Visual Configs

LEGION Simulator has many controls for different aspects of its display:

Black or white background (see Changing the Workspace Background Colour)
Grid and Axes (see Using the Grid)
Various Entity display options, e.g., show/hide Entities, hollow/filled entities, last step: preferred direction, Entity clones, plus Accessible Space and model scope (see Setting Display Preferences)
Entity tracking and trails (see Tracking Entities and Setting Display Preferences)
Entity Colour Schemes (see Creating Entity Colour Schemes)
Social Distancing (see Entity Proximity Zone)

These aspects don’t just affect what’s on the screen. They also determine the appearance of recorded videos and images, which can be limiting if you need multiple recordings with different visual configurations. For example, a video output might need to include Entities, while a map image should exclude Entities as they can obscure map details.

Visual Configs help solve these problems.

Each Visual Config is a collection of display settings, which can be conveniently applied at any time, without needing to turn each individual display aspect on or off. They can influence all the display aspects shown above, all in one place.

With Visual Configs, different output, needing different displays, can be generated in a single analysis pass (see Use in Timelines, below).

You can also quickly reconfigure the display for different purposes, for instance, reviewing heat maps, or helping to identify and understand modelling, or simulation problems.

Lastly, the active Visual Config is remembered when you save your Analysis Project, and automatically re-activated the next time that project is loaded.

Default Visual Configs

LEGION Simulator provides three default Visual Configs to any a new Analysis Project, or when loading any existing Analysis Project created by a previous version of LEGION Simulator:

Desire Line Diagrams – a system Visual Config that is defined and managed by LEGION Simulator, exclusively for the purpose of generating Desire Line Diagrams.
- o This Visual Config is read-only and cannot be changed or deleted.
LEGION Default – matches the default display configuration the first-time LEGION Simulator is installed.
- o This Visual Config is read-only and cannot be changed or deleted.
Maps (Digital) – the default Visual Config assigned to Maps tracks on the Timeline. This Visual Config is intended for Map images that will viewed onscreen or in presentations. It sets a black background and shows accessible space. Entities are hidden and all other visual aspects are off.
- o This Visual Config is also persistent.
Maps (Paper) – this Visual Config is intended for Map images that will be printed to paper documents. It sets a white background and shows accessible space. Entities are hidden and all other visual aspects are off.
- o This Visual Config is also persistent.
Model Debugging – activates just the display aspects that can help debug model and simulation problems.
- o This Visual Config is persistent; it can be modified but cannot be deleted.
Toolbars – a dynamic Visual Config that matches the current state of the workspace background, Navigation Toolbar, Display Toolbar, and active Entity Colour Scheme.
- o This Visual Config is also persistent.
Videos – the default Visual Config assigned to Record .AVI tracks on the Timeline. This Visual Config sets a black background, shows accessible space, shows filled entities All other visual aspects are off.
- o This Visual Config is also persistent.

Tip: The Toolbars Visual Config automatically updates and activates if you change any display aspects via Options, the toolbars, or the Object Directory.

Creating and Editing Visual Configs

The Visual Config editor is accessed from the Menu Bar (Tools > Display > Visual Configs…), and the Display Toolbar:

The editor uses LEGION’s standard interface for Data Objects. Here, you can create new Visual Configs, modify existing ones (except read-only), or delete existing ones (except read-only or persistent):

Click the button for information about the name colours.

Some options are always enabled. Some require other options to be selected first. Others depend on settings elsewhere in the Analysis Project:

Show Aimsun vehicles is only enabled if an Aimsun vehicles file has been specified with the project files.
Use Entity Colour Scheme is only enabled if there’s at least one Entity Colour Scheme defined.
Show Entity Proximity Zone for is only enabled if at least one Social Distancing option is enabled.

Activating a Visual Config

In the Display Toolbar, expand the Visual Config selection drop-down list, and pick the Visual Config to activate:

Display settings, toolbar states and the Object Directory will all be updated to reflect the options of the selected Visual Config.

Use in Timelines

Visual Configs can be applied to these Timeline tracks:

Record AVI
Maps
Screen Camera

The Layout Designer preview, and recorded output, will reflect settings in the applied Visual Config. See the Timeline topic Using Visual Configs in Timeline Tracks for details.