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Improvements in Pathfinder 2021.4

Pathfinder 2021.4 focuses on improving seating ingress through occupant targets and improving accuracy through advanced stair movement calculation. Additionally, this Pathfinder release is supported by Results improvements which incorporate gamma correction for improved lighting.

Occupant Targets

Pathfinder 2021.4 introduces a new object for occupant behaviors called Occupant Targets. Occupant targets represent a 1-person location which can be reserved by an occupant through a behavior action. This location remains assigned to the occupant even if they temporarily depart, unless a behavior action triggers them to Abandon the target.

Occupant Targets with coloring by priority.
When viewing Occupant Targets with coloring by priority, it becomes much easier to distinguish where the occupants prefer to go.

Targets are an excellent choice for modeling seating for entertainment venues such as stadiums, auditoriums, or theaters as well as waiting lobbies for medical, commercial, or transit locations. Read the feature preview for more information.

Improved Materials Import

Using materials will have multiple new improvements in Pathfinder 2021.4. Rooms, stairs, and ramps can now have materials applied to them for improved visualization.

New materials UI and features.
The gray carpet material has been repurposed in this image. The texture remains the same, but the carpet is now brown. Any color can be represented with the same material object by adjusting the object's color.

Additionally, multiple objects can use the same material but with differing colors and opacity. This allows the texture (bumpiness, roughness, etc.) to remain the same across multiple color variations.

Updated Stair Calculations

Pathfinder 2021.4 detects areas on the navigation mesh which present stair-like geometry, but are not represented as stairs or ramps, and now implements a calculation called Inferred Stairs.

Stadium Model with FDS Fire and Pathfinder Occupants.
When calculating stair movement in many stadium models, Inferred Stairs will now be used by default.

This situation is common in stadium or other bleacher-seating models. More information is presented in the Pathfinder Technical Reference Manual.