Guided Transport

realvirtual.io 2022.03 and above

TransportSurfaces are ideal for modeling standard conveyor systems. However, for rail-based systems or systems with numerous colliders for making curves, stable modeling may not be achievable using TransportSurfaces. As an example, please check the following system, where the MUs are moving in a stable manner on the conveyor system. MUs can also be stopped by physical stoppers (based on colliders).

In such cases, Guided Transports come to the rescue. They offer limited transport direction and position, following guide lines that can be linear or circular.

There are two options for using Guided Transports. First, you can make Guided Transports children of TransportSurfaces by adding GuideLines or GuideCircles. This allows you to retain the standard animation features of the surface itself.

Alternatively, you can use the TransportGuided Prefab, which combines a drive, the necessary GuideLine or GuideCircle, and all required colliders in a single component. This is especially useful for overlaying on an existing imported CAD Design.

You can find a tutorial about Guided Transports on Youtube:

Demo Scene

A special demo scene showcases various demonstrations of guided transports, including lifting objects using Guide Transports, such as chain systems. You can access this demo scene through the main menu by navigating to realvirtual > Additional Demos > Guided Transport. Explore the different scenarios to see the capabilities and applications of Guided Transports in action.

Prerequisites - GuidedMU

To utilize Guided Transport, you must ensure that all MUs (Moving Units) have a GuideMU script attached to them. The recommended approach is to add this script to the Source, as shown in the picture.

Guided Transports rely on colliders and raycasts to detect the Guide Lines. Therefore, it's necessary to define the raycast length and layers appropriately to ensure proper functionality.

The raycast in the Guided Transport system will always be performed downwards in the Global Z direction. This ensures that even Moving Units (MUs) that may be tumbling or moving erratically will still be able to detect the colliders accurately and be snapped to the Guide Lines.

The standard components used in Guided Transport are rvTransport, which combines Guide Lines with TransportSurfaces, and rvSimStatic, which is utilized for TransportGuided Components. The rvSimStatic component is especially useful when you want to avoid collisions with the MUs detected by the detection collider.

Guided Transport with TransportSurface

TransportSurfaces can be extended by GuideLines. This will snap MUs as soon as the GuidedMU raycast are detecting the TransportSurface. The MU is always aligned and snapped to the nearest point on the TransportSurface. The speed is taken from the TransportSurface. You need just to add an empty Gameobject underneath the TransportSurface and add the GuideLine or GuideCircle component to it. Alternatively you can use the overlay menu or the main menu (e.g. realvirtual > Add Object > GuideLine)

Besides the GuideLine also GuideCircle is available for circular movements.

TransportGuided

A convenient alternative for implementing Guided Transport is to use the TransportGuided Component. This single Prefab component simplifies the process by combining a Drive and the TransportGuided script into one entity. Additionally, it automatically creates the necessary colliders and either a GuideCircle or GuideLine, depending on the configuration.

To add a TransportGuided component: