Association of 3D Visualization with Discrete Event Simulation

Three-dimensional visualization provides simulation users with imagery that is closely related to their direct human experience. 3D visualization of simulations therefore has several advantages: it assists the developer in verifying and debugging the simulation; it often aids the analyst in gaining a better understanding of system performance; and it is especially important in explaining simulation results to the customer. This work presents a method of associating 3D visualizations to discrete event simulations for process simulations. A software system called 3DGen is developed that automates the process of generating a 3D visualization for a discrete event simulation. The 3DGen system is described using the object modeling language UML. The 3DGen system is developed as a COM component to generate VRML worlds for discrete event simulation. The 3D visualization generation methodology is then applied to develop the 3D visualization of a warehouse model built in the discrete event simulation tool for process simulations Arena