Phase 1. Creating assets
In the first phase we will create a new model and populate it with
buildings that will be subject to bombing.
Create a
new model
- Click the New
toolbar button. The New Model
dialog box will be displayed.
- Define the parameters of the new model:
- Specify the name of the model in the Model name field. Type Air
Defense System.
- Set the new model location if necessary by clicking the Browse
button and selecting the required folder.
- Set Model time units to seconds.
-
Click Finish to create a new model.
We shall start designing our model with creating a new population of
agents that will represent 10 facilities.
Create new population of agents
- Drag the Agent
element
from the Agent palette onto
the Main diagram. The New agent dialog box will open.
- Click Population of agents. You will be taken to the next
step of the New agent wizard.

-
Type Building in the Agent type name field. The Agent
population name will be automatically filled.
Click Next to proceed to step 3.

- Leave the Choose animation parameter set to 3D
mode and choose the House animation shape in the Buildings
section.
Click Next to proceed to step 4.

- We will not set any agent parameters, you may click Next
to proceed to Step 5.
- Set the Create population with parameter to 10.
Click Next to proceed to step 6.

- Leave the Space type parameter set to Continuous
and select the Apply random layout option.

- Click Finish to save the changes and create the
customized population.
We have created a population of agents and defined animation shape for
them.

Adjust
the scale of the model
- Click the Scale element on the Main
diagram to open its Properties.

-
Set the Ruler length corresponds to parameter to 100.
The scale on the ruler will change.

We modified the scale of the model, as a result the building shape
changed its size. As
you can see in the image above, if we will keep the animations of our
agents resized corresponding to the model scale, these agents (such as
building here) will become invisible in our model's animation
scene. So we will use greater scales for the agents to make them
visible during the animation.
We have completed setting up the population of agents and may now run
our model for the first time to observe the model behavior.
Run
the model
- Click the Run
toolbar button.

The model window will appear and the model will launch
automatically. You
will see the 10 building shapes randomly distributed in a 500 by 500
pixel space. This is the space size set by default. We do not need to
change it as we will customize the location of the facilities.
Now we will create 3D animation for our model. First of all we need to
add 3D window to our Main
diagram. The 3D window plays the role of a placeholder for 3D
animation. It defines the area on the presentation diagram where 3D
animation will be shown at runtime.
Add
3D window
- Drag the 3D Window
element from the 3D section of the Presentation palette to the
graphical editor. Place the window below the model window frame.

- Navigate to the Properties view of the 3D window
and set its Width and Height parameters to 1000
and 600 respectively.

Now we will run the model and switch between the 2D and 3D views in the
model window.
Compare 2D and 3D views
- Click
Run in the toolbar to run the model.
- When you create a 3D window, AnyLogic adds a view area
that allows you to easily navigate to the 3D view at runtime. To switch
to this 3D view while the model is running, open the developer panel by
clicking the Developer panel
control in the right corner of
the control panel. In
the developer panel, expand the
select view area to navigate list
and select [window3d] from the
list.

-
The view mode will change to 3D.

Draw the surface
- Drag a Rectangle shape from the Presentation
palette onto the editor of Main, place
its top left corner at (0,0).

- Navigate to the Position and size section of the
rectangle's Properties and set its Width and Height
parameters to 1000 and 600 respectively, hence the area
size is 1000*600 meters.

- Now set the Z and Z-Height parameters to -1
and 1 respectively.

-
In the Appearance section of the rectangle's Properties
set the Line color option to No color.

- Now we will define the texture of the rectangle area. Click the Fill
color control and select Textures to open a dialog box with
available textures.

-
Click Earth texture to set it as the fill color for the
rectangle shape.

-
Click OK to close the dialog box. The rectangle shape
will change it appearance.
Now run the model and observe the new layout both in 2D and 3D modes.
Observe the new layout
- Run the model. You will observe the model in the 2D view.
As you can see, we have the new layout here but no buildings can be
seen.

-
Switch to 3D animation scene. You can observe buildings in 3D
view.

In order to make buildings visible in the 2D view we must reorder the
shapes in the design.
Reorder shapes
- Right-click the rectangle shape to open its context menu. Then
click the Order menu item and select Sent to Back
sub-item from the list of available orders.

The 2D building shape will now be visible.

Now the model should have correct visualization in both 2D and 3D view.
Prior to running the model to check if everything works like it should,
we will lock the Rectangle shape and add camera.
Lock the rectangle shape
- In the Properties view select the Lock option to
lock the shape.
This will prevent occasional selection of the rectangle while working
with other elements on the diagram.

Add a camera
- Drag the Camera
element from the 3D section of
the Presentation palette onto
the graphical editor. You will see the camera icon in the graphical
editor.
- Direct the camera at the buildings presentation shapes (the
positioning is described in details in the Camera article).
It is time to run the model and adjust the camera position to the
desired one. We will save that position afterwards to have the camera
always located at the set position.
Adjust the camera position
- Run the model and switch to 3D mode.
- Right-click the 3D model presentation to open a pop-up menu.
Navigate to the Camera menu item and select camera
sub-item.
You will switch to the camera view.
- Position
the camera to have the best possible picture while observing the model
in the runtime (for more details on navigating the 3D scene refer here).
- When done, right-click the 3D model presentation and click Copy
camera's location.
You may stop the simulation now. We have set up our camera and copied
its position, now we need to apply the new camera position.
Apply new camera position
- Click the Camera element to open its Properties view.
- Click the Paste coordinates from clipboard button in the Properties
view. The rotation parameters will change.
In the last step of this phase we will create a protected area, within
which the buildings will be placed. The area will further be equipped
with the air defense system, eliminating the air attacks on our
facilities.
Define protected area
- Double-click the Polygonal Node element in the Process
Modeling Library palette to activate drawing mode.

- Click on top of the rectangle to start drawing the protected area.
- Finish drawing with a double-click on the last node.

-
Navigate to the element's Properties, name it protectedArea
and set its Visible parameter to no.

We have created a new area, now we need to locate our facilities within
its boundaries.
Relocate the facilities
- Click the buildings population on
the Main to open the Properties
view.
- Navigate to the Initial location section and set the Place
agent(s) parameter to in the node. The Node
parameter will appear below.
- Click the set by default None value for the Node
parameter and select protectedArea from the drop-down list of
available nodes.
- Now open the properties of Main
and navigate to the Space and network section.
- Set the Layout type to User-defined.
Finally, we may run the model. The buildings will be located within
the area defined by the polygonal node
Well done, we have completed the first phase of the Air defense
system tutorial. Proceed to Phase 2.
Air defense system
model
Phase
2. Adding bombers