Object

Objects are static nodes in a model through which items flow.

Planimate Objects

Planimate has a small number of objects but they each have a variety of modes and extended capabilities.

Entry

Entries introduce new items into a model.

Most Items will be created at an Entry.

The only other Object that can create items is a Splitter.

For full details refer to this page: Entry

Queue

A Queue is an area where Items can wait.

When a number of items want to access an Object all at the same time, and the Object cannot accept them all at the same time, then the items must compete for access.

In real world systems you will often see queues or line-ups forming to facilitate this competing according to various rules.

In Planimate, the Queue Object provides a place for you the modeller to apply rules to manage competition for access to Objects.

For full details refer to this page: Queue

Delay (MultiServer)

In simulation, objects that can hold an item and apply a process delay time before releasing the item are known as Servers.

The Planimate Delay object has the ability to delay one or more items at a time.

For full details refer to this page: Delay

Exit

Items leave a model via an Exit object.

Items that move into an exit will permanently disappear from a model and cannot be recalled.

However Exits can also be used to send Items to other locations, via broadcasting or throwing.

For full details refer to this page: Exit

Portal

A Portal object appears on the screen like any other object but rather than having a fixed behaviour, it is a link to a sub-system screen.

Every Portal contains one Subsystem screen on which there is always at least one Portal Entry and one Portal Exit. A Portal can be classified as “Logical Only”, as it cannot itself hold items. Only the capacity objects in the subsystem can hold items.

No time passes while an item moves into or out of a Portal. An item entering a portal is 'teleported' to the sub-system screen and appears on that screen at the Portal Entry object, and proceeds along its path. Likewise, any item entering a Portal Exit on a subsystem screen will re-appear on the screen containing the Portal which owns that subsystem, and proceed along the path.

For full details refer to this page: Portal

PickUp

The PickUp enables a number of items to be "picked up" by a Carrier Item and transported to another location, usually for delivery.

For full details refer to this page: PickUp

DropOff

The Drop-off Object enables Carrier Items to release one or more of the items they are carrying.

For full details refer to this page: DropOff

Dispatcher (part of Queue)

The Dispatcher is a "waiting station" for Items, and can have multiple outgoing paths.

It is used in situations where an Item may be called upon by other objects, or in model logic in no particular order eg. a repairman servicing a group of machines, or a part which may be required by a range of assembly stations.

Like a Queue, a Dispatcher has a maximum capacity, screen length and orientation.

For full details refer to this page: Dispatcher

Code (Change)

With a Change Object you can make changes in your model whenever an item passes through it during a model run.

You use a Change Object to dynamically influence your model’s behaviour.

Change Objects enable you to construct wide-ranging and complex system control and management structures in your model, and more sophisticated or detailed animation.

For full details refer to this page: Code

Switch

Switches enable items to dynamically select from a number of possible paths.

They are typically used in situations where items select shortest queues (ie. people queuing for ATM machines) or where an item can be processed by a number of servers.

The switch will choose from any paths along which the item can proceed (ie. flows which are not blocked). If none are available, the item will become blocked until one becomes available.

Different path selection rules are available through various switch 'Modes'.

For full details refer to this page: Switch

Splitter

A Splitter object takes a single incoming item and splits it into a number of outgoing items.

An incoming item triggers a splitting operation. The items produced can be of many different classes, each proceeding from the splitter on different paths. If any leaving item becomes blocked, no other items will be able to leave the splitter and it will become blocked.

The list of items produced when one incoming item enters is called a Split Schedule. You specify a separate Split Schedule for each incoming item class.

For full details refer to this page: Splitter

Guide

Guide objects do not directly affect a simulation but are useful in adjusting the paths of items to improve their movement on screen.

For full details refer to this page: Guide

Spatial Link

Spatial links are objects that form a connection between portals.

Spatial Link Objects can be classified as “Logical with Capacity and Process Delay”, as they can hold items, and time passes as they process items.

For full details refer to this page: Spatial Link

Pipe

Pipes are a type of "spatial" connection which can be formed between portals to model movement of bulk product.

Pipes are a type of "spatial" connection which can be formed between portals. Pipes are different to the other spatial connection objects (Spatial Link and Track Objects) because they do not carry items, but instead carry numeric values between attributes.

They complement track and spatial links for items by providing links for attribute value flow. This flow can represent any bulk solid or liquid material or commodity that is moved around without the need to make detailed distinctions between one unit or “packet” of the material and another.

For full details refer to this page: Pipe

Track

Planimate® supports modelling of railway type networks with a set of related features collectively known as “Tracks”.

Tracks modelling capabilities are considered to be advanced uses of Planimate®, and require a good grounding in and familiarity with the concepts underlying the Planimate® Platform as a whole.

A “Track” is a Planimate® object, along which items can travel, taking a designated period of time.

Tracks are placed between Portal Objects (representing depots, terminals, crossing loops and junctions). Tracks connect together the subsystems of these Portals. An Item can leave a subsystem, travel across a Track object and some time later arrive in the subsystem at the other end.

Similar to Spatial Links, Tracks offer an opportunity to display and animate transport networks, where Portals represent nodes in these networks. However, Track Objects differ to Spatial Links because they impose limits on how items on them (trains) move.

For full details refer to this page: Track

Conveyor

Conveyors move items over a distance at a given speed, with the length of each item considered to avoid them overlapping.

For full details refer to this page: Conveyor

Object Articles

• Can I move more than one object at a time?
• Can I make an object stop processing an item, hold it for a while, then continue from where it left off?
• Can I delete more than one object at a time?
• Select Objects to Add to Model Objects Label List
• Dynamic Model Object List
• Creating an object label for the current location
• Finding objects positioned off-screen
• How inter-object references are handled during copy/paste
• Replacing objects under model control using the REPLACE operation
• Specifying location of a dynamically copied object

Object Frequently Asked Questions

• The Carrier Item only services one of the Objects that want it
• I have two paths feeding an object, but it seems to draw from only one of them.
• How do I swap one object for another in a path?
• How do I remove an object from a path?
• How do I add another object to the path I have laid?
• Can I move more than one object at a time?
• Can I make an object stop processing an item, hold it for a while, then continue from where it left off?
• Can I delete more than one object at a time?
• I set out my objects, saved the model, but when I try to run it it says no more events.
• Can I save a whole screen's paint objects for use in other screens?
• I want to hide an object.
• I want to hide an object's name.
• My item won't go into an object, even though it is unoccupied.
• My attribute is not changing when the item goes thru the change object.
• My item only goes out one of the two outgoing paths I have laid from an object.
• When my model begins its run, an item goes into an object and never comes out.