Blog | Summer 2020 Software Update
Summertime is here! What a great time to stay indoors and learn about the new features rolling out in the Summer 2020 Software Update. Scroll down to learn more about the free updates coming your way!
Report Menu Enhancement
In the report menu, you can now set the “decimal places” option to 0. The decimal places setting is used in the dynamics report, on-screen dynamics info, and dynamics info features.
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Enhanced Scale bar
The scale bar now includes a number of new attributes to give you better control over its look. These attributes include:
Decimal places: you can now set the number of decimal places, including 0.
Size: You can now set the font size (font size is no longer determined by width).
Quality: You can now set the font quality.
Bold, italic, front: You can now control the font style.
This is illustrated below:
Enhanced On-Screen Dynamics Info
The “on-screen dynamics info” (the Smart HUD) tool now has additional parameters that can be displayed. To add a parameter to the on-screen dynamics info box, go to the “misc” menu, and in the text field, use the syntax “ <parameter label> = { <parameter name>:<decimal places>”}. This is illustrated below:
Note, if no decimal places are included, the number of decimal places shown will be inherited from the “decimal places” option in the report menu (discussed above).
Here is the full list of parameters to choose from:
{name} - Name to display (from object’s “name” input field in misc menu)
{t} - Current time
{yaw} - Yaw angle (deg)
{pitch} - Pitch angle (deg)
{roll} - Roll angle (deg)
{v} - Magnitude of CG velocity vector
{vx} - x-component of CG velocity vector
{vy} - y-component of CG velocity vector
{vz} - z-component of CG velocity vector
{vni} - Angle between x-y projection of CG velocity vector and x-axis (azimuthal angle) (deg)
{vnz} - Angle between x-y projection of CG velocity vector component and CG velocity vector itself (polar angle) (deg)
{avx} - x-component of angular velocity vector (rad/s)
{avy} - y-component of angular velocity vector (rad/s)
{avz} - z-component of angular velocity vector (rad/s)
{a} - Total acceleration at CG
{ax} - x-component of acceleration vector at CG
{ay} - y-component of acceleration vector at CG
{az} - z-component of acceleration vector at CG
{sa} - Steering angle (deg)
With the “use global space” toggle, you can show your velocity and acceleration values either with respect to the global space x, y, and z axes or with respect to the vehicle’s local x, y, and z axes.
Note, in the Fall 2022 Software Update, we introduced time and distance offsets to the On-Screen Dynamics Info tool. Learn more in this post >
Enhanced Dynamics Info
The same list of parameters shown above is also available for use in the “dynamics info” object:
{name} - Name to display (from object’s “name” input field in misc menu)
{t} - Current time
{yaw} - Yaw angle (deg)
{pitch} - Pitch angle (deg)
{roll} - Roll angle (deg)
{v} - Magnitude of CG velocity vector
{vx} - x-component of CG velocity vector
{vy} - y-component of CG velocity vector
{vz} - z-component of CG velocity vector
{vni} - Angle between x-y projection of CG velocity vector and x-axis (azimuthal angle) (deg)
{vnz} - Angle between x-y projection of CG velocity vector component and CG velocity vector itself (polar angle) (deg)
{avx} - x-component of angular velocity vector (rad/s)
{avy} - y-component of angular velocity vector (rad/s)
{avz} - z-component of angular velocity vector (rad/s)
{a} - Total acceleration at CG
{ax} - x-component of acceleration vector at CG
{ay} - y-component of acceleration vector at CG
{az} - z-component of acceleration vector at CG
{sa} - Steering angle (deg)
Note, in the Fall 2022 Software Update, we introduced time and distance offsets to the Dynamics Info tool. Learn more in this post >
In addition to these parameters, the dynamics info object can now be used to calculate event Delta-V. To do this, simply enable the “use final time” toggle. Set “time” to the start time for the Delta-V calculation and set “final time” to the end time for the Delta-V calculation. Virtual CRASH will then calculate the vector difference between the final and initial velocity vectors and report the information in the dynamics info box. This is extremely helpful in complex cases with many impulse exchanges within a short time, in cases involving tractor-trailers or other joint-coupled objects, or when tire forces may be a dominate factor in the event Delta-V.
Below is a list of additional parameters that can be used to display Delta-V information in the dynamics info object. Note, “use final time” must be enabled in order to use the below list of parameters.
{dv} - Magnitude of CG Delta-V vector
{dvx} - x-component of CG Delta-V vector
{dvy} - y-component of CG Delta-V vector
{dvz} - z-component of CG Delta-V vector
{dvni} - Angle between x-y projection of CG Delta-V vector and x-axis (azimuthal angle) (deg)
{dvnz} - Angle between x-y projected CG Delta-V vector component and CG velocity vector itself (polar angle) (deg)
Note, if no decimal places are included, the number of decimal places shown will be inherited from the “decimal places” option in the report menu (discussed above). With the “use global space” toggle, you can show your Delta-V related values either with respect to the global space x, y, and z axes or with respect to the vehicle’s local x, y, and z axes. If you wish to report the Delta-V components relative to the vehicle’s local x, y, and z axes, disable “use global space”.
Automatic Line Drawings with Total Station or Point Array Data
You asked for it, and we’re giving it to you. With the press of a button, Virtual CRASH 4 will automatically draw Polylines to connect together related points in a point array. Here’s how the feature works:
1. Capture your total station data (or RTK) data at the scene in the order you want the polyline drawn
When you capture your total station data (or RTK), shoot your points in order of the feature you will want the polyline drawn for. For example, in this log file, we see highlighted in yellow, points shot along a white fog line. Highlighted in green, we see another white fog line. In blue, we see the points shot along the yellow center line.
2. Use the same name for the points that will have a common polyline.
Notice in our example below, the points highlighted in yellow have the name “WHTLN1”. So, all points with this name will be connected by the same polyline. Note, if while at the scene, you realize you need to capture additional points for a particular line, you can shoot the additional points without any problem, just remember to give the new points the same name as the previous points you want to connect. Remember, the polyline is drawn in the order the points of the same name are shot.
Load your point data into Virtual CRASH 4 as you normally would. After you’ve positioned and oriented your data as needed, with your point array still selected, go to the “convert” menu at the bottom of the left-side control panel. Next, left-click on “to polylines”.
You will see a new group object appear in the project menu. The polylines in the group are automatically named to match the corresponding points from your log file. This will make it much easier for you to edit the line properties.
The polylines can be modified as needed.
The workflow is illustrated below:
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