News

In September, Thunderhead Engineering welcomed a record attendance to FEMTC 2020 in its first virtual edition. We are excited to present to you the full set of presentations from our event with videos, papers, and slides available. This material is free for anyone to download/view.  Read More...

Our latest updates for PyroSim, Pathfinder, and Results are available now. View our Release Notes to download and see the full details, or read on for a quick look at what's new. Read More...

Since Pathfinder 2018.3, users have been able to take advantage of Monte Carlo simulations through a command line interface. In modeling, the Monte Carlo method is used to randomize inputs across many simulation instances. With a statistical analysis applied, users can create probablistic interpretations of the resulting data sets. It is often used in research and is also required by regulations such as RiMEA. Read More...

In Brian's second talk at FEMTC 2020, he presents an overview of research and development at Thunderhead Engineering in the years since FEMTC 2018. If you haven't yet watched his first presentation, you can view it now for a deep dive into Pathfinder movement behavior research. This presentation covers the bulk of many other topics we've focused on. Read More...

Since introducing our Results application which combines PyroSim and Pathfinder output into a single workspace, we have continued to improve the visual realism of this package. Our users report that improvements in rendering smoke, textures, and occupant animation not only give their work a more professional look, but also increase the clarity of their findings. In the 2020.5 release, we will add several new features to deliver even better modeling output. Read More...

In September, Thunderhead Engineering welcomed a record attendance to FEMTC 2020 in its first virtual edition. We are excited to begin delivering the presentations from that conference to everyone. First, we have a discussion of several different occupant movement topics researched by the Thunderhead Engineering R&D team and presented by President Brian Hardeman. There's more to come! Read More...

PyroSim and Pathfinder 2020.4 bring many new features. Here is a quick look at the biggest additions. View the full release notes for PyroSim and Pathfinder. Read More...

Our support team has been assisting Szymon Matkowski with his recent project based on a feasibility study, completed by a team at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, of possible layouts and technical solutions for a theoretical base on Mars. The study was part of a competition sponsored by The Mars Society in which the ... Read More...

Pathfinder 2020.3 further enhances the user's ability to model social distance behavior as a method to address pandemic safety. Social Distance has been completely separated from Comfort Distance. Now, rather than Enable Forced Separation in the Simulation Parameters (retained in 2020.3 for legacy files), Social Distancing has its own selection field in the Advanced tab of the Edit Profiles dialog. With this recent development, occupants exhibit less "jostle" or "jitter" while smoothly and effectively maintaining distance. Read More...

We are excited that we have already received many compelling abstracts for the Fire and Evacuation Modeling Technical Conference 2020 (FEMTC). As the global situation developed in March, Thunderhead Engineering decided that FEMTC 2020 will become a virtual event. Many have asked for remote opportunities in the past and there is no better time to ... Read More...