AnyLogic North America

AnyLogic Releases Version 6.6 -- Something for Everybody

As I write this AnyLogic 6.6 is being put on the www.xjtek.com download page.  As usual our tireless developers have added a host of new features -- many of them suggested by our customers through the feedback surveys (so, thanks).  But this release has something for everybody:

• System Dyanmics modelers. We have revamped the user interface to be more in line with the classical appoach.  Now you can just draw dependencies and create your qualitative causal diagram and then come back to it and add formulas later.  (There are also several diagramming and graphical improvements).
• Transportation modelers.  We had the Pedestrian library.  We recently added the Rail library.  Now comes the new Road Traffic library where you can easily create complex and detailed vehicle flow simulations with drag/drop ease.  Naturally you can combine all these libraries into a detailed transportation model.  Can anyone say "urban planning", or "evacuation"; many applications!  And because AnyLogic is the ONLY tool that allows you to combine multiple simulation paradigms you can construct huge models by using discrete event or system dynamics components to handle parts of the system and lower your computational demand.
• Agent developers and learners.  Our new Modeling Wizard makes creating agent populations a matter of grabbing the Agent Population object and dropping it onto the design environment.  Don't let all this power go to your head.
• People who like to share ;-)  Everything is social networks now so, in addition to our web Forum and LinkedIn groups we have launched Runthemodel.com a new site where you can upload and share your models with a single command.  Want to post your latest work for your team's review?  Want to build a killer portfolio to impress your clients?  Looking for a new job in modeling?  Or do you just want to show off?  Runthemodel.com is an easy and elegant solution.  We plan to run contests and evolve this platform in many ways.  It's still in Private Beta but you can check it out now: Runthemodel.com 
• Techies.  Well, most of our readers are techies, technically, so they'll all be happy to hear about  these great features: automatic Units checking and reporting, integration with ExpertFit, new example models and how-to models, more collection types... there's a list you see.  Why not download the New Features list and go through them in detail?
• People who speak other languages!  That's right, AnyLogic is now available in German and Chinese (in addition to Italian, Russian, and English).   What a small world we have.
• Academics.  It wouldn't be right to leave them out, would it?  USB dongle activation is a new feature for University Researcher and Educational licenses.  And we have added the Rail library to the Educational version to encourage students to build rail models and help us explore the possibilities.  Consider it a graduation present.

 

The Windows version is available for download on the website - the wizard will lead you through a one-step uninstall of previous version and replacement.  "Update available" notices will be pushed to AnyLogic users upon application launch starting in a few days. Mac and Linux versions will follow soon.  If you're a lapsed customer just give us a call and we'll extend some maintenance amnesty so you won't have to miss out on all the above.  If you're a simulation professional but haven't checked out AnyLogic (as if!) then follow these links or contact our US office for a no-pressure demo or webinar. 

Don't forget to leave comments and tell us what you think.  Mentioning the blog entry may not get you a discount, but it warms our hearts, and we really do take your feedback seriously.

 

Play with trains at work! The AnyLogic Rail Library

Last post I highlighted the new Traffic Library but it was brought to my attention that the Rail Library barely got a mention in passing.  Let me fix that.  You have had the capability to model trains before in AnyLogic, after all it's a general purpose environment, but the new library makes it drag and drop easy.  You can lay out track or have AnyLogic create a track layout from a descriptive file.  You can have multiple cameras.  You can easily combine trains with pedestrians to get a train station model (see video).  You can import custom cars if you want more than provided in the library.  You can simulate kicking cars or humps.  The trains understand switching logic.  In short, we've shown this to a few people in the train business and they are mighty impressed.

 

To see more videos go here http://www.xjtek.com/anylogic/resources/videos/

But that's not all!  The XJ team has been hard at work on writing the Big Book of AnyLogic and I am happy to announce that the Rails chapter, in all its shiny newness, is available.  You can read it at the XJ website, download it, or just flip through the first 15 pages of it here to get a taste.  Click the right arrow to read this in its frame, click the center to fill your screen.

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To run some train simulations on our website go here  Or you can look at some of our newer models on YouTube

Sneak Peak at Coming Road Traffic Library

Anyone who has ever used the Pedestrian or Rail Yard Libraries in AnyLogic knows how powerful they are.  Just drag these objects into your design window from the palette and BANG! ZOOM! they bring a lot pre-build capabilities with them.  You can have pedestrians running around an architectural layout in practically no time.  And they already know how pedestrians behave.  No additional coding to teach them they can't walk through walls, etc.  And for the last few months you've also had the ability to do this with trains.  They're smart trains too; they know how signals work. 

Now, as an exclusive for the AnyLogic North America blog, I can tell you that all this coolness is coming to the May release of AnyLogic in its new Road Traffic Library.  

And of course it comes with a set of existing vehicles (more can be imported), 3D awesomeness, and the ability to leverage all of AnyLogic's extensive features.  Vehicles behave like, well, vehicles.  They know what different traffic signs are and how to react to them.  Just give your little agents the keys, step back, and watch them drive around (all without impacting your insurance premium.)

Have a particularly detailed or complex bit of logic you need to employ?  No worries.  Since AnyLogic is a pure Java app you can easily extend or modify your simulation at any point with the behaviours you are interested in.  Our designers thought of a lot of things, but not necessarily everything.  So with our foundation and your modifications we'll make a great team... with a time-to-complete modeling project that nobody else can touch.  (By the way.  If you DID come up with some neat code or new requirements by all means tell us!  We can highlight you on our web or even include your needs in a future release.  I'd tell you about our upcoming Model Sharing website but I really should keep it to one Leak per blog post.)

If you want to keep tabs on this release, or if you are just new to AnyLogic and want to see what I have been talking about, pay a visit to the XJ Technologies website or, if you want to look at a pedestrian model of what I have been describing you can go here and click on any of these examples.  They'll all run in your browser without any other software needed.

What color is your parachute? Maybe it's our color.

We're looking for a leader to join our consulting team! 

An exciting opportunity for a motivated self-starter with the appropriate business experience and consulting skills.  AnyLogic North America, while a startup, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of XJ Technologies of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.  Our primary line of business is marketing and selling AnyLogic- one of the premier simulation modeling applications on the market and the only one with the capability to model in multiple paradigms: system dynamics, agent-based modeling, and discrete event or process modeling.

As a leader of our consulting team your primary responsibility will be to build our North American consulting business.  You'll be given a large degree of freedom including development of marketing strategy, pricing, delivery, and coordinating with our consulting team in St. Petersburg. Required skills are a combination of business development and sales preferably in technical or management consulting and simulation modeling expertise.  Knowledge and experience with our AnyLogic software is, of course, highly desirable and will be heavily weighted in our evaluation. Other responsibilities include: project management of any work outsourced to our St. Petersburg team, participation in trade shows and conferences, delivering face-to-face training, providing prospects with software demos, and providing tech support for US customers requiring either US citizenship or immediate support via telephone.

Compensation is base salary plus significant commission.  Travel requirements, other than trade shows and training, will be determined by you as you execute your approved sales strategy.  Relocation is not necessary as we are comfortable working via web meeting, Skype, and email.  Please send resumes to: George Rivas, Director of AnyLogic North America, via grivas@anylogic.com

Nice Kitty! Snow Leopard solves Mac java problems.

As many Mac OS users know, Apple hasn't quite kept up to date with all things Java.  Consequently many Applets and demos have failed to run on Macs.  Well, we're happy to announce that all these problems are solved with the latest $29 upgrade to the OS called Snow Leopard.  All the applets have run beautifully with zero backwards compatibility issues that I've found.  For an AnyLogic user that makes the upgrade a no-brainer.  

Besides finally delivering an according-to-Hoyle Java environment, Snow Leopard is the only OS in the world that includes the Exchange mail server -- Microsoft makes you pay for it on Windows.  The new Quicktime is much improved.  You can now capture videos of yourself with your iSight or simultaneously feed video from iSight and an external firewire camera -- training video implications.  Quicktime also lets you do screencasts with built in video/audio capture.  It's all built in.  Last, but not least, the install was painless (no file saving, no reinstalling applications, none of that evil empire of Redmond nonsense) and when it was done, I had an EXTRA 26 Gigabytes returned to usable hard drive space.  That far exceeded Apple's suggested gain.  All in all, a terrific $29 bucks... and did I mention the Applets all work now?  

Veni, Vidi, Vensim

The new release of AnyLogic 6.4.1 includes a host of features, but the one I am most interested in is the new Vensim translator.  Pull one of those legacy system dynamics models into AnyLogic and - Presto, Change-O - you have a new AnyLogic Model.  And you can start bolting on Agent Based components or Discrete Events components.  For that matter you can now run the model natively in Mac OS or Linux.

But don't take our word for it.  Download AnyLogic here , then climb up into your attic and drag down your old Vensim models for an update.  While you're at it, might as well convert all those Super 8mm home movies to digital.

Read about all the new features here: Download AnyLogic 6.4.1 New Features