Blocks that perform various operations on agents and resources can animate their activity. Process Modeling Library blocks do not have built-in animation.
To animate agents that reside in a block, use space markup shapes from the Space Markup section of the Process Modeling Library palette: paths and nodes. Paths and nodes are space markup elements that define the locations of agents in the space. After you draw the space markup shape, you select it in the block’s Agent location parameter.
The blocks that can only have an agent for a zero time (for example, SelectOutput, ResourceAttach, Release, and so on) do not require animation.
Below we describe all possible animation guiding shapes. The resource units are animated similarly, but when the unit is attached to an agent, it is drawn next to the agent with an offset.
Animation guiding shape | Description | Appearance in graphical editor | 3D example |
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Point node | The agent animation is displayed in the node. If multiple agents are animated in this way, they will be placed in the same position. |
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Rectangular / Polygonal node Locations layout: Random |
Agent animations are displayed at random positions within the specified node (independent of the other agents). The node can display an unlimited number of agents simultaneously. | ![]() |
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Rectangular / Polygonal node Locations layout: Arranged |
Animations of agents are displayed arranged in a grid that fits the node. The maximum number of agents is usually determined by the capacity of the block. A new agent is displayed at the first available position in the grid. |
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Rectangular / Polygonal node with attractors | Animations of agents are displayed at the positions of the attractors. |
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Path |
Animations of agents are displayed as they move along the path. The rotation of the agent animations is controlled by the angle of the current path segment. A path can display an unlimited number of agents simultaneously. When a path is used as an agent location shape for the Queue block (and the blocks containing a Queue inside: Batch, Match, Service, Seize, and so on), the agents do not move along the path, “but stay in a queue”: the agent at the position 0 is displayed at the end point of the path. The distance between the two subsequent agent animations is set to the path length divided by Queue capacity - 1 (as it was known at the startup). The distance is not reset if the queue capacity changes dynamically. |
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