MassMotion

MassMotion Benefits

The most advanced pedestrian simulation and crowd analysis tool available anywhere. Capable of simulating hundreds of thousands of people within a matter of hours, reducing simulation time by several days
Communicate complex problems in a highly visual manner
Save time, money and manpower during the planning phase of multi-billion pound projects

About This Software

MassMotion 5.0 - RELEASED NOW

The latest release of MassMotion is now ready for use. Version 5.0 introduces some significant new features into the software that will make the simulation process more efficient and effective. The TOP 6 new features are listed below

Actions Manager
Process Manager
Improved Agent Dynamics
Zones
Bi-directional flow enhancements (cornering and channelling behaviour)
Support for Autodesk Softimage 2013

The video below provides a quick overview of the Actions Manager.

The video below shows how we have improved the bi-directional flow around corners and also the behaviour of agents when congestion occurs around a small aperture. The process has been improved to represent real life situations more realistically.

MassMotion is the next generation of crowd simulation software for analysing crowds and pedestrian movement.

The software has truly unique qualities, with leading solution technology, it allows simulations of tens of thousands of individual agents within a complex 3D environment in real time with relative ease. Outside of real time simulation MassMotion is capable of dealing with over a million agents, making it a class leader in high performance simulation of pedestrians and crowds.

What will MassMotion do for you?

Our leading technology provides designers, operators, and owners with clear information about crowding, usage patterns, and occupant safety in a facility. This predictive power enables positive decisions to be made early in the design process with minimum cost and disruption. As designs evolve or issues arise, MassMotion can be used to conduct scenario testing for further optimization of the program and form of a project.

You can either construct the model in MassMotion or import a 3D model from a wide range of products including AutoCAD, MicroStation, Sketch-Up, Rhino and Revit. You then identify floors, barriers, links and portals along with the profiles of the ‘agents’ such as speed, tasks, volume etc. In the simulation stage you can then model hundreds of thousands of agents, each of whom has their own agenda and will respond to changes in real time. For example they may choose to take the stairs when faced with congestion at an escalator, or join the queue for a turnstile that has just switched from closed to open.

Due MassMotion’s 64-bit multi-threaded design which takes full advantage of multi-core processors and any available RAM, you can model huge crowds, and because changes to geometry are automatically computed, you can easily test, re-design, re-test without the burden of lengthy remodelling or reprocessing cycles. All this on an ordinary desktop PC.

The simulation is based on academic research, supported by observed crowd behaviour and rendered with gaming quality graphics.

Analysis

Once the simulation has completed you can use the analysis tool to examine how long it took people to get from one point to another, the flow rates for doors, stairs and escalators, and the comfort rating in different parts of the model and at different times. All this can be output as easy to understand graphs and visuals.

What is MassMotion used for?

There are many applications for MassMotion, it is highly adaptable to suit a wide variety of pedestrian issues at the planning stage or detailed design phase of a project.

Use it to simulate transit operations, venues/special events, and evacuation scenarios; stations, airport terminals, healthcare facilities, office towers and arenas/stadiums.

Airport Terminal Design & Planning – including curbside with vehicles, passenger movement and processing, baggage handling, groundside operations modeling
Rail & Transit Terminal Planning – large high density crowds and schedule based activity, neighbourhood dispersion including signalled road crossings
District Modelling – unparalleled scalability will enable the complete simulation of large swaths of urban areas
Fire & Evacuation Planning – validated multi-floor evacuation by stairs, evacuations including elevators

Key Features:

The ONLY fully 3-dimensional program of its kind, built with gaming quality graphics
True way finding - the ONLY program that has the ability to program individual personalities with unique agendas from start to finish in their journey through the environment

Quick Overview

MassMotion is the next generation of advanced software for simulating pedestrians and analyzing crowds.

Testimonials

“MassMotion’s predictions are probably as near to real life as it is possible to get statistically and give us a sound platform on which to propose and evaluate new ideas.” – Wieger Pasman - Royal HaskoningDHV

MassMotion is an incredibly impressive product. Looking at live simulations of stations which have trains coming and going, with respective platform build-up between trains, you actually know what that would feel like. This is a highly accurate product. – Martyn Day - AEC Magazine

Features

New Features in MassMotion v5.0 - explained

Actions Manager

The actions manager allows users to control the simulation in more detail. In general MassMotion is non-deterministic, but there are some actions that require greater control, such as queuing for a coffee or the rest room. The agents can now be instructed to buy a ticket, be given directions to represent signage, be given a specific exit point etc. The tasks or events that are handed to agents can be applied always or applied randomly, they can also be grouped so they can be given in sequence to an agent or group of agents.

Process Manager

Another big new feature for v5.0 is the ability to manage the modelling of complex processes such as multi-class checkins at airports. The ability to deal with processes has existed in MassMotion for some time, but now we are able to differentiate between processes for specific groups of agents. For example, a group of travellers waiting to checkin at an airport can be divided by those with economy tickets and those with other classes of tickets, they will then be checked in at the approriate desk.

Improved Agent Dynamics

This new feature is an enhancement to an existing feature within the software. The main focus for improvement here was around the self - organising behaviour of the agents in a simulation, for example, around doorways and stairs. The agents are now more aware of congestion and organise themselves more realistically.

Zones

This is a very important feature, especially in the area of evacuation modelling. It is now possible to set a an area (or Zone) and then pass the agents in a simulation an instruction to leave the zone as quickly as possible. The behaviour of the agents will change from their normal desire to find the quickest exit portal from the model - their focus is now on leaving the zone, however this might change their intended journey.

Bi-directional flow enhancements

In addition to the improvements made around Agent Dynamics, special attention has been given to the way agents deal with corners, specifically bi-directional flow around corners or bends etc. MassMotion v5.0 now has the ability, when it sees a change in geometry, to assign a corner or bend to this section of geometry. The agents will not be able to see if there is any flow of traffic coming toward them (if the oncoming traffic is hidden around a corner). Instead of all the traffic now converging to the corner point and creating congestion agents will give way on their left or right shoulder (depending on settings), allowing natural channelling to form.

Autodesk Softimage 2013

MassMotion runs inside Autodesk Softimage, this gives it very powerful modelling capability and also very robust support for models created in other Autodesk products, of course we support imports from other modelling software as well through OBJ, FBX, IFC etc. The latest release of Softimage is now supported and recommended for MassMotion v5.0

General Features

Large crowd sizes - simulations have been successfully carried out with over a million agents
Continuous multi-storey environments spanning kilometers of area
Autonomous agents that choose their own paths
Efficient tools for defining crowd origins and destinations
Powerful statistical analysis
Rich set of visual outputs including interactive 3D recordings
Compatibility with industry standard CAD and 3D formats
Core technology that utilizes the latest multi-processor computers