What’s New in
Emulate3D 2023
c
Table of Contents
Application (Core) Features ........................................................................................ 4
All Users - Demo3D Professional and Higher ....................................................................................................................... 4
Software Activation – FactoryTalk Activation and ULS........................................................................................................................... 4
NET6 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Gainsight ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Mechanism Solver ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Algoryx .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
NVIDIA Omniverse ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Optimized Script Compilation ................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Autodesk Factory Design Utilities ............................................................................................................................................................ 11
Simulation - Sim3D Professional and Higher ...................................................................................................................... 12
Simple Properties in Runtimes ................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Experiment Manager Enhancements ...................................................................................................................................................... 13
Emulation - Emulate3D Controls Testing and Higher ........................................................................................................ 14
CIP Safety ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
FactoryTalk Echo R2 Integration ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
MQTT Protocol Support ............................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Auto Unique Naming for Aspect Bindable Items ................................................................................................................................... 15
Packages – Components, Catalogs, and Plugins .......................................................... 16
All Users - Demo3D Professional and Higher ..................................................................................................................... 16
Package Explorer ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
AMRs ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
New Loads Catalog ................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Robot Framework ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Black Box .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Smart Conveyors ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Uncontrolled Conveyors............................................................................................................................................................................ 24
Asset Manager ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Conveyor Populator ................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Simulation - Sim3D Professional and Higher ...................................................................................................................... 26
Mathematical Widgets and Function Plot (Coming with Tanks & Pipes V2) ...................................................................................... 26
Emulation - Emulate3D Controls Testing and Higher ........................................................................................................ 27
Actuators ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Advanced Motor Controllers ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Ultimate ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Tanks & Pipes V2 Catalog ........................................................................................................................................................................ 28
Filler and Cappers ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Rockwell Automation 2 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Other Exciting Developments .................................................................................... 30
Emulate3D Viewer on Meta Quest (Oculus Quest) ............................................................................................................................... 30
Hololens 2 App ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Training Paths ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Rockwell Automation 3 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Application (Core) Features
All Users - Demo3D Professional and Higher
Software Activation – FactoryTalk Activation and ULS
Class Feature Replacement
Impact Software Licensing and Activation
Emulate3D 2023 entirely replaces legacy
activation strategies Network License Server
(NLS) and Stand-Alone USB-locked activation.
The default technology for Emulate3D activation is
now FactoryTalk Activation (FTA). Universal
License Service (ULS) is also optionally available
for licenses that have active Maintenance &
Support contracts.
Emulate3D gets an Activation Uplift!
We are excited to announce the World-Class Software Activation Technology, FactoryTalk Activation
(FTA) completely replaces NLS and Stand-Alone USB dongle licensing.
Manage your Choices
Unlike NLS and Stand-alone USB activations, FTA does not require the use of a dongle. Activations
may be hosted on an easy-to-setup networked license server or may be allocated to a specific user; it’s
your choice.
Fast to Deploy
FTA Activations are automatically generated when new software is purchased, and Major Release
upgrade activations are automatically generated for activations with active Maintenance & Support
subscriptions. No need to contact support to ask for updated licenses!
Rockwell Automation 4 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
NET6
Class Enhanced Feature
Impact Performance and Stability
Area Logical Operation
Emulate3D 2023 moves from .NET48 to .NET6,
keeping up with Microsoft’s development. .NET6
positions Emulate3D for future advancements
aimed at Cloud Development and generally
improves performance and ease of development.
Note: C# Project script editing requires
VisualStudio 2022.
[Benchmark Test Results]
Rockwell Automation 5 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Gainsight
Class New Feature
Impact Product Management
Emulate3D 2023 now includes Gainsight which
provides our Development Team with diagnostic
information, which will help us to provide higher
quality software with more relevant features.
Rockwell Automation 6 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Mechanism Solver
Class Enhanced Feature
Impact Performance and Stability
Area CiTM
The Mechanism Solver has been improved to
provide better runtime performance along with
greater mechanism stability, including the
following:
Line search routine
Improved mechanism diagnostics
Extra events to monitor joint parameters
Interactable status of links to VR
Rockwell Automation 7 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Algoryx
Class New Feature
Impact Performance and Stability
Area Volumetric Physics
Algoryx is a real-time engineering-grade physics
engine which now lives alongside the existing
physics engines in Emulate3D. Algoryx offers the
following features:
Hybrid constraint solver
High-precision collision detection
Submillimeter geometric feature support
Full triangle mesh geometry support
Contact point reduction
Complex dynamic mechanisms
Improves user experience in the following ways:
Improved load stability, especially where loads are stacked or piled onto each other
Enables better physics-based load manipulation and better dynamic mechanism functionality
Margin-free collision
Better interaction of bodies with different mass ratios
Rockwell Automation 8 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
NVIDIA Omniverse
Class New Feature
Impact Expanded Capability, Enhanced
Capability
Area Workflow, Scale, Rendering
Public Preview Available Now
Emulate3D now has a connector to NVIDIA
Omniverse. Omniverse runs a Nucleus server,
allowing multiple scenes from Emulate3D models
and/or other applications to connect to and
aggregate into a central or shared scene.
In addition to the ability to bring multiple scenes together into one place, the Omniverse graphics
rendering is extremely realistic.
Rockwell Automation 9 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Optimized Script Compilation
Class New Feature
Performance improvements
Impact Performance and Stability
Run speed (see graph)
Area Logical Operation
Initialization
Script compilation optimizations are handled
automatically in Emulate3D 2023 when scripts are Model opening
compiled. Other script related tasks
*Baseline is 2022 with unoptimized script
Rockwell Automation 10 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Autodesk Factory Design Utilities
Class New Feature
Impact Expanded Capability, Enhanced
Capability
Area Importers & Exporters
Emulate3D 2023 adds support for integration with
Autodesk Factory Design Utilities (AFDU). AFDU
provides a unified standard data structure for
representing machinery assets across different
software applications, such as Inventor, AutoCAD,
and NavisWorks, where each application may
instantiate their own representations of the
machinery assets, based on descriptive metadata.
In Emulate3D, the same descriptive metadata can
be used to instantiate models from purpose-built
custom catalogs and/or native visuals. This
means an AFDU model can be imported into
Emulate3D as a simulation-ready or emulation-
ready model.
Rockwell Automation 11 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Simulation - Sim3D Professional and Higher
Simple Properties in Runtimes
Class New Feature
Impact Usability
Area GUI
The SimpleProperties view of the Properties Grid
has been added to the Runtime Editions of
Emulate3D. This feature allows for specific
properties to be modified by users in the Runtime
Editions. The simple properties that are exposed
in the Runtime Editions can be set by users during
design of the model using Non-Runtime Editions.
Rockwell Automation 12 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Experiment Manager Enhancements
Class Enhanced Feature
Impact Usability
Area Simulation Workflow
The Sim3D Experiment Manager now supports
more data types. In addition to the Add To
Experiments button in the Properties Grid, a
dedicated Add Experiment Property tool has been
added. The Add Experiment Property tool has
been improved for better usability.
Rockwell Automation 13 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Emulation - Emulate3D Controls Testing and Higher
CIP Safety
Class New Feature
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Rockwell Automation Controls
Emulate3D can now emulate CIP Safety devices,
which allows users to connect their CIP Safety
inputs and outputs without having to modify their
code or disable their safety programs. This feature
supports CIP Safety devices for both hardware
PLCs and Logix Echo R2.
For projects in FT Logix Echo, we support Safety
Signed projects. For Hardware in the Loop
projects, where the customer is using a hardware
GuardLogix controller connected to Emulate3D,
testing of code signed with a Safety Signature
against an emulated IO tree is NOT supported, by
design.
FactoryTalk Echo R2 Integration
Class New Feature
Impact Usability
Area Rockwell Automation Controls
FactoryTalk Echo R2 supports more Controllers
(including Safety Controllers) and can emulate
multiple chassis. Emulate3D 2023 adds support
for Echo R2, which will work now in both 32bit and
64bit. FactoryTalk Echo R2 also supports
virtualization of axes, which can drive
mechanisms in Emulate3D.
Rockwell Automation 14 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
MQTT Protocol Support
Class New Feature
Impact Expanded Capability
Area High Level Emulation
The MQTT Protocol is now supported by
Telegrams in Emulate3D.
MQTT is a publish/subscribe, lightweight messaging protocol designed for constrained devices and
low-bandwidth, high-latency or unreliable networks. It is ideal for connecting remote devices with a
small code footprint and minimal network bandwidth. It is used in a wide variety of industries, such as
automotive, manufacturing, telecommunications, oil and gas, etc.
Auto Unique Naming for Aspect Bindable Items
Class New Feature
Impact Usability
Area Aspects/CiTM
Aspect Property based Bindable Items now
automatically rename to ensure names are
unique. This feature is important when using
multiple aspects on a single visual, where those
aspects create properties that will later be
mapped to controller tags via the IO Browser.
Rockwell Automation 15 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Packages – Components, Catalogs, and Plugins
All Users - Demo3D Professional and Higher
Package Explorer
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Plugin
Impact Usability
Area Content Management
The new major revision of the Package Explorer
contains a variety of new features and quality-of-
life improvements. These include .NET6 support,
recommended packages, legacy packages,
autocomplete tag searching, checkboxes to filter
important package categories, new sort options,
performance improvements, and bug fixes.
Rockwell Automation 16 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
AMRs
Class New Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Vehicles
The new Emulate3D AMRs Catalog allows for
customizable simulation and modeling of AMR
(Autonomous Mobile Robot) systems. The AMR
Framework script includes smart path planning
code capable of managing large fleets of bots
without deadlocks occurring. Jobs are defined in
QLP and added to a job pool so that they can be
carried out by available bots. Emulate3D AMR
systems are Transfer State compatible which
allows them to interact with other frameworks
such as People and Vehicles.
Rockwell Automation 17 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
New Loads Catalog
Class New Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Content
Area Loads
Hundreds of new loads and preconfigured load
creators, with curated simple properties for easier
model creation. Included are:
A wide range of boxes of various dimensions,
textures, and colors
Industry standard pallets and slip sheets
including partially palletized options
Glass and plastic bottles, including capped and
labelled options
Drink and food cans, including labelled options
Pill bottles, including capped and labelled
options
Paper rolls, cement bags
Crates, totes, and trays designed to hold other
loads inside
Drums and shipping crates
Rockwell Automation 18 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Robot Framework
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Robotics
This year saw some significant updates to the
Robot Framework, beginning with a complete
rework of the Reach Zone Generation tool. Reach
Zones are now more accurate than before and
can be generated reliably for a variety of robot
types. Next, we have the Path Framework which
offers improved support for move blending and
path creation. Finally, the Robot Framework now
has an official documented API that provides
users direct access to things such as the
Exhaustive Robot Solver.
Rockwell Automation 19 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Rockwell Automation 20 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Black Box
Class Enhanced Feature Inspecting and rejecting loads
Type Catalog
Processing according to a time or throughput
Impact Expanded Capability
Ramping processes, scaling processes
Area Reduced Order Modeling
Batched processes, parallel processes,
A vast range of new preconfigured Black Boxes
multistage processes
have been added, which make use of new
widgets. This includes Black Box categories for: Idealized processes according to OEE
Animating loads with a speed profile, a Scheduled processes
movement time, or through multiple staging FIFO, LIFO, Sorted, and Priority buffers
points
Flow control storage
Ejecting loads into physics
Reskinning, recoloring, and changing
Creating new loads with randomized properties on loads.
properties,
Labelling and capping loads
Creating a range load types to be ordered from
Grouping and ungrouping of loads
Flow Control,
Transformation of loads into different load
Consuming loads
types
Diverting loads according to their type, custom
Various transportation types
decisions, lookup tables, or random distribution
Non-accumulating conveyance, accumulation
Picking loads from a conveyor like a person
conveyance
and more!
Rockwell Automation 21 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Rockwell Automation 22 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Smart Conveyors
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Modeling Workflow
Renaming and updating the “Simple Conveyors”
Catalog to include more premade configurations.
This includes pressure accumulation, index (slug)
accumulation, zero pressure accumulation, slug
releases, cascade / semi-slug release, singulation
release, index release, and single zone options.
Roller, Belt, and Chain conveyors are offered in
wide (pallet), medium (box or bag), and narrow
(bottle or can) sizes. The catalog also contains a
number of transfers.
Rockwell Automation 23 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Uncontrolled Conveyors
Class New Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Content
Area Modeling Workflow
Logic free conveyors ideal for learning the
software, or as a starting point to create custom
conveyor behaviors. Includes belt, roller, gravity,
chain, injector, curved and spiral variations.
Comes with sensors designed for rapid logic
development, with events and QuickLogic set up
for easy editing. Also contains example deflectors,
pushers, transfers, and stop blades which can be
conveniently controlled using the example
sensors.
Rockwell Automation 24 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Asset Manager
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Plugin
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Modeling Workflow
Asset Manager has been enhanced to include
some useful new features. One such new feature
is a Select Others button, which finds all other
assets that match the ID of the current selection
and adds them to the selection. Another feature is
that operations can be performed on a plural
selection (re-define asset and clear asset data).
Lastly, a new feature which allows for selection of
individual properties to be maintained or inherited
from the existing assets when pushing an asset
update, the properties are selected from a drop-
down checklist.
Conveyor Populator
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Component/Plugin
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Modeling Workflow
The conveyor Populator has been upgraded with
the following new features:
Added TSE Position Expression.
Added support for initial height and initial base
rotation settings.
Added support for rotation and centerline
offset.
Update toolbar fields (load count, selected
conveyors) when model is reset.
The TSE Position Expression works like Position expression on core visuals, such as
“Conveyor.Length/2”, or “(12in)”.
Rockwell Automation 25 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Simulation - Sim3D Professional and Higher
Mathematical Widgets and Function Plot (Coming with Tanks & Pipes V2)
Class New Feature
Type Component
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Machinery Control
New tools have been added to allow users to
model their complex processes for both the Tanks
and Pipes catalog, and for other systems in
Emulate3D. Mathematical widgets allow for easy
differentiation, integration, and to change a
variable value according to some common
functions. The Function Plot allows you to define a
relationship between two variables using an input
table or an editable plot. This can be used in logic
to define pump startup curves, reaction rates, and
much more.
Rockwell Automation 26 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Emulation - Emulate3D Controls Testing and Higher
Actuators
Class New Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Machinery Control
The new Actuators catalog provides a parametric
Solenoid Valve with 18 configurations
(Ports/Positions) for actuating the new Cylinder,
Clamp, or any E3D Visual which utilizes an
Advanced Actuation Controller. The actuation can
be triggered by creating Visual References or
Wiring Diagram Connections.
Advanced Motor Controllers
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Aspects
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Machinery Control
The components in this catalog (Advanced
Actuation Controller & Advanced Position
Controller) are now integrated into the CAD Is The
Model toolbar. And the Advanced Actuation
Controller gained a “Swap Positions” property.
Rockwell Automation 27 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Ultimate
Tanks & Pipes V2 Catalog
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Process System Modeling
The Tanks and Pipes V1 catalog allows users to
move liquids between tanks and mixers by
pumping them through pipes. Fluid flow rates are
calculated from pressure differentials, liquid
viscosity and density, definable friction, and
gravity. The range of PlantPAx aligned valves,
pumps, and sensors allows users to represent
their hybrid and batch applications within
Emulate3D and test their controls logic.
V2 of the Tanks and Pipes catalog (to be released shortly after Emulate3D 2023) allows users to define
custom liquid properties such as temperature and pH. Tools such as liquid black boxes and process
controllers allow users to model processes such as heating and cooling, mixing reactions, filtration,
powder addition, and more. A range of data collection components allow users to better understand
how their controls system is performing. Scenario editing and random fault generation allows users to
test their code and trainee operators against electrical and mechanical failures.
Rockwell Automation 28 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Filler and Cappers
Class New Feature
Type Catalog
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Process System Modeling
The Fillers And Cappers (F&C) Catalog is
designed to be used alongside the Tanks And
Pipes (T&P) Catalog. It contains a variety of
prefabricated filling and capping components as
well as their base building blocks for use in
custom CITM machines.
Rockwell Automation 29 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Other Exciting Developments
Emulate3D Viewer on Meta Quest (Oculus Quest)
Class Enhanced Feature
Type Application
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Virtual Reality
View animations of material handling solutions
and equipment. Communicate proposals with your
customers in new and exciting ways. Help with
training by showing animations of system
behavior from the operator's viewpoint.
Rockwell Automation 30 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Hololens 2 Application
Class New Feature
Type Application
Impact Expanded Capability
Area Augmented Reality
Emulate3D’s new Viewer app for the Microsoft
Hololens 2 will be available in on the Microsoft
store.
New Features:
Connect to Emulate3D models or view a
Raw3D file in Augmented Reality
Scale, rotate and move the entire model
around a real physical environment
Interact with Visuals within Emulate3D, such
as loads and buttons
Loads can be grabbed, thrown or passed
between hands
Interactions are synchronized in real-time
across to Emulate3D
Rockwell Automation 31 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
Training Paths
Class Learning
Type Documentation
Impact User Experience
Over fifty modules have been created on the
Emulate3D Help Console which guide users
through a topic or technique, such as Scripting
Basics / Intermediate / Advanced, VR and AR, or
High-Level Emulation. These modules contain a
mix of tutorials, manuals, videos, and guided
model builds. Modules have been collated into
License Specific training paths, allowing users to
find all the relevant training for the features they
have access too. Application specific training
paths are also available, with more to follow.
These present only the relevant training for
applications such as Machine Building and
Emulation, or Material Handling Simulation.
Rockwell Automation 32 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
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Rockwell Automation 33 What’s New in Emulate3D 2023
