VISSIM 5.30-05 User Manual

9 Presentation
9.1 Animation
For the purpose of reviewing simulation runs and ease of presenting those
runs, VISSIM offers the option of recording simulation sessions - even
simulations of pedestrians - and saving them as animation files (*.ANI).
These files can be recorded at any time interval during the simulation and
played back from any point within the VISSIM network and at any speed
supported by your hardware. Unlike simulations, animation files can be run in
forward and reverse direction thus allowing presenters and analysts to replay
a selected sequence easily. Animation files do not support the runtime
analysis tools that can be used during and after a simulation. These are
separate files generated during the simulation.
Animation files can also be recording with Alternative Link Display for
vehicular traffic or LOS display for pedestrians. On behalf of that, the
aggregate parameters display needs to be active during recording (cf.
section 4.1.1 for vehicles and section 7.3.3 for pedestrians).
3D signals are not included in the animation file and thus will not show while
running an animation in 3D mode. In this case recording an *.AVI file is
recommended.
Since an animation only replays the graphics the animation runs are much
faster than the actual simulation.
9.1.1 Record Animation File
To record an animation, follow the steps outlined below:
1. Select PRESENTATION - ANIMATION PARAME-
TERS... to open the Animation Parameters
window.
2. Press NEW… next to the Time Intervals list
and define an interval to be recorded.
There may be multiple intervals for a single
simulation run but they may not overlap.
3. Press NEW… next to the Areas list to
activate the main VISSIM window. Draw
one or more areas by moving the mouse
while holding down the left mouse button.
Only vehicles/pedestrians simulated within
at least one of these boxes will be included
in the animation file.
4. Uncheck the option Save vehicle/pedestrian
positions to record only
aggregated data instead of individual
vehicles/pedestrians. Then the animation
file will not save display information and
thus will be much smaller.
466 VISSIM 5.30-05 © PTV AG 2011