Pathfinder 2009.1 Beta

What's New

This new version addresses many of the issues users reported with occupants becoming stuck and enables geometry import for PyroSim models.

Bug Fixes and New Features:

• All known problems that cause occupants to become "stuck" during the simulation have been eliminated.
• Geometry from PyroSim (PSM) files can now be imported in addition to FDS input files. A thin floor obstruction is now automatically added to the base (min Z) of appropriate meshes in an imported FDS or PSM file.
• The automatic floor extraction tool has been updated to recognize angled walls (e.g. 3D DXF files and PyroSim models) and provide a point-and-click interface. To extract a room using the new tool, select the "ext" tool, and click a floor. The tool will search outward from the point to find a complete room.
• Geometry for floors, doors, and stairways can now be edited via the mouse or keyboard.
• The path occupants use to approach corners is now calculated using a spline. This improves cornering motion by allowing occupants to properly align their bodies prior to the turn.
• The waypoint seeking and wall avoidance algorithms have been updated to improve occupants' ability to navigate narrow spaces.
• The split tool has been renamed "Add a thin Wall" and can now be used to add "thin" walls to rooms in addition to splitting rooms.
• Fixed a bug that caused the simulation to crash when occupants have a non-zero initial delay.
• The case name and simulator mode now appear in the simulation summary file.
• Fixed a bug in the simulation summary file that caused occupants to be counted as flowing through a door when they were rejected from the destination room by density limits.
• The simulation summary file will now correctly update the "exited" count for reactive steering simulations.
• The simulation summary file now shows the average flow (pers/sec) for each door during the time that door was in use.
• Fixed a bug with snap grid initialization when using English (EN) units.
• Boundaries are now drawn for rooms, stairways, and thick doors.
• License management is now available within the Pathfinder UI.

Changes in Patch 2009.1.0126 Beta

• Walls added using the Add a Thin Wall tool will now be added to the simulation.
• The 3D Results now uses a more diverse, business-like set of 3D models.
• A console window will no longer be displayed when running Pathfinder.
• The Start Menu link for 3D Results is fixed.
• Hardware skinning in 3D Results has been fixed - previously the lib/shaders folder was missing from the installation.
• The Technical Reference and Users Guide have been added to the installation.
• Pathfinder will now show an error dialog when old PSM files cannot be loaded.