WITNESS HORIZON RELEASE NOTES LANNER GROUP

WITNESS Horizon Release Notes

Introduction
Welcome to WITNESS Horizon, the new release of WITNESS from the Lanner Group. In this release the WITNESS
interface has received a major refresh with a new style and functionality that offers easier and clearer use to
enable faster model building.

The highlights of this new style include:

 Windows 10 styling – flatter and clearer layouts

 New toolbar button designs and simplified toolbar structure
 New Tree icons
 New Designer Element icons
 New core range of 3D shapes

New options that impact on ease of use include:

 A new Floating toolbar that appears automatically when an element is dragged into a model. This allows
immediate access to name an element, change icons, quantities, cycle times and other common properties
without having to open the full detail dialog.
 The new floating toolbar also appears when the user right clicks on an element – again easy access to the
common properties without needing to open the full detail dialog.
 New toolbar buttons for access to the Start page and directly to the WITNESS Experimenter Simple mode
and WITNESS Experimenter Advanced mode
 Graphics simplification with an attendant improvement in the performance of buffered graphics. All
WITNESS graphical displays now benefit from buffered quality and accuracy.

Other New display improvements:

 Improved drawing of line and other display curves. WITNESS now offers anti-aliasing as an option. This
produces much smoother curves resulting in more appealing and precise model displays.

Other new functionality in the release includes:

 New direct capability to move element displays over time. This major advance has many applications, for
example in the modelling of cranes and gantries and other logistical operations where a machine element
is used. The movement of the machine icon and part queue can now be set up to progress over the
respective cycle time.
 New graphics rotation options over time. As in the new movement options above this offers both 2D and
3D rotation of a geometry leading to more accurate displays that identify key positional status.
 Major Fluids modelling enhancements.
o These include increased precision in calculation, consisting of three new methods:
 Algorithmic inclusion of Kahan summation (collecting, summing and removing rounding
errors)
 Scaling the difference tolerance when comparing quantities to better compensate for
different units of measurement
 Increased precision in storing numbers and time with regards to fluids, by treating each
number as two numbers (both before and after the decimal point).
o The increased precision leads to easier modelling, removing the need for many manual checks of
figures in model actions code.
o Fluid Mixtures in tanks can now be split using FLOW and CONNECT rules. This allows easier
modeling of operations such as settlement in a tank and extraction of a particular layer of a
specific constituent. The functionality also includes a new function to return the volume of a
particular fluid in a tank, pipe or processor
o The filling or emptying of parts with fluids can now be interrupted using new functions.
o Options to control the display precision control of flow rates, contents, mixtures, etc have been
added throughout the continuous flow elements. A font choice for these items is now offered.
 The major upgrade in the look and feel of WITNESS Horizon has led to an update of all collateral provided
with the release. New “Learning WITNESS” books, a new quick reference guide, updated and new
demonstration models, new academic support materials and more.

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All the new functionality is explained in more detail in the sections below.

New Styling

The WITNESS toolbars, tree icons and designer elements have all been redesigned. The number of toolbar buttons
on the screen display when WITNESS is first started has been reduced and the total number of toolbars themselves
reduced from ten to seven. This is designed to make use of the software simpler, especially for new users.

The new default toolbars look as below:

The element tree icons are:

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The new icon designer sets have been rationalised and extended. The new pallets include:

The new Basic Tab:

The new Transport Tab:

The new Data Tab (shown here in two rows for clarity):

The new Continuous Elements Tab:

The new Reports Tab:

The standard tabs are supplemented by additional packs of elements. Included in this release is the first
manufacturing pack:

All of these shapes in this pack are activities – i.e. machine elements. They offer a range of co-ordinated shapes
and 3D geometries. For example when the CNC machine is dragged on to the model display window the 2D
representation is:

When Quick3D is used this 2D footprint is used to size the 3D shape drawn as shown on the next
page

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Here the CNC is shown with other geometries from the new Manufacturing pack in the Quick3D generated view:

Another pack available in the WITNESS Horizon release is the first Service pack. This is NOT installed as standard
but can be loaded from the DES file (designer element file) found in the Startup model directory. The following are
some health elements included in this pack.

These packs are not meant to be exhaustive, they simply offer a starting point for 2D and 3D modeling. WITNESS
allows the use of a good range of common graphics formats in 2D and 3D. In 2D these can be bitmap images or
vector images. In 3D shapes can be used from popular web sources such as SketchUp and converted from all the
major CAD package formats using utility software. So please do add and use your own pictures and shapes to
personalize your models.

Note that in WITNESS Horizon the Part Element is now set to scale to size on the display. This is a tick box setting
on the part style dialog. In addition the size of the default part has been set to match the new part 3D geometry –
this is done in Actions on Create for the Part as shown below. When parts are set to scale to size they ignore the
size settings in the various part queue dialogs and take up their correct scaling size on the 2D display. This makes
for better matching to any generated 3D displays from a model.

The new Actions on Create for the default part element:

The 2D display shown for the default part when placed in a buffer:

The default color is the blue – the other colors here are other standard color choices from the icon gallery.

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Floating Toolbar

When a new element is dragged on to the model window from the designer elements palette, a new floating toolbar
now appears – for example:

This gives immediate access to change the element name, quantity, icon and selected other fields for each element
type. The floating toolbar will disappear when the mouse is moved away from where the element is dropped.

Unlike the element details dialogs, changes made here do not need any OK button to be pressed – they will be
applied immediately the changes are made. Some changes, such as setting a new quantity using the arrows or
selecting a new icon, are done immediately the selection is made. Others, such as the machine name or entries in
the property grid (see below), need either return to be pressed OR another property to be selected before the
change is made.

The symbol accesses an icon palette for all icons drawn against an element. Each is shown in the top row of
the palette and the selected one on the top row can be changed by selecting one from the main section below. For
parts, labor, vehicles and carriers the icon shown is that for the style.

The symbol accesses a small property grid. This allows changes to be made to the properties shown. The
example below is that for a pipe:

If an error is made in data entry – e.g. an invalid name or invalid figure entered then any changes will not be made
and a red border and mark will be shown on the respective field. E.g.

If at any stage of data entry the mouse is clicked away from the dialog, then the current changes, or errors, are
cancelled and the old data is reinstated.

The floating toolbar can also be accessed when a right mouse click is made

The floating toolbars will also work, where it is sensible, in changing the properties of multiple elements at the
same time. For example Quantity or Cycle time may be changed in this way. Cycle time is an example of a field in
the properties selection drop down. It is also an example of a field where a value needs to be typed and then
another field needs selecting in order for that value to be applied. If a value is entered and then the model window
is clicked elsewhere to make the floating toolbar disappear, then the change will NOT have been made.

Of particular note is the option with the floating toolbar to change the style, not just of a part, but of labor,
vehicles, carriers, etc. These operations used to take several mouse clicks, but can now be accomplished in just 2.

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New Toolbar buttons

Many toolbar buttons have changed in this release – but the ones that offer NEW functionality or are in a different
form are the following:

This provides an easy way to access the Start Page

A new button to access the Quick 3D view (replacing the text button)

A new button to access the WITNESS

Experimenter – the drop down
allows access to either the Simple or
Advanced mode

New pull down list for alignment (replacing four

individual buttons.

New Display options settings

These are accessed as before in the Model/Options dialog. This is now much less confusing as buffered graphics
have been implemented for all WITNESS model displays and this has reduced the number of different options
accessed here.

The Display options include a new option: Anti-aliased graphics. This makes a number of drawn display lines
smoother and more appealing. This includes all path displays, for conveyors, paths, buffers, tracks and Power and
Free sections. This option is ON by default.

The Graphics update interval is set by default all the way to the left, i.e. maximum refresh rate or slowest
animation. It is possible to speed up the animation of a model run by moving this to the right – this increases the
interval between screen redraws – however this is at the expense of granularity of display updates. Usually a better
option to slow or speed up a model is the speed slider on the run toolbar – but if the top speed offered by this is
not enough, then you can consider setting this slider further to the right too. Both of these speed controls do NOT
affect batch speed.

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Moving Element displays over Time

New functions are available that will move and rotate display elements over a specified time period in 2D and in
3D. There are also functions to enquire rotation and to set rotation immediately. The function names are:

 MovePosn for 2D movement and rotation over time (rotation is an optional parameter)
 SetRotation for setting orientation in the 2D window
 GetRotation for asking the current orientation in the 2D window

 W3DMovePosn for movement over time in the 3D window

 W3DSetRotation for setting orientation (3 different axes) in the 3D window
 W3DMoveandRotate for movement and rotation in the 3D window
 W3DGetXRotation for asking the X axis (pitch) orientation in the 3D window
 W3DGetYRotation for asking the Y axis (yaw) orientation in the 3D window
 W3DGetZRotation for asking the Z axis (roll) orientation in the 3D window

Each of the movement functions allows the specification of a new position and/or rotation for a chosen display
element, the simulation time that the movement should take and the graphics update interval that should be used
for the movement.

MovePosn (V)
(element (N)
, display type (I)
, Instance (I)
,X (I)
,Y (I)
,Total Time(R) ,Update Interval(R) ,Rotation(R))

Moves the specified element display object to the X and Y co-ordinates over time, updating at the specified
update interval. A call to SETPOSN will stop any remaining movement. Rotation is also included if the parameter
is entered with a positive number of degrees effecting clockwise motion and a negative number of degrees
effecting anticlockwise motion. If the Rotation parameter is missing then the current orientation is maintained.

Co-ordinates for the 2D movement are in terms of pixels to be consistent with SETPOSN.

Examples:

MovePosn(MachineA,1,1,30.5,45.6, 10.0, 0.1) will move the first icon drawn for MachineA to a new position at
screen co-ordinates (30.5, 45.6), the movement will take 10 simulation time units and the display will update each
0.1 time units.

MovePosn(MachineA,1,1,30.5,45.6, 10.0, 0.1,90) will move the first icon drawn for MachineA to a new position at
screen co-ordinates (30.5, 45.6), the movement will take 10 simulation time units and the display will update each
0.1 time units. During the movement the icon will rotate by 90 degrees in a clockwise direction.

Note that if rotation is required without movement then the X and Y co-ordinates can be entered to be the same as
the current position. If needed the current position can be enquired using the GETXPOSN and GETYPOSN
functions present in WITNESS 14.

The function SetRotation allows an absolute value to be set for the rotation of a display item. A good use of this is
at the start of a model to set the desired rotation at time zero.

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W3DMovePosn (Instance (S)

,X (R)
,Y (R)
,Z (R)
,Total Time(R) ,Update Interval(R))

Moves the specified element display object in the 3D window to the X and Y co-ordinates over time, updating at
the specified update interval. A call to W3DSETPOSN will stop any remaining movement. The instance parameter
used in the function will normally have been determined using the W3DGetElementInstance function.

Co-ordinates for 3D movement are in the physical co-ordinates defined in the Model/Co-ordinates tab (note that
this is different than for 2D movement which is based on pixels).

If rotation is needed in 3D then the similar function W3DMoveAndRotate should be used.

Examples:

W3DMovePosn(String1,100,200,300,50,1)

This will move the position of the 3D shape in the 3D world identified by the string variable or attribute String1 to a
new location – an X position of 100, a Y Position of 200 and a Z position of 300. String1 will normally have been
determined using the W3DGetElementInstance function. The move will take 50 time units and the 3D shapes
position will be updated every 1 time unit.

W3DMoveAndRotate(String1,100,200,300,50,1,0,90,0)

This will move the position of the 3D shape in the 3D world identified by the string variable or attribute String1 to
the location of an X position of 100, a Y Position of 200 and a Z position of 300. It will also rotate the 3D shape by
90 degrees clockwise around the Yaw or Y axis. String1 will normally have been determined using the
W3DGetElementInstance function. The move will take 50 time units and the 3D shapes position will be updated
every 1 time unit.

Note that if rotation is required without movement then the X and Y and Z co-ordinates can be entered to be the
same as the current position. If needed the current positions can be enquired using the new W3DGETXPOSN,
W3DGETYPOSN and W3DGETZPOSN functions.

Please see the help system for full syntax for all the movement and rotation functions.

SlowMotionSetting function

A new function has been added to WITNESS that returns the position of the Slow motion speed slider control on
the run toolbar.

SlowMotionSetting() returns a real value between 1 and 10. A value of 1 represents when the slide control is at
the far left hand end (the slowest run speed) and a value of 10 represents when the slide control is at the far right
hand side end (the fastest run speed).

This function allows a modeler to use this value in a model. One particularly useful use of this is with the
MovePosn, W3DMovePosn and W3DMoveandRotate functions where the update interval can be adjusted
dependent on the setting of slow motion speed slider.

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Fluids Enhancements

There has been significant improvement made to the precision of continuous elements in WITNESS, as well as adding
functionality. Continuous elements are generally used to represent processes containing fluid where tanks, pipes and
processors are required. They have also been used to represent processes in a fluid manner, for example, fast moving
consumer goods (FMCG), where high volumes passing through processes at high speeds can be more easily
represented as fluid flowing.

The improvement in precision has been adopted using different techniques including:

 Kahan summation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahan_summation_algorithm)

 Higher resolution storage of numbers (before and after the decimal represented as two values rather than
a single value representing it all).
 Improvements to numerical comparison operators (>, <, =, <=, >= and <>) by using a scaled epsilon
when comparing numbers for equality. These techniques, along with some general software corrections,
ensure greater stability as well as precision when representing fluids.

These techniques may lead to different results in existing models containing fluid elements, since events may occur
at slightly different times which could lead to different outcomes. However, with well-structured models, over multiple
replications, these differences should be minimal and the same conclusions drawn.

In response to the feedback obtained from listening to the WITNESS user base who focus on using fluid elements,
additional functionality has been included with the aim of increasing fluid capabilities:

 Fluid mixtures in tanks can now be split using FLOW or CONNECT rules. For tanks containing more than one
fluid type, individual fluid types can flow out of the tanks, leaving all others in place. This is particularly
useful for processes where settling periods are used in tanks such that separation of fluids can take place
(for example, separating oil and water), where the different types can now flow out individually.

 To tie in with the fluid splitting in tanks capability, functionality has been added to find the volume of a
particular fluid in a pipe, tank or processor.

 In models that combine the discrete and continuous worlds, where parts are filled with fluid, a mechanism
has now been added to allow the interruption of parts filling or emptying such that parts no longer have to
be completely full or empty in order to move on. This is useful where there are disruptions that mean that
processes need to be terminated earlier than planned.

 Significant improvement has been made to how certain values can be displayed for fluid elements. For
consistency with how other value displays are treated within WITNESS, improvements have been made in
the displays of flow rates, contents, mixtures, tanks and processor calibration and warning levels.

‘PipelineHorizon.mod’ (see overleaf) demonstrates the use of some of these new facilities. The model reflects the
movement of oil products from the refinery on the left hand side to the port on the right of the screen. Two products,
Heavy Oil and Light Oil arrive at a constant rate of 1,000 m3 per hour, going into the dedicated tanks H_Input and
L_Input. From there, the oil is transferred in batches of varying size using a pipeline to two more tanks at a port.
At the port, they are collected by customers using their fleets of ships. Cargos are sold to these customers three
days ahead of collection, with the oil type decided based on the inventory available in the port’s tank farm together
with any oil moving through the pipeline.

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
 


New Continuous Elements features of WITNESS are shown as follows:-

 Fonts and decimal places for displays of continuous flow values can now be fully controlled
o Tank calibration 
o Pipe flow rate 
 Pipe output according to fluid type 
o At the end of the pipeline, fluids are separated such that Heavy Oil goes into the H_Output tank
and Light Oil into the L_Output tank
o This can now be achieved simply by using the new type output rule:-
o CONNECT H_Oil to H_Output,L_Oil to L_Output
 Every day, a decision will be made whether to sell a cargo to a customer – this is done by a part called
‘Tanker’ that arrives every day, and if accepted will take 72 hours to travel to the port to collect its cargo
o The model logic will decide which type of oil to sell based on what is available at the port and not
already allocated to a cargo; if both types of oil are available, the one with the highest amount
available is selected
o It uses the new function VCONTS2 to calculate the amount of the specified oil type in the pipeline,
as well as what is in the tank 
o VConts (H_Output) + VConts2 (Pipeline,H_Oil)
 When the weather becomes bad
o Any ship that is loading at the berth must stop loading (Variable ‘WeatherRate’ is set to zero so
that the flow into the ship stops
o If a ship that is currently loading has reached at least 80% of its capacity, then it will leave the
berth and begin its laden voyage
o This is implemented using the new function ’InterruptFillingPart’ that terminates the part filling
operation on the ‘Berth’ machine. 

New Collateral

A wide range of new collateral is released with WITNESS Horizon including:

 New “Learning WITNESS” books

 A new quick reference guide
 Updated and new demonstration models
 New academic support materials
 Web based collateral via the customer portal including video resources

The Start Page contains a range of new links and information and is a good place to start exploring.

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