What s New in 2016 Emulate3D New Tag Grid The TagBrowser Tag Grid now appears in the main Demo3D properties pane, making it easier to see the tags bound to each component in the model, and to observe component IO in real time. Shows the tags just for the selected component. See tag values change in real time just for that component. Create connections and wire up components from inside the main Demo3D window. Use it as a rudimentary control panel for example, to force errors.
Hardware Config Wizard The hardware configuration wizard comes with built-in support for various pieces of emulation hardware and software. It knows how to program the hardware to emulate real-world IO devices. It then presents the configuration internally within Emulate3D, simplifying wiring up of model properties to the emulated device IO points. Knows about emulation hardware installed in your PC. o Real-time Ethernet cards Profinet o FC312x Beckhoff cards Profibus o SST PBMS card Profibus Saves your hardware configuration in the model. Automatically generates address maps you use the PLC addresses.
More Direct PLC Support Omron B&R Automation
New Sim3D Analysis Tool The Analysis tool is now embedded in Sim3D as an interactive spreadsheet to which live or end of run summary charts can be added. Source data tables can also be edited in this spreadsheet view and the layout of the charts and tables can be edited within the Sim3D Analysis tool or externally using Microsoft Excel directly. Results are now saved out at the end of a set of experiments in.xlsx format for easy viewing and editing. Quick Experiment Pressing Play and then Reset now automatically runs a Quick Experiment (experiment 0) for the current document. This makes it easier to test your input data and charting without having to set up batch experiment runs.
Overlap-Free Simulations Automatic Merges Linear Only Handles any merges 90 degree, 2-1, overlaps Virtual Stop before merge Virtual Sensors over merge TransferDirection defines sensors (In/Out/InOut) AutoConfigure Enables/Disables Functionality Linear Physics now has support for automatic merge logic, so conveyor systems can be built without having to completely specify the control logic for every merge point in the system. Without this automatic merge behavior, loads may overlap and Load overlap errors will be displayed in the message log. This mechanism allows for the overlap-free movement of loads. Showing the Physics for a model (press F8) indicates where virtual sensors have been added to a scene and whether they are currently blocked or not (red indicates the sensor is blocked). In the three cases shown here no photo eyes have been placed, just conveyors connected, but loads still flow in a controlled way: Where two or more conveyors merge, a virtual sensor the width of the incoming conveyor is placed at the merge point. If the sensor is blocked by any loads on the conveyor with the sensor, then loads from an incoming spur are prevented from transferring until the sensor is clear. If the sensor is blocked by a transferring load from the spur, then loads approaching on the conveyor the sensor is on are blocked. The blocking is modelled using a virtual stop blade. Whether a virtual sensor is added to a junction or not depends on the state of the connector from the incoming conveyor: TransferDirection - In/Out/InOut controls the way loads can flow AutoConfigure - False disables the virtual sensor so it is never placed
Note: Virtual sensors and stop blades are not added until a model has been initialized, so the physics view won't show them if a model has just been loaded or reset has been pressed. C#/JScript Editor Code Zooming (CTRL-Mouse Wheel)
Ribbon Manager Extend Demo3D User Interface Context Menus Ribbon Tabs/Tools The Ribbon Manager allows you to create your own custom tools that appear in the main application ribbon. You will need scripting capabilities to create the tools. There are two basic approaches. The first is based on scripts that you create for your own personal use, and these can be placed in My Documents\Demo3D\Scripts. The second is plugin-based, and this is used when creating custom tools that will be distributed via the Web Store. Ribbon Layout The ribbon is structured as a collection of pages, with each page containing a collection of groups. Examples of pages in the main application are "Home", "Arrange", "Visualization", etc. Examples of groups on the "Home" page are "Editing", "Animate", etc. In each group are items such as buttons, editors, choice menus and separators.
Show/Hide All Layers The visibility of all layers can now be set to On or Off with the new Show/Hide All Layers buttons on the layer menu: Catalog Explorer Favourites The Catalog Explorer has been significantly updated with better and faster search of all catalogs and a new layout that provides more on-screen information. There is also a new Favourites folder which can be accessed at all times from the catalog breadcrumbs bar or the top level catalog folder. To add items to this favourites folder right click on them and select Add to Favourites. Better 4K Screen Support New PCs may be supplied with 4K screens which require software to be updated to handle the higher resolutions. In response to users who have had issues with these high resolutions we have reengineered parts of the user interface so they scale correctly when Windows scaling is in place. Catalog component icons are now clearer and slightly higher resolution for better 4K screen support:
Visual Studio Editing Edit existing C# Scripts Full Intellisense New C# Projects (.csproj) Snippets (Events, Custom properties, etc.) GUI Designers (WinForms and WPF/XAML) C# Plugins Scripts or Projects Snippets can be used in Visual Studio to insert the correct method signatures for Demo3D events like OnBlocked. Start typing and then press TAB twice on the snippet you want to insert:
Visual Studio User Interface Designer Visual Studio User Interface Designers can be used to develop custom UIs for components: Here is how the user interface looks in Demo3D:
Selecting from Multiple Versions In order to create and edit C# Projects or debug C# scripts or projects Microsoft's Visual Studio must be installed. The following versions are supported for editing and debugging: Visual Studio 2015 (recommended) Visual Studio 2015 Express for Windows Desktop (Free) Visual Studio 2013 Visual Studio 2013 Express for Windows Desktop (Free) Visual Studio 2012 Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Desktop (Free) Visual Studio 2010 (limited support for debugging only) If multiple versions of Visual Studio are installed, you can configure which version is used for editing and debugging in the Options dialog:
Reference Manager The Reference Manager enables users to allow C# scripts to reference other DLLs. Search Bar on Property Grids All property grids now have the search bar.
Online Scripting API Documentation As well as full Intellisense support for the scripting API within Visual Studio and the built-in C# editor, there is now a new online API document set which contains further information and examples of how to use each part of the API in C# or Jscript scripts: The API is searchable with Google and is also linked into the Quick Search inside Demo3D so you can easily find that method you are looking for and how to use it. The online link for this is: http://www.sim3d.com/api
Updated Documentation and Interactive Help Every button and window in the user interface now has a landing page in the documentation which can be searched or linked to directly by clicking on the help icon on any window header or button tooltip: Clicking on the Help button on the Edit Script tooltip will open your web browser to this page in the manual:
DWG/DXF Block Attributes Read Block Attributes into custom properties Create a running model from CAD DWG and DXF drawings may contain attribute elements which describe the block they are attached to. A conveyor may have attributes for the length and the type of motor attached, for example. Using these attributes it is possible to create a script to automatically produce a Demo3D model from a DWG or DXF layout. Import In AutoCAD you can see which attributes will be imported by clicking on a block showing the values in the "Attributes" section of the properties. Attributes can be modified by right clicking the block and selecting "Edit Attribute..." When the drawing is imported into Demo3D, custom properties are added to the visuals that correspond to the blocks in AutoCAD. The custom properties are added under the "Block Attributes" category. These can be accessed in script using Visual.GetCustomProperty(name).
Export Block Attribute custom properties imported from a DWG/DXF will already be included when exporting back to DWG/DXF. In order to add more attributes, simply add a custom property and set the category to "Block Attributes". DWT Fields Reading and populating fields from template
DWG/DXF/STEP Primitives Retain primitives avoiding triangle conversion Box, Cylinder, Sphere support Import/Export results o Test file DWG 59KB old 19KB new o Real model DWG 8448KB old 8126KB new o Test file STEP 1829KB old 31KB new Factory Design Suite Import Connector information Surface textures Inventor models from Factory Design Suite may contain connector definitions which will be imported into Demo3D; however annotations are still needed to configure conveyor surfaces in Inventor.
3D PDF Templates Include templates from DWG 3D PDF People Static shapes generated for animated people Adobe 3D PDF doesn t support skinned meshes where the 3D model of people will stretch as limbs move. To work around this and still be able to display some kind of people animation in 3D PDF we now export static meshes for each of the limbs that are as close as possible to the original flexible skins that would be seen in Demo3D directly.
Fuse People Import Any person from Fuse can be imported Manual page details the procedure Depth Map Snapshots Emulates the behaviour of a depth camera Uses graphics card (GPU) for performance
Text Tool Create text annotations on any surface Edit existing text Intuitive orientation When the Text Tool is enabled clicking the mouse anywhere in the scene will allow you use the keyboard to add text at that location. Alternatively, selecting pre-existing text allows you to edit it. Ctrl + Enter, Escape or Disabling the text tool finishes editing of the currently selected text. When using the text tool on a visual, the text will be centered and automatically resize to fit to the size of the selected face. Selecting Text Options... from the Text Tool drop down shows the configurable options.
Autosize Mode: Width and Height Height None The text resizes to stay within the bounds of the face. The text is the same height as the selected face. The text uses the Line Height value. Centering Mode: Width and Height Height None The text is centered to both the width and height. The text is centered to the height of the face only. The text is not centered.
Dynamic Dimensions Edit dimension set distance to second visual If not draggable set distance to first visual Quick Local/Rotation Editing Quickly set World/Local position/rotation Use Expressions e.g. +1ft or -0.5m Always on status bar
Texture Selector Reuse existing textures Reduces model size The Texture Selector shows a preview of all the current textures in the model. To access the Texture Selector select a visual and then select the texture property found under material in the property grid. Make sure that Simple Properties is unchecked. From here you can choose a pre-existing texture, import a new one or press <Select>... which will open the Texture Selector. Double clicking or selecting a texture and clicking OK will then add the texture to the selected visual.
Movie Textures Animated GIF texture playback Change existing textures to be animated Multiple Views Single or 4-way views Change settings for each view Multiple or Single Window Views can be changed from the status bar.
Cloud Rendering Currently 1000 CPUs in Cloud Approximate Cost is ~$80/minute of finished video 1-2 hours render time Web page for.raw3d uploads & render requests Preview Frames For more information about this service please contact support@demo3d.com.
Mobile/Tablet Apps iphone/ipad/android Apps for.raw3d playback Google Cardboard on phones, Samsung Gear VR For Windows users there is also a free app which anyone can download which will play.raw3d files. If you don t have it or Demo3D installed just double click on a.raw3d file and Windows 10 will direct you to the Windows Store to download the Demo3D Viewer app directly. This makes it easy for your end users to playback concept videos from their own machines.
Game Controller Vibration Controller Vibration Settings Left and Right Independent Useful for interactive models and Training Rumble Feedback for surfaces/obstacles/strain Virtual Reality Support for the new Oculus Rift has been baked into all editions of Demo3D. If you have a headset go to the Visualization ribbon tab in the user interface and press the VR button to stream the current Demo3D session live to the headset. A new window will appear in Demo3D showing the Oculus View: Alternatively open the Demo3DVR.exe application on a.raw3d file to play back a recorded 3D movie in Virtual Reality. This app uses an Xbox controller to allow the user to navigate the world without a keyboard and mouse. For further details about Virtual Reality in Emulate3D products and to access the free apps, go to http://www.demo3d.com/cardboard-virtual-reality/