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ANT TRAFFIC SIMULATOR v1.02 USER GUIDE

Table of Contents
ANT TRAFFIC SIMULATOR v1.02 USER GUIDE................................................................................................................................................2 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................3 Why Ant Traffic Simulator?....................................................................................................................3 What is it?..............................................................................................................................................3 What it's not?........................................................................................................................................3 What are the requirements?.................................................................................................................3 Features.................................................................................................................................................3 INSTALLATION.............................................................................................................................................5 REGISTRATION............................................................................................................................................6 INTERFACE..................................................................................................................................................7 1. Build rig..............................................................................................................................................8 2. Environment setup..........................................................................................................................10 3. Traffic Setup.....................................................................................................................................12 4. Selection..........................................................................................................................................14 5. Calculator.........................................................................................................................................15 6. Help.................................................................................................................................................16 KNOWN ERRORS......................................................................................................................................17 1. MAXScript Error Exception..............................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION

Why Ant Traffic Simulator?

Adding animated vehicles to your scene used to be a frustrating chore. Having to deal with rig setups, animation controllers, writing expressions, key frame animations, terrain following, secondary motion... Not anymore! With Ant Traffic Simulator, you select your vehicle and press one button to rig it. Pick the path to follow and press a button to have your vehicles following it with proper wheel rotation and steering. Choose the terrain you want to be followed and with couple clicks your vehicles will follow it. Yes, it's that easy!

What is it?
Ant Traffic Simulator is a collection of scripted tools which use 3ds Max native animation controllers and key frames to help drastically reduce the time necessary for vehicle animation in visualization scenes.

What it's not?

Ant Traffic Simulator is not a plug-in. The scenes created with Ant Traffic Simulator will run the same on computers without the script. You will be able to open, edit and render the scenes on any computer without the need of extra licenses.

What are the requirements?

This script requires 3ds Max version 9 SP1 or above.

Features
Automatic vehicle rigging for multiple vehicle styles Automatic secondary motion Path following with proper wheel rotation and steering Terrain following 3

Automatic looping on the path for continuous animation Vehicle speed setting in Miles per Hour Traffic setup with random vehicle placement on chosen paths One click traffic randomization Animated path switching to simulate lane changes One click vehicle stops with easing in and out Quick selection buttons for rigs and vehicle objects Cars per hour calculator for realistic traffic simulation

INSTALLATION
IMPORTANT: If your computer has Windows 7 as the operating system, you will have to start 3ds Max with administrator privileges in order to be able to install the script. To do so, right click on the 3ds Max icon on your desktop or start menu and choose Run as Administrator. After you have purchased and downloaded the script follow the next steps to install and register it: 1. Open 3ds Max and from the menu choose MAXScript / Run Script... 2. Choose the AntTrafficSimulator.mzp file from the location where you previously have downloaded it and click Open. This will install the script and all the required files on your computer. 3. Restart 3ds Max 4. From the Customize menu, choose Customize User Interface... 5. From the Customize User Interface dialog, select the Toolbars tab and under Category / Ant Tools you can find the script 6. Drag the script to any toolbar on 3ds Max's interface and close the Customize User Interface dialog 7. To run the script, click on the Ant Traffic Simulator icon on your interface

REGISTRATION
To be able to utilize the script you will need a license file. First time you run the script, it will provide you with a Request Code for a license. To register the script follow the next steps: 1. Run the script by clicking on the icon on your interface. 2. Press on the Copy the Request Code to Clipboard and Launch the Registration Website button. This will automatically copy the Request Code to your Clipboard and launch the registration web page at: http://75ive.com/registration/traffic_simulator_registration.html 3. On the registration web page fill up the registration form and press submit. Make sure you enter the same email address you used for purchasing the script 4. Once you have submitted the request, within minutes, you will receive an automated email from scripts.75ive@google.com with the license file attached. In case you didn't receive the authorization email within a few hours, please check your spam filter and contact us at anton@75ive.com 5. Download the attachment and place it in your [3ds max folder]\scripts\AntTrafficSimulator folder. (Depending on your 3ds Max version and installation options, the path to the 3ds Max folder will be different. For a default installation it will usually be: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max xxxx) 6. Run the script and now you are able to use Ant Traffic Simulator in your projects!

INTERFACE
The interface is divided in 6 main panels: 1. Build Rig for the automatic rigging of the vehicles 2. Environment Setup for terrain and path following 3. Traffic Setup for the tools used when animating traffic 4. Selection for the rig and vehicle quick selection tools 5. Calculator for the traffic flow calculation 6. Help for quick reference and links to online help.

1. Build rig
This tab contains the tools for rig creation. There are 2 types of rigs available, one for 2 axle vehicle and one for a 3 axle vehicle with the option of having automated body dynamics. IMPORTANT: 1. To be able to create the rig properly your vehicle must be placed in the scene along the X axis with the front towards the positive direction of X axis. 2. The rig creation algorithm uses 5 objects for the "Four wheel vehicle" rig (four wheels and one body) and 6 objects for the "Vehicle with two back axles" rig. If your vehicle body and the wheels are groups of objects, you can open the groups and select the group heads to obtain the required number of objects.

Four wheel vehicle rig is used for 2 axle vehicles like cars, light trucks, and small buses. The rig is composed of the main dummy controller which controls the position of the whole rig, the secondary motion system which adds vehicle body sway, steering system, suspension system and terrain following system. In this stage all the systems are interconnected together besides the terrain following and wheel rotation. These systems will be set up in the Environment Setup roll-out.

Vehicle with two back axles rig is used for 3 axle vehicles trucks and buses. The rig is composed of the same components as the 2 axle rig with the exception of having a second axle in the back. Add secondary motion to the rig check box if checked will add the secondary motion system to the rig. Best used for close up shots where the added secondary animation will be visible to the camera. For aerial shots or high traffic areas where the secondary motion would not be visible is best to have it unchecked to keep the rig lighter. Build rig button will rig the selected vehicle. To rig a vehicle, select your vehicle component objects (make sure they are oriented to the positive direction of the X axis), choose the desired type of rig based on the selected vehicle, check or uncheck the secondary motion system creation and press the Build Rig button.

2. Environment setup

This roll-out contains the tools used to set the path and terrain following for the rigged vehicles. Link selected Rigs to Path button will add a path constraint controller to the selected main rig controller dummies. Create Terrain from Selection creates a duplicate of the selected terrain objects and attaches them together as one object that is non render-able and it will be used by the Conform Space Warp object to control the rig's connection to the ground. It also creates a Conform Space Warp object in the scene if none exists. IMPORTANT: Due to MAXScript limitations, the Wrap to Object selection for the Conform Space Warp can not be made automatically hence the need to be done manually. To complete this step, select the Conform Space Modifier in the scene, go to the Modify Panel, and under Conform Parameters click on Pick Object. Then select the newly created terrain in your scene. Link Selected Rigs to Terrain binds the rig's terrain following to the Conform Space Warp Object in the scene. Once set, the rig will automatically follow the terrain. 10

Reverse wheel rotation button sometimes, when adding the wheel rotation script controller, the wheels will rotate in the opposite direction. This button will reverse rotation directions for the selected wheels. Works only for vehicles linked to paths. To use this option, select the wheels turning in the wrong direction and click the Reverse Wheel Rotation Button. TIP: To quickly select the wheels of multiple objects, select the main control dummies of the rig, go to the Selection panel and click the Select Vehicle Wheels for the Selected Controllers button.

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3. Traffic Setup
The Traffic Setup roll out contains the tools needed for traffic animation setup. It is subdivided in 5 subcategories with specific functionality each: Vehicle speed tools to read and set the desired speed of the vehicles Path population a fast way to simultaneously place multiple vehicles randomly on multiple paths and to randomize them even further Lane changing simple way to simulate a lane change in multi-lane street setup Start / Stop one click simulation of a stop in a specified location, with smooth easing in and out

Vehicle speed allows you to read and set the speed of a vehicle along a path. There are two speed readings, the Average Speed and Absolute Speed. The Average Speed is calculated based on the duration it takes the vehicle to go from the start of the path to the end of the path. The Absolute Speed is the speed at a particular frame on the time-line and is calculated based on the distance differential between the current frame and the following frame. To get the speed of a rig, select the main control dummy and press on Get Speed button. To set the speed, select one or more rig control dummies, adjust the Set New Speed spinner to the desired value and press the Set Speed button. The speed measuring unit is in Miles per Hour. Path population best used when simulating streets with multiple lanes of traffic and freeways. It will randomly place the vehicles from the Vehicles to Link list to the paths on the Paths to be Linked to list. To add vehicles to the list, select their main control dummies and click on the Add button below 12

the list. To remove vehicles from the list, either select them (Ctrl + Click will select multiple) in the list and press on the Remove button or remove all by pressing on the Reset List button. Same procedures apply to the Paths list. The Randomize Vehicles on Selected Paths will randomize the position of the vehicles on the selected paths every time it is pressed. Lane changing allows a vehicle to move from one path to another to simulate a lane changing action. Select the vehicle's control dummy, select the path to change to, choose the duration by adjusting the Change Duration spinner and press the Do It! button. IMPORTANT: The length of the paths must be as close to equal as possible for the Lane Changing option to work properly. Start / Stop adds a specific duration stop for the selected vehicle starting at the timeline location. The vehicle will ease out to a stop and once the duration of the stop has elapsed, it will resume it's movement easing in to it's previous speed. To add a stop to the vehicle, slide the timeline slider to the desired frame, adjust the Stop Time spinner and press the Add a Simple Stop / Start button. IMPORTANT: Once you have Start/Stops added to a vehicle, setting the speed of the vehicle will change their duration and position. Set the speeds first then add the Stops where you need them.

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4. Selection
The Selection roll-out contains a series of tools to allow one click selection of different parts of the vehicle or rig.

Select all Control Dummies will select all the main control dummy for the rigs in the scene Select Control Dummies in List will select all the main control dummy objects for the rigs in the Path Population Vehicles to Link list Select Control Dummies Linked to Selected Paths will select all the main control dummies which have as Path Constraint the selected path or paths Select Vehicle Bodies for the Selected Controllers will select the vehicle bodies for the selected main control dummies Select Vehicle Wheels for the Selected Controllers will select the wheel objects for the selected main control dummies Hide all Dummies in Scene besides the Main Controller will hide all the rig dummy and point objects in the scene besides the main control dummies

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5. Calculator
The Calculator roll out allows you to simulate traffic flow based on the number of vehicles that pass on a street lane during a time period of one hour. Each lane on a freeway has a capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 passenger cars per hour depending on the amount of weaving that the vehicles are engaged in.

Cars per Hour the amount of vehicles that will flow on one path during a one hour period Average Speed the average speed of the vehicles in the simulation Pick the Master Path allows you to select the path which will be used for the simulation Number of cars needed the result of the simulation based on the length of the path, the speed of the vehicles and the number of vehicles per hour used in the simulation. Each vehicle will continuously loop on the path and it's speed together with the length of the path will decide how many times the car will loop during the one hour period. EXAMPLE: Let's say the path will be 1 mile long and the vehicle's speed will be 60 miles per hour. This means that the vehicle will need one minute to make one loop on the path. So if the simulation requires for 60 cars per hour, you will need only one car constrained to that path. If the simulation requires for 600 cars per hour which is 10 times more than in the previous example, you will need 10 times more vehicles too.

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6. Help
The help tab contains links to online reference and the About information.

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KNOWN ERRORS
1. MAXScript Error Exception
When launching the script in 3ds Max 2009 and 2010 error message pictured below appears:

This is an issue with 3ds Max not the script and is solved with the install of a Hotfix released by Autodesk. Here is the quote from Autodesk's website regarding the issue: This hotfix addresses the following issues: MAXScript When encrypting a Maxscript file (encryptscript YourMaxScript.ms), the file would generate an error when executing the resulting encrypted file (YourMaxScript.mse). This error would also occur when reading from an encrypted MaxScript file. These issues are resolved. Here are the links for the Hotfix files and descriptions: Hotfix Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 2009.08.18 http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?linkID=9241178&id=13774693&siteID=123112 Hotfix Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 2009.05.19 http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13326570&linkID=9241178 Hotfix - Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 2009.05.19 http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13326613&linkID=10381720 17