Some questions about the steering mode

[liu_zhen]

I have read the technical reference, and I have some questions about the steering mode.

1. Parameters such as maximum acceleration, maximum stop acceleration and maximum velocity are predefined in the program or can be set by users?

2. How is the flow rate through a specified door determined? I have run a model under both steering mode and SFPE mode; door flow rates in steering mode are relatively higher than those in SFPE mode. Is that because in steering mode the density near doors tends to be smaller?

Btw, the create movie function in the new release still does not work in my machine, even though I gave a  resolution of 800*600. I guess camstudio is my only option now.

[Charlie Thornton]

(1) Maximum velocity is an input.  The accelerations are calculated under the hood.  Right now, acceleration is set up so that it takes 0.5 s to reach full speed from a stand still or stop from full speed.

(2) In SFPE mode, doors act as gating devices - very carefully letting people through only after enough time has elapsed.  In Steering mode, doors don't perform any gating function - think of them as narrow places to walk through.  It could be that our steering behaviors are making people overly generous when queuing up and giving the leaders too much room to maneuver.

(Btw) I'm sorry the movie making is still giving you trouble.  We're adding an alternate movie making mode that creates WMV files.  It'll have fewer options, but it should be pretty bulletproof.  It also won't require any special codecs.