Pathfinder 2013.1.0730 (Beta)

What's New

This version gives the user more control over simulation geometry and movement (e.g. one way doors, door flow rate limits in steering mode), occupant-specific output data, better 3D results performance, and more. Additional new features and changes are listed below.

If you try the beta version of Pathfinder, even for just a few minutes, please visit the forum and share your experience or send an email to support@thunderheadeng.com to let us know how it went (even if you found no problems).

This version of Pathfinder uses version 1.6.0_45 of the Java VM.

New Features:

• Door flow rates can now be explicitly limited in steering mode.
• Added optional occupant-specific output and a summary file for all occupants' exit time, active time, and jam time.
• Added a Find option to the Edit menu to search for occupants, rooms, and other simulation objects by name.
• Added support for AutoCAD 2013 DWG and DXF files.
• Additional control over doors is now available. Doors can be set to permit only 1-way flow and can be scripted to open and close at specific times.
• Speed modifiers can now be set on rooms, stairs, and ramps. This makes it possible to model moving walkways and escalators as well as slow down movement in specific areas.
• In the wayfinding algorithm, the variables used to estimate path now accommodate custom, occupant-specific weights on certain parameters (e.g. queue time, travel time, and global travel time). For more information, please review the Pathfinder Technical Reference.
• Occupants can be customized to avoid stairs and to walk (vs stand) on escalators.
• Occupant acceleration has been slowed down (from 0.5 seconds to full speed down to 1.1 seconds to full speed) . This change makes steering mode defaults more closely resemble measured data. For more information, please review the Verification and Validation document.
• Added new 3D models for first responders, children, elderly, medical personnel, and additional cultures.
• Improved the performance of 3D Results on multi-core machines and with graphics cards that support shaders.
• In the 3D Results, it is now possible to view the navigation mesh and imported geometry simultaneously.
• Improved the camera movement model in the results view for models that span large areas (stadiums, city blocks, etc).
• Simulations can now be started, initially paused, in debug mode to immediately see how the simulation is running.
• Documentation is now accessible via Pathfinder's Help menu.

Changes:

• Collisions are no longer supported in SFPE mode. Pathfinder 2013 will issue a warning when loading models from prior versions that used SFPE mode with collisions, change the simulator mode to steering, and enable door flow rate limits.
• When using the SFPE mode, maximum door flow rates will now be calculated from the density of the entering room by default. Previously, the default was to always use the maximum specific flow.
• The wayfinding algorithm has been updated to take into account observed door flow rates instead of using a calculated flow rate.
• The installer now organizes Pathfinder's Windows Start Menu footprint to work with the Windows 8 Start Screen while still working with previous versions of Windows.
• Updated the bundled Java VM to version 1.6.0_45.

Bug Fixes:

• [Simulator] In models with mixed occupant sizes, occupants will no longer become stuck after coming close to certain mesh boundaries.
• [User Interface] Room usage for elevators is now reported correctly.
• [User Interface] Undo now works properly after making an edit to an occupant profile in the profile dialog.
• [Simulator] Occupants no longer enter an elevator unintentionally and become stuck in the elevator as it is picking up other occupants.
• [Simulator] Fixed bug where occupants may wait for an elevator and the elevator would never pick them up.
• [3D Results] Fixed bug where an elevator shaft may appear too tall.
• [User Interface] Splitting a room now properly maintains opacity.
• [Simulator] Occupants with a radius larger than .5 m can now properly call elevators.
• [Simulator] Fixed a bug that would cause the simulation to hang if a room has doors on all sides.
• [3D Results] Fixed a bug that could cause strange triangles to appear.
• [Simulator] Occupants now properly utilize divided stairs when they are included in a stairwell.
• [Simulator] Fixed a bug that caused door usage to be artificially high in some cases.
• [Simulator] Fixed a bug that would cause a simulation to hang if a waypoint was created on a room boundary.
• [User Interface] Fixed a bug where selection might be incorrect when trying to select through a gap created by floor filtering.
• [Simulator] In SFPE mode, door flow rates are no longer limited to 1/dt (this would only be noticeable with very large doors).
• [Simulator] In SFPE mode, if several occupants arrive at a door at the same time, they will now exit in the same order every time the simulation is run.
• [User Interface] Fixed a bug where certain DWGs would appear empty when imported.
• [User Interface] Fixed a bug where Pathfinder could crash when creating an elevator.
• [User Interface] Added validation to the floor height field that disallows floor heights of zero, which would cause Floors with the label, "Floor NaN m" to be created, leading to crashes during some operations.
• [User Interface] When copying/moving occupant groups with the "Randomize" option enabled, the new occupants are now properly randomized.
• [User Interface] Fixed a crash that would occur when copying/moving a behavior that contains both "Goto Waypoint" and "Wait" actions.
• [User Interface] The "Set Z…" action now always appears correctly in the right-click menu.
• [User Interface] Copy/move will now properly copy behaviors and assign them to new occupants when both occupants and the geometry their behaviors reference are in the selection.
• [Simulator] Occupants will no longer try to use elevators with multiple doors as hallways to pass to another room, which would sometimes lead to occupants becoming stuck.
• [User Interface] Floor properties can now be edited when an empty floor is selected.
• [Simulator] Occupants will now fill elevators to nominal load nearly every time.
• [Simulator] Elevator doors will now remain open on a pickup floor as long as the elevator has room and an occupant nearby is actively trying to enter the elevator.
• [Simulator] Fixed a bug where occupants could either travel straight up or down off of the navigation mesh, sometimes without returning.
• [User Interface] Fixed a bug where the floor extractor tool would leave the progress dialog open after finishing.
• [3D Results] Fixed a bug where using the scroll wheel outside the 3D view would cause the 3D view to zoom.
• [User Interface] Fixed a bug where occupants would appear to be unlit when viewed as people on computers with AMD graphics cards.