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Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:29 am
by drees
This may seem an odd query but one of the advantages that ithink and STELLA have over vensim is that when you do a simulation run you can control the speed at which the graphs are created. Not important from any analytic point of view but when you are tying to engage clients and help them hook into ideas of feedback and change over time such a facility is great. It provides a direct visual feedback. With vensim the outputs appear 'instantly' and provide no sense of change over time - it is ironic that given the dynamic focus of SD, the graphical outputs in vensim are essentially static.

You can use the gaming mode but you have to click each time you want to move forward in the game and thereby see the next stage of graphical output. Ideally I'd like to be able to start a run and see the graph unfold as you would in gaming mode, without having to keep clicking to move it forward. I hope this makes sense.

Is there anyway this can be done within Sable?

David

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 11:18 am
by Administrator
Hello David,

All you can really do at the moment is use the "SIMULATION PAUSE" in the model itself to slow down the drawing.
http://www.vensim.com/documentation/ind ... iables.htm

I'll see if I can implement a way of doing this in Sable though.

Tony.

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 12:48 am
by drees
Hi Tony

Thanks for that. I had tried simulation pause but it has no effect on the graphical output - at least not that I could achieve. That is why I thought there maybe a way of manipulating the output using the Sable graph functions. While vensim is a great product (even better with a Sable front end) it seems that they have given little thought to its use with people who are not IT savvy, or with modelers like myself, who do a lot of collaborative modelling, and want to engage people in model building and model use.

Thanks for giving it a go

David

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 8:01 am
by Administrator
Try the attached. It displays the graph as the simulation progresses.

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 10:37 am
by LAUJJL
H David.

I did not have that problem so far, but if I had it I would try to slow down the simulation by adding some equations that take a lot of time to run, depending on some gaming parameters that I could change at will. There are some possibilities with the find zero function for instance where you can change the sensibility of the search. I am not sure that it works but it is worth a try.

There are probably plenty of other solutions.

For instance, using an external function controlled by a gaming variable that will change the time consumed running the function, changing a loop parameter for instance.

Another solution to explore is running the model from Excel VBA, using the gaming functions available in the DLL, to control how much automatic click are necessary to get to a certain point in the simulation and slowing down the process by modifying some loop parameters in the VBA program etc..

Regards.

JJ

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:00 am
by drees
Tony

Thank you once again for being so responsive and helpful. It works really well and the Sable graphical functions really help. It may seem a small and inconsequential thing but engaging clients with the model and the model building process is always important in the work I do and simple things like a dynamic graph really do help the process.

Thanks from down under

David

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:03 am
by drees
JJ

Thanks for your ideas. I'll also work through them in the next few days - always great to learn new ways of working with vensim.

Regards

David

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:09 pm
by LAUJJL
David

Here is joined an example of simplisitc model that slows down the WIP graph by increasing the size of the sim subscript.

Regards.

JJ

Re: Dynamic Graphs

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:57 pm
by drees
JJ

Thanks for that - something I would never have worked out!

The model works great and I can see how I can utilize the structure in some of my models.

Thanks for our help

David