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Tutorial 1 - Getting Started

When you start Traffic Analyst, the Main Window opens. It contains:

  • the Menu Bar along the top of the window
  • the Graphics Panel
  • the Tabs Panel: Simulation, Analysis, Action, Layer, View.

To get started with building a model, let's focus on the Action Tab, the Layer Tab, and the Graphics Panel.

Action Tab

Actions and Objects

An Action is something you do to edit the model. An Action is applied to one of the Objects in the model, for example, a Lane, a Crossing or an Intersection.

Some Actions are active all the time, some become active only if you have an Object of the correct type selected. If an Action is active, it will be shown in black text, if it is inactive it will be grayed out. There are some options on the Action Tab available from a small drop- down menu above the tab:

  • Single Click / Double Click: single click is faster, but it is more difficult to set up key bindings
  • View as Table / Tree: The table view shows only the currently available actions, the tree view shows all actions, with unavailable ones grayed out. IN tree view there are [+] and [-] buttons to expand and collapse parts of the tree
  • Simple / Standard / Advanced: controls which actions are visible
  • Exercise: Using an Action to create a Road
  1. In the Action Tab, expand the Road section by clicking on it once
  2. Click on New Road at Cursor (either single-click or double-click)
  3. A window will pop-up asking you to confirm the directions of travel, number of lanes, lane width and speed limit. Change these value if you want, or use the defaults.
  4. Press OK

A road will be added starting at the X and ending at the T. The Out direction is from the X to the T - away from you. The road you have just created is automatically selected. You can tell it is selected because it is highlighted in a different color Only the Out direction is selected - if you chose to create a 2-directional road, the In direction will not be selected. Because a Road is selected, more actions in the Road section are now active. These actions include Bisect, New Intersection and New Roundabout.

Key Bindings for Actions ("Hot Keys")

Some actions have a code in square brackets after the description, for example New Intersection [F7]. This hot-key code [F7] indicates that you can implement the action by pressing that key on the keyboard.

Exercise: Create an Intersection using a hot-key

  1. Select the road just created in the previous exercise
  2. Click on the Graphics panel (this is called giving it the focus)
  3. Press the function key F7
  4. A window titled New Intersection will pop up
  5. There is a pull-down selector that allows you to choose the intersection layout; click on the selector and choose one of the alternatives.
  6. Press OK

Defining or Changing Key Bindings

You can define your own hot-keys, to speed up the editing of a model.

Exercise: Defining your own hot-key for an Action

  1. In the Action Tab, click on the Road section to highlight the word Road. If the section is now closed, click it again so that you can see all the Actions, including Connect.
  2. Using the arrow keys on the keyboard, move the focus down to the word Connect
  3. Press the C key on the keyboard
  4. The action should now say Connect [C].
Note: Hot keys are effective only if an action is active, and the keyboard focus is in the graphics window. However, you can define or re-define the hot-key for an action when it is not active.

Action Tab versus Right-Mouse Menu

Right Mouse Menu: Actions can be accessed either from the Action Tab or via a menu raised on the graphics window if you press and release the right mouse button. In either case, the effect of the action is the same. The only difference is the presentation of the actions: the right mouse menu shows only the currently available actions; the Actions Tab shows all actions.

Exercise: Using the Right-Mouse Menu to call an Action

  1. Click on the Graphics panel to give it the focus
  2. Press Escape [Esc] to ensure you have no selections
  3. Click the Right Mouse to raise the Action menu
  4. Scroll down to Walkway and select New Walkway at Cursor
  5. Rename the Walkway, and change the width, or accept the defaults.
  6. Press OK.

Layer Tab

Layers and Aspects

The Layer tab is a two-dimensional table of colored toggle buttons.

Layers have names, and are listed down the left hand side Aspects are numbered and are displayed along the top. A Layer is a group of objects of the same type, like Lanes or Signs or Crossings. Each Layer can be switched on or off in any Aspect by pressing the toggle button. You can also change the color of any Layer in any Aspect by right-clicking the button.

Exercise: Define your own settings for Aspect 10

  1. Click and drag the divider to the right of the Layer Tab to make the Layer Tab bigger
  2. Change the selector at the top of the Tab to say All
  3. Click on the orange number in the table heading, and slide it right so that Aspect 10 is the active Aspect
  4. Click on the cell in column 10 opposite the Layer Road Edges
  5. Right-click on the same cell to raise the color editor.
  6. Move the color slider down to blue, and drag the small circle in the color panel to from the top corner to the center.
  7. Press OK
  8. Repeat for other Layers
  9. You can define any combination of Layers and colors in each Aspect.
  10. Some solid objects can also be made transparent in the color editor.

By default:

  • Aspect 0 is a general purpose view
  • Aspect 1 is for editing walkways and crossings
  • Aspect 2 is for editing roads
  • Aspect 3 is for intersections
  • Aspect 4 is for routing and assignment
Note: You can redefine these standard Aspects if required and define your own layers too. Your Aspect definitions will be saved with your model.

Importing and Exporting Aspects

If you want to exchange Aspect definitions with other models, you can export the Aspect definitions to a file, by pressing the Export Aspect Definitions. button at the top left corner of the Layer Tab. In another model, you can import these layers using the adjacent Import Aspect Definitions button.

Graphics - Navigation

There are two 3D-navigation modes for the graphics panel, these are described in the Main Windows Overview topic.

Exercise: Become Familiar with the “Commuter” Navigation Controls

  1. Using the left mouse button, drag the mouse downwards in the Zoom Control Bar to set the Zoom height to about 100. The exact value is not important, but if you want to make fine changes, you can do this by holding down the [SHIFT] key
  2. Right-click and select Area > New Area at Cursor. If you are prompted to make the Areas feature visible, press Yes. You will see a purple square in the center of the screen.
  3. On the Graphics Toolbar, change the Draw selector to Solid
  4. Use the Zoom Control bar again to zoom in and out. The value on the Zoom bar is the height of the viewpoint above the cursor.
  5. Use the Bearing Control bar to rotate the view. You can double- click near the ends of the bar to rotate by 90 degrees
  6. Use the Tilt Control bar to tilt. Double-click on the bar to return the tilt angle to zero.
  7. Using the Right Mouse button, drag to Pan the view. You can also Pan using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

Graphics – Selection

Traffic Analyst incorporates 3D line-of-sight selection of any object. You can select a single object by clicking the mouse, select multiple objects at a time by dragging out a box, or add or remove objects to the current selection using various selection gestures.

Clear current selection: at any time you can clear all current selections by pressing the ESC key. You can also clear selections by double clicking on the background of the model, where there are no objects

Selecting a single object, discarding other selections: you can select a single object by pointing at it and double-click left-mouse button. This will de-select any objects that were previously selected

Selecting a single object, keeping other selections: you can also select an object using single-click middle-mouse button. This will add the current object to the selection set. This gesture also acts as a toggle: if the object is currently selected this will de-select the object. An equivalent gesture which can also be used, and is perhaps more standard on Windows, but requires two hands is [CTRL] + double-click left-mouse

Selecting multiple objects: you can select any number of objects in one go using drag middle-mouse to drag out a selection box. All visible objects inside the box will be selected. You can also use drag left-mouse, but exercise caution with this gesture because if you have anything selected, it will move those objects, which may not be what you want.

Move selected objects horizontally: any number of objects can be dragged horizontally using drag left-mouse while the Tilt control is at a setting of less than 45 degrees

Move selected objects vertically: any number of objects can be dragged vertically using drag left-mouse while the Tilt control is at a setting of more than than 60 degrees

Rotate selected objects around [X]: any number of objects can be rotated in a horizontal plane around [X] using the Control bar at the bottom of the screen.

Exercise: Become Familiar with the Selection Controls

Create a number of objects using:

  • Area > New Area at Cursor
  • Road > New Road at Cursor
  • Walkway > New Walkway at Cursor
  1. Try selecting a single object and then moving it to a different position.
  2. Try selecting multiple objects by dragging out a selection box, and then rotating them around the center point.
  3. Tilt the view to more than 60 degrees, then select an object and move it vertically.
  4. Try using the action Edit > Undo to reverse any moves applied.

Graphics – Handles (or “Grips”)

Traffic Analyst uses a mode-less editor. This means that any object can be selected at any time, you do not need to change to Road mode to select Roads, or Zone mode to select Zones. There are no modes. To make it easier to select or move the objects you want, many objects have one or more selection handles. A handle is displayed using a small arrow, box, or other icon. There are several types of handle:

  • End: a handle at the end of the centerline of a linear object such as a Walkway or Lane. The centerline feature for an object must be visible for these handles to be visible. For example, to see the End Handles for Lanes, both the Lane Centerline feature and the Handle – End feature must be visible.
  • Curve: a handle controlling the curvature of a curved linear object, such as a Lane or Walkway. There are two curve handles, one at ⅓ of the length of the curve, the other at ⅔ of the length.
  • Width: a handle controlling the width of one end of a linear object, such as a Lane or Walkway.
  • Angle: a handle controlling the angle of the line drawn at the end of a linear object, such as a Lane or Walkway.
  • Other: all other handles, not falling in to the categories above.

Exercise: Become Familiar with Handles

  1. Zoom to about 200.
  2. Create a new multi-lane road using Road > New Road at Cursor.
  3. Switch on the Feature Lane Centerlines.
  4. Switch on the Features Handle – End and Handle – Curve.
  5. Zoom in and pan until you can see the handles, then select a single handle.
  6. Move the handle and notice how it moves that lane.
  7. Use Undo ( [CTRL]-Z ) to move the end of the lane back.
  8. Drag out a box to select all end points for the road, then move them all at the same time.
  9. Use action Geometry > Make Curvable.
  10. Move the end points again to change the curvature of the lanes.
  11. Select one of the Curve Handles and change the curvature.
  12. Continue experimenting with other objects and handles.

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