Lesson 1 · Draw the first loop

Every plant starts as a network of paths the vehicles drive on. You will draw a 20 × 12 m loop with rounded corners and make it one-way, the simplest layout that never has two vehicles meeting head-on.

Prefer to watch first? Video 01 draws a similar loop. The text below is the reference: it says exactly what to click and why.

Start a project

1. Open the project menu. Click the project name at the top left and choose New project. The same menu holds Language and Theme; both are preferences of your browser and never change the project.
2. Meet the screen. You are in the Draw workspace (the switch at the top centre also leads to Plant logic and Simulate, which you will use later). On the left is the tool rail; the digit on each button is its keyboard shortcut. Above the canvas, the toolbar has Orthogonal, the zoom buttons, Fit and Origin, with the scale readout between them. On the right, the side panel has the tabs Properties, Objects, Network and Background. Under the canvas, the status bar shows the real X/Y of the pointer in millimetres.
3. Zoom out to see the whole plant. The empty canvas is zoomed in. Click Zoom out (the − button) until the readout says about 1 px ≈ 2.4 cm; the canvas then shows roughly 22 m across, centred on the origin, which is where the plant will sit.

Draw the four sides

A path is a drivable line from A to B. The order of your two clicks fixes which end is A, and a one-way path runs from A to B, so draw the four sides in the order a vehicle will drive them: bottom, right, top, left. Leave a 2 m gap at every corner; curves will fill them.

1. Choose Path and switch on Ortho. Click Path or press 4, then click Orthogonal (or press F8). With Ortho on, every path is exactly horizontal or vertical.
2. Bottom side, left to right. Click near (−8 000, −6 000), then near (8 000, −6 000). A dashed preview with its length follows the pointer; the second click ends the path. The tool stays active for the next one. Endpoints snap to a 100 mm grid.
3. Right side, bottom to top. Click near (10 000, −4 000), then near (10 000, 4 000).
4. Top side, right to left. Click near (8 000, 6 000), then near (−8 000, 6 000).
5. Left side, top to bottom. Click near (−10 000, 4 000), then near (−10 000, −4 000).

Round the corners

A curve joins two different straight paths. You give it just two points, one on each path, and the app works out the tangents so the curve leaves and enters smoothly.

1. Choose Curve. Choose Path, then Curve in the toolbar, or press 5.
2. Bottom-right corner. Click the end of the bottom side, (8 000, −6 000), then the start of the right side, (10 000, −4 000). A small yellow square confirms that the click snapped to a path end.
3. The other three corners. Right to top: (10 000, 4 000) then (8 000, 6 000). Top to left: (−8 000, 6 000) then (−10 000, 4 000). Left to bottom: (−10 000, −4 000) then (−8 000, −6 000). Always click the end you leave first, then the end you reach: the curve inherits that order.

Make the loop one-way

On a two-way path vehicles may meet head-on and block each other. A loop that every vehicle drives in the same direction cannot, which is why most plants use one. The direction belongs to each path, so you set it eight times.

1. Select a path. Press 1 for Select and click the bottom side. Its properties open in Properties, and arrows on the path show its current direction.
2. Set the direction. Change Travel direction to A to B · start → end. The arrows now point from A to B, which for the bottom side means to the right.
3. Repeat for the other seven. Click each remaining side and each curve and set the same option. Because you drew them in loop order, all eight now run the same way round.

Check and save

1. Read the Network tab. Open Network. Its dot is red and the one error says that a Pickup and a Drop station are needed: correct, you have drawn none yet. There is no message about separate parts, so the eight paths form a single connected network. The tab checks your drawing after every change; you will use it often.
2. Save the project. Click Save or press Ctrl+S. In the Save .sim project dialog, type aurora.sim as the Project name and confirm with Save .sim. Save writes a portable .sim file; it never overwrites a file you imported.

Checkpoint

It contains: 8 paths · 0 stations.

Download the checkpoint (aurora-01-loop.en.sim)

Open it with Project›Import project. It replaces the project you have open, so save yours first (or open it in a new browser tab). Anything you do from here on is a copy: the checkpoint file itself never changes. Use it to continue from here if you skipped a lesson, or to compare your own project with the expected one.