As mechatronic product complexity and control system sophistication increase, predicting system-level behavior is more challenging. Product success is increasingly reliant on innovation and a multidisciplinary system engineering approach is more critical than ever. Performing in-the-loop system-level simulation and testing early in the design stage is key to enabling organization-wide creativity and placing the user at the heart of the engineering process.
Vortex Studio is a robust platform for the creation of interactive virtual prototypes, letting teams refine product functionality with hardware- and driver-in-the-loop testing of "smart" control systems.
Allowing engineers, product managers, and product stakeholders to evaluate design ideas and engage in immersive 3D product experiences, Vortex Studio shortens the development cycle and encourages innovation, with tools to help support integration and distributed visualization.
Vortex Studio lets you reproduce working conditions and confirm your product's ability to complete critical objectives long before deployment. You can create complex worksites and environments—simulating interactions between it and your virtual prototype—allowing you to identify operational issues early in the design process.
About CM Labs
CM Labs builds simulation-based solutions to help clients design advanced equipment and prepare for skilled operations. Through its Vortex Studio platform, CM Labs provides capabilities for in-the-loop simulators, training simulators, mission rehearsal, digital twins, virtual prototyping, and testing.
The CM Labs team features experts with decades of experience and a wide-range of backgrounds in training, vehicle dynamics, heavy equipment, maritime and robotics engineering. With proven expertise ranging from worksite to deep-sea to space-based projects, CM Labs engineers, scientists, and computing professionals excel at all aspects of visual simulation, from initial concept and R&D to integration, training, and beyond.
Vortex Studio Create is available through the Altair Partner Alliance.
“Vortex Studio has empowered us to produce high-quality 3D simulations at a fraction of the time and cost as compared to before.”
–Mark Stevens
Digital Innovation Operations Director, Oceaneering Inc.
Key Features & Benefits
Create Real-time Simulations
- Model, simulate and visualize on the desktop with VR or quickly deploy to immersive hardware-in-the-loop simulators.
- Rapidly create equipment simulation models from 3D model geometry and place equipment in realistic scenarios to test product performance. Engineers can visualize and test equipment operation interactively in the virtual worksite.
- Prepare visually stunning immersive environments and machine simulations using 3d artist models from artwork applications. Build realistic worksites from terrain models and scene-level objects, including buildings, vegetation, and humans.
- Easily extend Vortex Studio through a simple plugin architecture and C++ API to integrate software- and hardware-in-the-loop. Use embedded Python to integrate control logic or interface to external simulation applications through networking plugins. Easily extend and integrate Vortex Studio with any software and hardware solutions to meet your project’s unique needs.
Simulate Mechatronic Systems
- Simulate the most complex ground and maritime equipment in real-time with professional engineering tools for multi-body dynamics and physics-based contact. Vortex Studio is validated and built on over 20 years of research, and development in multi-body dynamics and contact modeling. Dedicated modules for vehicles, earthmoving equipment, lifting systems, and maritime vessels make modeling fast and easy.
- Vehicles: Model any wheeled or tracked vehicle including modeling of individual components, including powertrain, tyre-ground interaction, steering, suspension and brakes.
- Cable Systems: Simulate cables under tension as well as slack cables such as tethers. Model systems of cables, pulleys, blocks and other features to create complex hoisting systems. Simulate towing, anchor handling and other uses of cables in industrial and maritime applications.
- Earthworks: Simulate earthmoving equipment with real-time soil mechanics and digging models that utilize the most advanced DEM and particle physics models to model soil excavation, filling, dumping, erosion, and compaction.
- Hydrodynamics: Combine ocean visualization and wave models with the simulation of hull buoyancy, drag, lift and added-mass effects. Simulate vessels, amphibious vehicles and submersibles.
Advanced Immersive Visualization
- Create stunning immersive visuals with state-of-the-art shader-based GPU-accelerated rendering on desktop systems, head-mounted VR displays, or synchronized multi-channel visual systems. Vortex Studio provides the tools to create realistic scenes with 3D visual effects and advanced real-time rendering—including shadows, skydome, weather, trees, and water to enhance the user experience.
- Our visual engine can also be used to simulate optical sensors such as cameras, ray-cast, and depth sensors or extend their capabilities and technology with tools to model advanced technologies—such as LiDAR or sonar.
Deploy Driver-in-the-loop Simulators
- Leverage a robust software stack, including core Vortex Studio applications, distributed computing framework, cross-platform libraries, and embedded Python. Vortex Studio covers the entire simulator deployment process, eliminating the need to maintain disparate technological integrations and letting you focus on your core specialties. This centralization of the workflow saves considerable time and resources required to build in-the-loop simulators. It provides direct interfaces to motion and audio systems as well as control hardware through CAN, OPC, and others.
- A simple workflow allows you to configure and distribute simulation and visualization to networked player applications and eliminates the need for coding. Tools are available to quickly debug and optimize simulations, manage scenes and participants, and playback simulations.
Industry Applications
- Heavy Industry & Off-Highway:
The movement toward autonomous mobility and control means that off-highway equipment has become more complex. This means these machines require more features, such as software, sensors, and driver-assistance systems. The human-machine experience is changing too, and this affects how products are sold, operated, and maintained. From the engineer’s desktop to immersive HIL simulators, Vortex Studio allows engineers to simulate and visualize equipment operation in real-time.
- Marine:
Offshore companies face a shifting energy landscape and the need to operate in ever more challenging conditions at greater efficiencies. This shift necessitates a continuous stream of innovative design. With high-fidelity dynamics, cable-systems, and ocean modeling, Vortex Studio lets marine engineers integrate real-time engineering models, advanced visualization, and in-the-loop simulation to solve the challenges of designing and creating equipment for offshore and subsea operations.
- Ground Transportation:
Vortex Studio can be leveraged for modeling of large equipment (trucks, warehouse, materials handling) and in robotics applications such as last-mile delivery robots. It is effective for the design and testing of mechatronic equipment and autonomous systems.
- Defense:
Vortex Studio is a COTS real-time simulation platform offering high-fidelity modeling for military training applications including ground vehicles, heavy equipment, and maritime operations. It is an efficient tool for rapidly building, testing, and validating simulation content and is simple to integrate into existing simulator frameworks or game-engines for training applications.
- Mobile Robotics:
Mobile robotics applications in traditional industrial applications—as well as newer applications such as home care, security, and last-mile delivery are ideal targets for Vortex Studio. Simulation of mobile and task-based robotics systems allow engineers to develop control algorithms that perform nearly identically to the real hardware.
- Aerospace:
Vortex Studio has applications in robotics for the space industry and major space agencies are using it for the development of both space-based robotics and planetary rovers. It is an ideal tool to test design concepts as well as perform mobility and access studies. Vortex Studio has also been deployed into high-fidelity real-time simulators to train astronauts and operators of remote-controlled robotics.
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