Location shapes, patient positioning, and animated transitions
The "Shape" you choose to give a Patient Queuing or Patient Processing object will determine whether the patient stands, sits, or lays down by default when transferred to the object.
An index number associated with the shape that has been assigned to an object is stored in the "ShapeType" variable of the object. The numeric value refers to the rank of the shape found in the drop-down list of pre-defined shapes you choose from when assigning shapes to objects in your model. Note that counting starts at 1 with which is found at the top of the Patient Processing object's list of shapes, and then a 2 for the "AltBed, and 3 for the Angiogram, and so on.
This is useful information because sometimes it can be helpful to go into the model tree view and manually change the value of the "ShapeType" variable of an object to fool the software into having the patient lay down when the default behavior based on the visual shape assigned to the object is for the patient to stand. The variable will keep the value you typed in for it, so long as you don't choose another shape in the Properties user interface window.
Another thing to keep in mind when playing around with shape types to control animation, is that when the patient is being moved from a shape that typically has the patient laying down (e.g. a gurney) over to an object with a shape whose default behavior is to also have the patient lay down, there is no animation associated with the cross-over, the patient simply appears laying down in the new object. In all other situations, the patient goes through some sort of animation when transferring in/out of an object. For instance when transferring from a bed to a wheelchair, the patient stands up with a short animation, turns around, and then sits down in the wheelchair with a short sit-down animation.
I should also point out that you are free to set the exact location and rotation of the patient after it enters the object, regardless of the object's shape. Just use the "Set Location, Rotation, Size" picklist option in the OnEntry trigger of the object the patient will enter. To get the coordinates of the exact location and/or rotation you want to place the patient in, you should run the model up to the point that a patient is in the object. Then manually position the patient where you want it using your mouse. The coordinates for the patient's current location and rotation will be visible on the status line at the bottom of the screen. Use the x,y,z values shown for LOCATION and ROTATION in the setloc() and setrot() commands respectively found in the entry trigger option mentioned above. You should delete the setsized() command from the picklist option since patient size is not something you would want to be changing!
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