Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., has announced the English version of SimTread 2, a pedestrian simulation too developed by A&A Co. Ltd, the Vectorworks distributor in Japan, in partnership with Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, and Takenaka Corporation.
SimTread 2
As a plugin for Vectorworks software, SimTread lets users set up simulations and analyze crowd movement within buildings and across spaces. The software can also serve as evacuation simulation software for both general and complex building and municipal designs.
“SimTread lets Vectorworks users design with confidence by identifying crowded areas and factors that inhibit or change circulation flow,” said Dr. Biplab Sarkar, Chief Technology Officer at Nemetschek Vectorworks. “It therefore expedites the iterative design process and helps to determine the best designs for safe traffic flows. Plus, several new features enhance SimTread’s crowd movement simulations, such as creating events that trigger action, the addition of wheelchair objects and being able to program barriers to appear or disappear, mimicking actions such as the opening and closing of doors.”
For professionals who are responsible for disaster preparedness, public safety, facilities management (FM), or even, municipal or campus planning, SimTread augments the range of available tools and helps users be better prepared.
01 – SimTread 2 is now in English and works as a plugin within Vectorworks. The software was developed in Japan.
SimTread works within Vectorworks and allows users to create destinations (like to a public way), specify the location of walls, columns or furniture in their designs that can possibly impede crowd movement, insert people and then run the simulation. Options to count people within a specified area or to calculate the rate of flow can also be added. SimTread produces realistic simulations because it accounts for variable travel speeds for people of various size and age, such as children or older people, and people in wheelchairs. Users can export and analyze data on travel speeds and crowd flow rates, and graph the flow rate over time and/or cumulative flow.
“Creating simulations with SimTread is easy, and you don’t need to be a CAD or BIM expert to use it,” said Rubina Siddiqui, Assoc. AIA, Senior Product Specialist – BIM Solutions at Nemetschek Vectorworks. “The tool is intuitive, giving Vectorworks users the flexibility they need to create simulations based on their Vectorworks drawings or on various file formats imported into Vectorworks, such as PDF, image and DWG files.”
SimTread is sold and distributed in the United States by Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. through a license arrangement that renews annually. The English version of SimTread 2, which requires Vectorworks 2014 software to operate, works on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Visit www.vectorworks.net/simtread to learn more.