care in upgrading models and continuing model development in newer versions of the software. If your simulation team has licenses that have expired at different times, and a colleague is on an older license and you are not able to renew maintenance at this time, you may want to standardize on that lowest version number of FlexSim so that models your team creates and edits can be interoperable among teammates.   FlexSim's model upgrade functionality is fairly robust, but if you are upgrading a model from a version of FlexSim many years older than the version you're opening it in, it may be necessary to open and save the model in an intermediate version (or two). Post a new question here on Answers if you encounter any problems upgrading your FlexSim model to a later version.   Opening Files from different versions (Flexsim Version Selector)   If this is a first time install of the FlexSim software, you can double click on any .fsm file and Windows will ask you what software you'd like to open .fsm files. In the program selection scroll down to the version entitled Flexsim Version Selector. This application will automatically open any .fsm file in the version that the file was originally saved or created in.   Alternatively, you can right click on a .fsm file in Windows and navigate to the option Open With > and then navigate to Flexsim Version Selector from here. This will set the version selector application as the primary method for opening .fsm files in the future.  

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.

Visually represent the number of times any AGV enters a segment of the AGV path

The attached model contains functionality to depict the item flow as a 3D map using a FlowMapper3D Object (cylinder) and an associated Object Process Flow. Additionally a 'kpi' label on the object gives an indication of layout performance to which you can link and observe as you interact/experiment on the layout. To set this up in your model you'll need to add a Group of objects whose entry events will be used by the mapper - calling that Group "FlowMapperObjects". Then you'll need to add a ColorPalette called "HeatPalette". Finally you'll want to copy the FlowMapper3D object and the FlowMapperProcess to your model. Note that there is a boolean label 'showPercents' on the FlowMapper3D object to tell it whether to show percentage text or the number of flowitems for each location pair. 3DFlowMapper.fsm

As many of you have seen from our youtube video, we recently released an early beta version of a new FlexSim Agent module. This module can be downloaded from the Downloads section of your FlexSim account, under the Modules tab. Note that the Agent module will only work properly with FlexSim 20.1.1 or later. Here I'm posting some of the models I created and showed on the video. BasicProximitySystem.fsm TwoPhaseAGVSystem.fsm OnePhaseAGVSystem.fsm Boids.fsm AStarSystem.fsm RoomEvacuation.fsm HallwayTravel.fsm The AGV models aren't perfect (there's some tweaking needed, and there are some bugs that need to be fixed), put I'm putting them out there anyway. Since this is a beta version, I'm going to just upload unannounced module updates to the downloads section, so you can check the dates/versions on the downloads page against the version you have installed if you want to get the latest and greatest.

FlexSim 2017 Beta is available. (updated 30 Nov 2016) 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 Improved FlexScript performance by compiling and executing it as machine code instead of interpreted bytecode. Added new syntax to FlexScript for accessing objects' methods and properties, including dynamic label access. Improved OpenGL compatibility by removing many deprecated function calls and adding support for the OpenGL Core Profile. Added a mechanism for loading DWG data into the tree using the Model Background object. Added a new Snap to Background setting on the 3D view for snapping to points loaded from a DWG file. Upgraded the licensing system to Flexnet Publisher 2016 R1 (11.14). Changed the network licensing system so that you can open multiple FlexSim instances using only one license seat. Added a Quick Library popup to Dashboard views. Added Travel to Location pick option to OnResourceAvailable. Added Export Results to CSV pick option to the End of Experiment trigger Fixed some issues with auto-complete not displaying correctly. Fixed a crashing bug with settablesize() on tables with bundle data. Process Flow Added functionality for snapping activities into the middle of a block. Improved the Activities window, including renaming activities, better filtering options, and locating label references. Added a Billboard setting for Text objects. Added a right-click Edit Activity Visuals option. Added an option to the Create Object activity for positioning an object at another object's location without moving into that object. Added a Preserve Global Position checkbox to the Move Object activity. Updated the Schedule Source table so that it can add labels. Updated the Release Token activity to allow numbers and strings. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. The new version of Flexnet Publisher requires network license servers to be upgraded. They need to use the latest vendor daemon and update the Flexnet Licensing Service. More information can be found in the license upgrade instructions at https://www.flexsim.com/ftp/LicenseServer/ Updated the Separator's order of events (executing OnEntry before Setup Time) to be consistent with the Processor. Users of the mesh api should update usage of GL_QUADS to use GL_TRIANGLES instead. GL_QUADS is deprecated and will not work when using the OpenGL Core Profile. Since the new FlexScript parser compiles to machine code, the order in which parameters are evaluated has changed to be aligned with the x86/x64 calling convention. This means models containing code where parameter evaluation order is important may have changed results. For example, the following code will have different results: myusercommand(duniform(1, 5), duniform(1, 10)) In the x86/x64 calling convention, parameters are evaluated from last to first. In this case, the duniform(1, 10) call will be called first. Since this call changes the state of random stream 0, changing the order of parameter evaluation changes the result. The new parser has a stricter grammar for the == and != comparison operators. The types of the operands must be the same or related. For example, the following code will now give compile errors because it is comparing unrelated types: double x = 0; treenode y = model(); if (x == y) { } This version introduces a new Array type, which is an array of variants, enabling a more feature rich array usage. In doing this, we are deprecating the old array types of doublearray, intarray, stringarray, and treenodearray. Specifically, the old array types are now just aliases for the standard Array type. This means that you can now, technically, put a string into a doublearray and vice versa, because they are all just Arrays. Hence we encourage you to just use Array in your code instead of the old array types. This change has also introduced a problem regarding the Variant type. In previous versions, the Variant could hold each of the four types of arrays, and it had a type value associated with each type, which you could get with the getvartype() command, comparing that value to one of VAR_TYPE_INTARRAY, VAR_TYPE_DOUBLEARRAY, VAR_TYPE_STRINGARRAY, or VAR_TYPE_TREENODEARRAY. Now, however, since we've merged all of those types into one, all of those values would theoretically be the same value, introducing issues if you had code that switches on getvartype(), or in some cases if you had a series of if/else compares on that value. Depending on the specific nature of that code, it would be hard to predict exactly how that code would behave going forward. Thus, we have decided to get rid of those old macros for each array type. Now there is just the macro VAR_TYPE_ARRAY. If you have existing code that uses the older macros, you will get compile errors when you open your model in version 17.0. We do this specifically so that you will be notified of code that needs to be updated. There are also several pick list options in the process flow module that use these older macros. Version 17 includes update scripts that will hopefully update all of those pick options in existing models to use the new VAR_TYPE_ARRAY macro instead of the old macros. With the new FlexScript parser, there are now some differences with how the parser compares a null variant to 0. In the old parser, the following expressions applied: (nullvar == 0) is false (nullvar <= 0) is true (nullvar >= 0) is true In the new parser, the following expressions apply: (nullvar == 0) is false (nullvar <= 0) is false (nullvar >= 0) is false This brings the <= and >= operators inline with the == operator. However, old code will evaluate differently now. The following expressions apply in both the new and old parsers: (nullvar < 1) is true (nullvar > -1) is true The param() command will now return nullvar if the parameter number is greater than the number of parameters passed to the function (previously it returned 0).

This small model shows how to batch various parts together to form 'valid' combinations as they become available. This differs from a regular combiner where the component quantities are set in advance of the components being accepted in the combiner (often based on the type of item on port 1 entry). The valid combinations are shown as the quantities required for a number of products in a global table "ProductPartQuantitiesGrid": By referencing the first picture and this table, you may be able to see that the model first constructs 4x Product2 followed by one product1 and a Product3. In the background process we are creating a token for each product which is then trying to pull all the parts needed while competing with the other products. This part of the process could be constrained in some way, for example where there is a target for the number of each product to produce over a time period. So these tokens are being created in the Object Process Flow of the object we're calling OpportunityCombiner at time zero based on the table shown above: Instead of the normal array generation this model creates a table label of the required parts for a product and stores it on the token. For Product1 that looks like this: Tables aren't quite fully supported as labels yet so the syntax is a little odd when using them - in this case we do it like this: Table(token.partsTable)[1]["Part"]  // evaluates to 'F' Setting the labels up so that syntax works is a bit more complex. Note that the partsTable label is actually a pointer to the data table label on the token - called partsTableData. To get the view shown above you need to right click on the label partsTabelData and select "Explore As Table". Hopefully in the future this may be more streamlined if more people start using labels as tables. The grid table doesn't play nice with sql, so another table creates itself at reset with a structure that is sql friendly: That means the label table can be created with this query: SELECT Part,Quantity FROM ProductPartQuantities WHERE Product=$1.product What remains for the product token just involves getting the parts (a subflow) and them moving the array of all items to the combiner (a queue in the example); stacking them together and releasing to the conveyor before looping back to try and produce another. Below you see the main flow with four tokens - one for each product defined in the grid. The subflow to get parts reads the token's table of parts for its product, and tries to get the correct quantities for each. This is similar to @Jordan Johnson 's solution for pulling from multiple lists, but is instead considering the table of parts from one list rather than arrays of resource lists and quantities. The key aspects of this flow are that 1. the first loop in the check section leaves the parts on the list, while the 'commit' section removes them 2. we exit the check loop by using the pull timeout when we fail to pull the required quantity of a part type 3. those that fail listen for pushes to the parts list 4. success full product pulls insert the items pulled to the tokens label 'allItems' for later use. Attached is the model. It should be relatively simple to transfer the process and tables to another model. OpportunisticCombiner.fsm

FlexSim has been taught in hundreds of universities, both as the subject of full simulation courses and also as short course modules. Professors who teach these courses expect that their FlexSim-related assignments will be completed with a high level of academic integrity. FlexSim has also been used for many capstone, thesis, and dissertation projects, all of which fall under the university’s academic honor code (or honor system). FlexSim is committed to help maintain a high level of integrity in the academic assignments and projects that pass through our support department. We’ve created a list of guidelines for academic modeling using FlexSim: Those Using FlexSim for Academic Purposes Can... Access our extensive product documentation (https://docs.flexsim.com) Utilize the FlexSim Primer (by Dr. Allen Greenwood), which is a great starting resource for learning FlexSim and was developed specifically for academia—download it at https://flexs.im/primer Access papers, videos, and other FlexSim-related documents that are publicly available Search the entire database of questions and answers that have been posted publicly on FlexSim Answers FlexSim Will Not… Complete any portion of an assignment or project which falls under an academic honor code Write custom code as part of an academic assignment or project Share answers or model results from the textbook Applied Simulation: Modeling and Analysis Using FlexSim to anyone except educators teaching the material Otherwise aid in activities that circumvent the academic integrity of an assignment or project

Article space for Production Engineer Book including FlexSim Examples from Brasil Este material de apoio faz parte do Livro Administração de produção e operações, manufatura e serviços: uma abordagem estratégica, dos autores Henrique Correa e Carlos Correa, em sua 5º Edição. Para auxiliar o aprendizado, este livro conta com exemplos em vídeo e modelos de simulações de processos disponíveis em diversos capítulos. O acesso ao material é gratuito e pode ser acessado através dos links abaixo nas descrições de cada capítulo. Aqui você encontrará o conteúdo detalhado, referente aos arquivos dos modelos de simulação (*.fsm) e os links dos vídeos no YouTube. Dessa forma, o leitor poderá usufruir dos arquivos de simulação criados para facilitar e enriquecer o seu aprendizado. Capítulo 10 Projeto do Produto e Seleção de Processos (Bens e Serviços) Call Center download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Restaurante download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Clínica download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Loja de conveniência download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Segurança de um aeroporto download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Terminal Rodoviário download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Hospital clique para assistir o vídeo Estacionamento clique para assistir o vídeo Capítulo 13 Localização e Arranjo Físico de Unidades da Rede de Operações Layout Celular clique para assistir o vídeo Layout em Linha clique para assistir o vídeo Layout por Processos (em breve) Layout Posicional (em breve) Capítulo 14 Capacidade Produtiva e Filas em Unidades da Rede de Operações Teoria das Filas download modelo clique aqui para assistir o vídeo Capítulo 15 Teoria das Restrições em Redes de Operações TOC Princípios 1-9 download modelo princípio 1 download modelo princípio 2 download modelo princípio 3 download modelo princípios 4 e 5 download modelo princípio 6 download modelo princípio 7 download modelo princípio 8 download modelo princípio 9 clique para assistir o vídeo Sistema Drum-Buffer-Rope (Tambor-Pulmão-Corda) download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Capítulo 17 Gestão de Estoques na Rede de Operações Simulação de Reposição Periódica / Contínua (em breve) Capítulo 19 Sequenciamento, Programação e Controle de Operações Sequenciamento de Produtos e Otimização download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Job-Shop download modelo clique para assistir o vídeo Capítulo 20 Just in Time (JIT) e Operações Enxutas (Lean) Produção Puxada vs. Empurrada download modelo clique aqui para assistir o vídeo Cartão Kanban Assista o vídeo e veja na prática um exemplo de simulação do sistema kanban. download modelo clique aqui para assistir o vídeo Desperdícios do Sistema Toyota de Podução (Lean) download modelo clique aqui para assistir o vídeo Setup Assista o vídeo da simulação de um processo de troca de piso da quadra de uma arena multiuso, utilizada para partidas de hóquei e de basquete. clique aqui para assistir o vídeo Informações Adicionais Os modelos de simulações e os vídeos apresentados foram construídos com o Software FlexSim, plataforma digital, a qual possui uma versão gratuita, FlexSim Express, disponível para download através da URL https://www.flexsim.com/pt/ Vídeo passo a passo download e instalação do FlexSim Express Vídeo requisitos de sistema hardware para utilizar o FlexSim Express Contatos suporte@flexsimbrasil.com.br / @Rodrigo Lamas / @Michael Machado

Attached is an example model and user library comprising commands to return an array of objects whose bounding boxes intersect, and a Collision Detection object to drop into your model. The Collision Detection has a ticker interval label to adjust the frequency of checks and will switch the colliding objects to selected. It looks for two groups - "Obstacles" containing static objects in the scene (which may be overlapping and not recorded as collisions) and "Colliders" which are the objects navigating the scene and should be checked for intersecting bounding boxes. In the example model I'm adding the flowitem when it is created using Group("Colliders").addMember(item) The detector code is on its FlexScript label, 'analyseScene', which is first scheduled to run by the object's reset trigger. collisionDetection3.fsm BBCollisionDetection2.fsl

This model showcases the latest enhancements to the mass flow conveyor object, found in FlexSim 2023 Update 1. See several new features in action, including the Randomized fill order and Width Rules for conveyors. Mass-Flow-Bottling-Demo_23-1.fsm

FlexSim 2018 Beta is available. (updated 8 Dec 2017) 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 new People module. (Try out the Sample Models) Added new dashboard chart templates to quickly collect and display statistics. Legacy charts are hidden by default in the Library and can be enabled through Global Preferences. Removed the basic Person flowitem and renamed the TaskExecuterFlowItem to Person. Added functionality to the List's pull method to allow you to pull an object/node directly (without writing SQL). Updated ODA to be compatible with DWG 2018 shapes. Updated Assimp to be compatible with the latest FBX file format. Added a RegExResult class for iterating over the matches in a regular expression. Lists can now use arrays as partition ids. Added a mechanism for automatically setting the reset position of objects after moving them by setting their resetposition variable to 1. Added a By Lazy Interval update mode to the calculated table. Improved calculated table performance by reducing the amount of table updates. Improved statistics collector performance by reducing the number of updates to Always columns. Table views can now be set as read-only using the grayed attribute. Added an Ignore Warmup option to statistics collectors. Updated OptQuest so that it can run more than 10,000 solutions. Added a pick option for restoring default values in the Global Table's On Reset trigger. The Query test field is now a multi-line text box. The Source now adds labels to items before calling the OnCreation trigger. Updated the table selection for the Excel Import/Export. Improved color options in various dashboard charts. Changed the model update dialog to be able to autosave the model with an incremented number. Added many new animations for the operator and the person flowitem. Updated many stochastic pick options to use getstream() as the default stream parameter. Updated the TaskExecuter to connect to the DefaultNavigator when created. Improved the Group UI. Updated the Library view to not change when clicking on the User Manual view. Changed the Tree view's Explore > As Code so that it closes the tree's edit view. Fixed a bug with list initial contents having old values in label fields. Fixed a bug with the statistics collector chart interface checkboxes. Fixed an OnDropWindow exception. Fixed some exceptions in the Table View when viewing an Array that no longer exists. Process Flow Added a Date Time Source activity. Added a Wait for Simultaneous Arrivals Before Entry option to the Zone. Added autocomplete for instanced flow labels (current). Added a zoneistokeninsubset() command. Conveyor Added a Round Robin destination option to the Send Item pick option. AStar Added a visual option to show the travel threshold for objects. Improved the draw performance and fixed the timing of some graphical updates. Fixed a bug caused by using the distancetotravel() command in conjunction with collision avoidance. AGV Fixed a bug with redirecting AGVs at times other than On Pre-Arrival of way points.

The Statistics Collector is a powerful object. Its purpose is to record data about the model run as a table, and it is very effect at doing that. However, it is very abstract; being abstract allows it to be highly flexible, but makes it more difficult to learn. This article is meant to help you understand (or remember) how the Statistics Collector models the problem of converting model data from objects and events into a table of data. This article compares a Statistics Collector to a train being loaded an unloaded. It is NOT an article about how to model a trainyard or other rail-industry systems. The purpose is to compare the Statistics Collector, which is very abstract, to something most people understand. So we'll start by talking about the story of a simple freight train. This story has the following elements: Starting - the train starts its journey a the beginning of the line Loading Stops - the train makes several stops along the way to load goods Unload Planning - unlike a normal train, this train determines where it needs to go after this point based on what was loaded into the train Unloading Stops - the train makes several stops along the way to unload goods This is a very simple story. Just keep the sequence in mind - the train starts, makes several load stops, figures out its destinations, and then makes several unload stops. To see how this is like a Statistics Collector, take a look at this model: StatsCollectorVisualization.fsm This model is very simple. It consists of a Source, Queue, Processor, and a final Queue: Items are generated at the Source and flow through the Model. Items have a Type label, so that there are three Types of items: Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3. If you zoom out, you'll see a much bigger section of the model: This section simulates the logic of a Statistics Collector. As the model runs, you'll see AGVs run along the track, like a train. You'll see them make several stops and pick up boxes. Then you'll see them stop at the "Table" (the bigger black box in the image above) and "unload" data into the table. The Statistics Collector tool is a lot like this simulation. It has an internal "train", and you reference that train with the keyword data. When you use the Statistics Collector, you are configuring the journey of the train, which determines what data is recorded in your table. Starting the Train The statistics collector creates a train (the data object) when it observes an event. You configure which events a Statistics Collector cares about on the Events tab. You can listen to many different things, including: A flowitem enters or exits an object A token enters or exits an activity The model is reset The model gets to the warmup time Whenever any of these things happen, the Statistics Collector creates a train (again, called data) and starts it going on its journey. In this example, the Statistics Collector listens for items to enter Queue1. It also listens for items to exit the processor. Either event will start a train. Loading the Train Once the train is going, the Statistics Collector "loads" the train with information. In reality, this happens by adding labels and setting values on data. First, data gets all the values associated with the event (the event parameters) assigned as labels. Then, data gets all the labels specified in the "Additional Labels" section. Finally, data visits the Row Value station. Here, the special property called rowValue is set. Note that as you load the train, you can use anything already on the train to get more information loaded on train. In the example model, the row value is set to "data.item.Type"; data is the train, and the "item" label is already on board, so the row value field can use that to load additional information. Unload Planning The next stop for the train is something that you can't really see, but that is very important. The Statistics Collector inspects the row value on data. The Statistics Collector remembers all row values that it has ever inspected, and it adds a row to the table for each unique row value. This is where the row value got its name. If the Statistics Collector sees a value it has never seen before, it adds a row to the table, and associates the new row with the row value. Once the row is either added or found, the Statistics Collector sets the property rowNum on data. So now, the train knows which row it is going to visit. All that is left in this phase is to figure out which columns the train will visit. First of all, if the row was added, the train will visit all the columns to set their initial value, which is called the Row Add Value (the value to set when the row is added). Whether or not the row was added by the event, the train will also visit any columns that are connected to the event, setting the value to the Event Value (the value to set when a connected event happens). So in summary, the Statistics Collector figures out which row the train will visit based on the row value, adding a row if necessary. If the row was added, then the train visits all columns in the row, to set the Row Add Value. If the event is connected to any columns, the train will also visit those columns, and set the Event Value. Unloading the Train Finally the train can unload data into the table. As it visits each cell, it unloads information into that cell. As the user, you configure what gets unloaded at each cell. You can unload anything into the cell, including anything on the train, anything connected to anything on the train, or anything globally accessible. In reality, whenever the Row Value or Event Value is evaluated, you can access and labels or properties on data. You can also use values on data to access other values. Or you can access global values, such as the current model time, or a Global Variable, or a value in a Global Table. In the example model, the Event Value field accesses the value that is currently in the table at the cell being visited by data. Does the statistics collector really have to travel? In the visualization model, the data train takes up time on the clock to load, plan, and unload. However, for the true Statistics Collector, all of that happens in zero time. For example, when an item enters Queue1, the real statistics collector in the model finishes updating instantaneously. In contrast, the visualized statistics collector train is still moving to get more labels. This is for illustration purposes only. What about "Update when accessed" columns? All Statistics Collectors know when something is trying to read their values. For example, if you have a chart pointed at a Statistics Collector, and that chart repaints, it will read the Statistics Collector. Or if you access the table through FlexScript with code like Table("MyStatisticsCollector")[1][1], that will read the Statistics Collector also. So in a way, it's just another event. However, there are two differences: You can't load custom labels on the train for this event; it "skips" those stops The train visits all rows in the table When you set a column to update when the value is accessed, you are basically connecting it the "OnAccess" event. So when the table is accessed, the data train visits all rows of the table. For each row, it gets the rowValue and rowNum properties set, and then it visits all the "update on access" columns. What about other features? This article just covers the basics, and doesn't cover other features of the Statistics Collector. Just know that there are many ways to configure the train's journey. For a full reference, see https://docs.flexsim.com/en/21.0/Reference/Tools/StatisticsCollector/ However, all of the features discussed in the reference add more detail; you can just improve your mental image of how the Statistics Collector works.

FlexSim 2018 Update 2 Beta is available. (Updated 26 July 2018) 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 an interface for running experiments and optimizations on the cloud. Added a mechanism for adding new charts as experimenter performance measures. Added a Sankey Diagram to the dashboard charts. Added a Milestone Collector statistics tool and chart templates. Added a way to customize how objects draw their 3D shape meshes. Added {} syntax to specify FlexScript expressions in SQL queries. Added a Down Behavior tool that can be used by Time Tables and MTBF MTTR objects. Added a message() method to the Object class to replace sendmessage() and senddelayedmessage(). Added a varchar bundle field type for variable-length strings. Added status bar updates to the table view. Updated the bar and pie charts with more options and data formats. Added duration settings to the gantt chart. Added new task sequence classes to the FlexScript API. Added a getCategoryName() method to the TrackedVariable class. Added getEntryFromValue() and reevaluateBackOrders() methods to the List class. Added padStart() and padEnd() methods to the string class. Added an option to sort back orders independent of entries when reevaluating back orders. Added an option to configure a list to always leave its entries on the list. Added events to the Statistics Collector. Added options for sorting rows in statistics collectors. Added dot syntax label access to List.BackOrder. Added a backOrder keyword that is available in a list back order queue strategy. Added a new overload to List.pull() that takes both an array and a query. Updated user library functionality to better handle conveyor types and containers. Updated Move into Highlighted code to preserve global position and rotation. Improved sampler options in various places. Improved drop-down options with label values in several places. Updated the Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut so it correctly closes the window that has keyboard focus. Updated the query() command to re-throw exceptions. Fixed a bug with updating bundle indexes when using certain commands. Fixed a performance bug with pasting into bundle tables. Fixed a window docking bug. Fixed a bug with the robot not drawing collision spheres or its stopped indicator. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed Variant math operations on non-numbers to throw exceptions. Updated the Source to automatically attach task executer flowitems to the DefaultNavigator. Updated dumpquery() to use bundle varchar fields. Fixed an issue with the Z-axis being inverted for screen-locked shapes in perspective 3D views. Process Flow Added stop() and resume() methods to the Token class. Updated global shared assets so they now have a separate global block instance. Updated Edit Mode so you can no longer move activities when it is off. Added a check box to quick properties to turn off all trace histories. Updated Wait for Event to handle listening to arrays of objects. Updated Pull from List so you can use it with a Resource shared asset. Updated the Resource so you can point it at a global List or a List shared asset. Added a way to sample shared assets in certain fields. Updated the naming convention for Resource object copies. Added an error message when trying to rename a shared asset the same name as another. Improved the performance of the Wait for Event activity. People Updated the multi-location to allow people to enter without an available sub-location. Conveyor Added a max count slug building property to the conveyor type. Added a catch condition to the power and free functionality to customize whether a given dog will actually catch an item. Added the capability to reverse conveyors under certain conditions. Changed the roller skew kinematics to be based on item travel distance instead of time. Changed the conveyor's belt repeat distance to sync to the adjusted dog interval. Fixed a bug with decision points snapping to grid when added with a conveyor from a user library. AGV Updated path transfers to prioritize their requests. Fixed an issue with accumulating path allocations causing AGVs to get stuck. Fixed various issues with AGVs having different deceleration values. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Improvements to AGV proximity detection on accumulating paths. Emulation Fixed Modbus polling for changes. Fixed the Modbus panels in the Variable shared asset so they show the associated object now.

FlexSim 2022 introduced a Reinforcement Learning tool that enables you to configure your model to be used as an environment for reinforcement learning algorithms. That tool makes connecting to FlexSim from a reinforcement learning algorithm easier, but that tool is not absolutely necessary for this type of connectivity. The same socket communication protocols that are used by that tool are available generally in FlexScript. Attached (ChangeoverTimesRL_V22.0.fsm) is the FlexSim 2022 model that you build as part of the Using Reinforcement Learning documentation that walks you through the process of building and preparing a FlexSim model for reinforcement learning, training an agent within that model environment, evaluating the performance of the trained reinforcement learning model, and using that trained model in a real production environment. Also attached (ChangeoverTimesRL_V6.0.fsm) is a model built with FlexSim 6.0.2 from 2012 that does the exact same thing, but with custom FlexScript user commands instead of the Reinforcement Learning tool. You can use this model with the example python scripts and FlexSim 6.0.2 in the same way that you can use the other model with those same scripts in FlexSim 2022. I'm providing this FlexSim 6 model as an example that demonstrates how you can communicate between FlexSim and other programs. The Reinforcement Learning tool certainly makes this type of communication easier and simpler, with a nice UI for specifying RL-specific parameters, but the fundamental principles of how this works have been available in FlexSim for many years using FlexScript. Hopefully this example can help teach and inspire those who wish to control or communicate with FlexSim from external sources for purposes other than just reinforcement learning. FlexSim is flexible, and the possibilities are endless.

In addition to the animations that are on the Operator and Person flowitem by default, you can easily download and add more animations from Mixamo. Below are the steps to do that. If you want to create new characters with animations, see Bone Animations 1. Download the attached two files: FlexSim_Operator.fbx and FlexSim_F_Operator.fbx. These are the versions of the male and female operator shapes as exported from Mixamo originally, before they were modified and optimized in 3ds Max. 2. Log into your account at https://www.mixamo.com and press the Upload Character button in the Characters section of the site. 3. Drag the FlexSim_Operator.fbx or FlexSim_F_Operator.fbx shape from step 1 onto the window that appears. A progress bar will appear as the shape uploads to Mixamo's server. Once it is finished uploading, press the Next button: 4. On the Animations section of the site, select an animation you want to apply. Adjust the parameters as desired and press the Download button: 5. Select "Without Skin" in the Skin section and press the Download button. This will download just the animation file rather than the animation, the mesh, and the bones. The mesh and bones are already in the software so you only need the animation if you are editing the standard male or female operator shapes. 6. In FlexSim, edit the Animations for an Operator or a Person flowitem: 7. In the Animations and Components window, select Edit Animation Clips: 8. In the Animation Clips window, press the Plus button to add the animation you downloaded in step 5 above. Optionally, you can edit the animation clip's name and press Apply. You can also edit the clip's length or split the animation into multiple clips using this window. 9. Close the Animation Clips window when you are done. 10. In the Animations and Components window, add a new Animation and name it. Then add an Animation Clip to that animation. Then select the clip and set its Animation and Clip values to the animation/clip set in step 8: 11. Now you can use the new animation in your model on this operator or person flowitem.

Autodesk has released a module that provides better functionality between FlexSim and Autodesk software. FlexSim users can download the module by navigating to the “3rd Party Modules” tab on the FlexSim downloads page: Downloads - FlexSim Account Please note that the module will work with FlexSim version 24.2.2 or later. The first release of the module includes the following: Added support for loading ipt, iam, and rvt files. Added a new AutoCAD FlexScript API. Updated dwg importer using the Mesh API. More information about the module can be found in the user manual here: User Manual - ADSK Interop Instructions and examples of how to use the module can be found here: Autodesk Interop Module Example Models You can find a demo of the new features (10:10 - 29:55) in the Autodesk University class recording here: Elevating Factory Design: FlexSim and the Future of Autodesk Fusion Digital Factory If you need to report a bug, please make a post in the Bug Report space. If you have a new idea for the software, please make a suggestion in the Development space.

In the attached model we use a Timetable and two MTBF/MTTR objects to define Schedule Loss, Availability Loss (breakdowns) and an element of Performance loss due to short stops (state Down). The processor sends 'bad' items to port 2 based on the send to percentage which account for QualityLosses. The processor's 'best' processing time per part (5 seconds) is stored as a label, while the processing time itself is a triangular distribution with the minumum as 5 seconds - so it also contributes to performance loss. When the Type of the item changes a setup time occurs which is the final contributor to performance loss. Two state profiles were added to the processor - one to track production time and another for availability. An object process flow on the processor detects production profile state changes (between On and off shift) and regular Flexsim state changes and determines the availability state that should prevail. A user command getOEEstat is used to access the values which it calculates on demand and stores in a label on the processor called statsMap. The syntax for this command is: getOEEstat(myMachine,"OEE") The list of stats: "ScheduleLoss","AvailabilityLoss","PerformanceLoss","QualityLoss","IdealProdTime","AvailabilityRatio", "QualityRatio","PerformanceRatio", "IdealProdTime", "RunTime", "OEE", "TEE". A group was used to indicate which objects have their OEE tracked, and a stats Collector reads the group members and adds rows at reset. Finally Performance Measures were added for the stats for processor 1. Processor_OEE_2.fsm 2023-08-22 Update: Added 'TEE' stat.

FlexSim 2019 Beta is available. (Updated 21 December 2018) 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 support for importing JT files. Added a way to directly animate 3D shapes with bones. Added a way to parent subcomponents to a bone on a 3D shape. Updated calculated tables and chart templates to be able to save their data during an experiment. Added support for SQL keywords UNION, UNION ALL, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT. Updated the time table's weekly and daily modes to use a graphical display. Improved the time table's user interface. Added options for stacking bars on a histogram and added more bar modes. Added a Column Sets feature to statistics collectors. Added more options for event listening in statistics collectors. Added an option to statistics collectors and calculated tables for object path display depth. Added an option to statistics collectors to stop tracking row values after specified events. Added an option to milestone collectors to start new entries on the next milestone. Added options to record more data in additional columns on a milestone collector. Added enable/disable right-click menu options to statistics collectors in the toolbox. Improved the performance of calculated tables in certain configurations. Fixed a bug with Always Leave Entries on List when reevaluating multiple back orders. Fixed a bug with color spilling from one mesh to another when using shape data overrides. Fixed scaling issues and a crashing bug when loading certain STEP and IGES files. Process Flow Improved the Token.create() method to be able to create child tokens. Added a new Person Flow type of Process Flow. Fixed a bug with a resource connected to a global list deleting the list when the resource was in an instanced flow. People Added a Process activity. Added a Remove Person activity. Added various activity sets to quickly create common groups of activities. Added a priority value to resource objects that is used for acquiring and preempting resources. Added advanced options to the Process activity for handling preemption. Added functionality for simulating shift schedules with time tables and down behaviors. Improved the UI for how people objects are added to groups. AGV Improved control point selection on paths in the 3D view. A* Added a way to draw a heat map based on a node's percentage of total traversals. Added a Two Way option to preferred paths and dividers. Added a Condition option to A* objects to optionally disable them under certain circumstances. Added a Mandatory Path object used for defining sets of paths where certain connected objects can travel. Updated the Barrier object to be able to specify patterns to determine how it affects the grid. Added a FlexScript API for A* objects and data. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Fixed a bug with A* barriers blocking space larger than their actual size.

[ 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 dev@flexsim.com 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.