Simulation Diagrams

A simulation diagram is a dashboard for a scenario or a whole twin: agents, links, charts and controls on one canvas, all computed live from your model.

A simulation diagram is a canvas tied to a scenario (or to a whole twin). It shows your agents, the links between them, and (optionally) charts and interactive controls — all computed live from your model.

Create or open a diagram

• For one scenario: in the Model Navigator, expand the scenario, then click + next to its Views (or right-click → Add Simulation Diagram).
• For the whole twin: click + next to the twin's own Views (Add Twin Diagram). A twin-wide dashboard holds charts and controls that compare scenarios; it has no agents.

A scenario can have several diagrams. Use them like dashboards: one for the structural view, one for the financial KPIs, one for the supply-chain map.

Place agents and links

• The Toolbox lists your model's nodes by type, with a search box. Drag a node onto the canvas and it becomes an agent of this scenario, placed on the diagram.
• To show an agent that already exists, drag it from the scenario's Agents in the Model Navigator.
• Hover an agent to see connection handles; drag to another agent to draw a link.
• Use the same selection, drag, and alignment shortcuts you already know from modeling diagrams.

Links between two placed agents appear automatically once both ends are on the diagram. Move agents around to create the layout that tells your story best.

Select, arrange and copy

• Select several widgets and agents: shift-click them, or drag a box around them on an empty part of the canvas.
• Move them together by dragging any one of them. Press Delete to remove them all.
• Line them up with the Alignment and Sizing buttons in the Toolbox: Align Left, Distribute Horizontally, Match Largest Width and so on.
• Copy and paste with Ctrl+C / Cmd+C and Ctrl+V / Cmd+V, on the same dashboard or another scenario's. Pasted widgets are reconnected to the agents with the same names there; Metapad tells you if any could not be matched, and clears those.

One undo reverses each of these steps.

Keep views and agents in folders

A twin's Views, and a scenario's Views and Agents, can be sorted into folders. Click the folder icon next to the section heading to add one, then drag views or agents into it. Folders belong to their twin or scenario, so you can't move an agent into another scenario's folder.

Time on a dashboard

Charts show the scenario's whole timeline, or the part chosen as the dashboard's Default time range (see Putting a Twin on a Calendar). To walk through time round by round, add a Round control (see Playing Through a Simulation Step by Step).

Hide what you don't need

A simulation diagram doesn't have to show everything. You can:

• Remove an agent from this diagram without deleting it from the scenario (keeps the agent live, just not visible here)
• Hide individual links to declutter
• Place chart widgets that summarize many agents at once instead of showing each one individually

Treat diagrams as views — different audiences, different focus.

Next steps

• Adding Charts, Sliders, and Checkboxes — go beyond the structural view
• Writing Property Formulas — give your agents behavior worth visualizing
• Reading Connected Agents in Rhai — coordinate behavior across links
• Playing Through a Simulation Step by Step — turn a dashboard into a game