The latest version of SimLab Composer 14 marks a decisive milestone in interactive 3D creation and virtual reality training solutions. With over 30 major innovations covering artificial intelligence, dynamic collision management, intelligent assembly systems, and multi-platform optimization, this update redefines industry standards for CAD professionals, technical training, and digital twin development.
Advanced Transformation and Interaction Management
Apply Transform: Non-Destructive Manipulation
The new Apply Transform feature allows resetting an object’s transformations while preserving its position, scale, and appearance. This prevents geometric distortions when animating models with non-uniform scaling, simplifying work with complex scenes or objects that have undergone multiple modifications.
Use Cases:
- Manufacturing Industry: During mechanical simulations, this feature ensures modified parts retain correct proportions even after multiple adjustments.
- 3D Animation: For complex animations requiring frequent transformations, Apply Transform streamlines workflows by eliminating errors caused by inconsistent scaling.
- Game Engine Export: Models exported to Unity or Unreal Engine maintain their visual and functional integrity, reducing post-export adjustments.
Dynamic Collision Control
The Set Node Collision Enabled node provides precise control over enabling or disabling collisions for objects in a scene. This feature reduces the need for custom scripts and enhances interaction fluidity in complex environments.
Use Cases:
- Industrial Training: In maintenance simulations, collisions can be temporarily disabled to allow users to manipulate parts without physical constraints, then re-enabled for final assembly testing.
- Immersive Games: Collisions can be activated only when the player interacts with specific objects, reducing processor load.
- Virtual Prototyping: During product design, this feature allows simulating different configurations without reloading the scene.
Intelligent Assembly/Disassembly System
The assembly/disassembly module introduced in SimLab Composer 14 manages complex processes through logical order enforcement, automatic recognition of interchangeable parts, virtual tool integration, and ghost guides for easier placement.
Use Cases:
- Technical Training: Trainees can learn to assemble or disassemble machines by following system-imposed steps while using simulated tools.
- Aerospace Industry: Technicians can practice handling critical components (e.g., engines) in a virtual environment before working on real equipment.
- Collaborative Design: Design teams can test various assembly configurations and validate feasibility before production.
Dynamic Interaction and Real-Time Simulation
SimLab Composer 14 enhances interactivity between simulations and the SimLab VR Viewer by enabling dynamic manipulation of simulation variables. Users can now modify variables in real-time within the VR Viewer, adapting object or scene behaviors without returning to SimLab Composer. This feature offers increased flexibility for creating smoother and more interactive immersive experiences.
Use Cases:
- Immersive Technical Training: In a VR maintenance simulation, a technician can directly interact with equipment (e.g., adjusting motor speed or activating a function) via the VR Viewer. Variable changes trigger immediate visual feedback in the simulation.
- Interactive Prototyping: Designers can test different configurations by modifying parameters (e.g., height or angle of a component) directly in the VR Viewer and visualizing results in real-time without leaving the immersive environment.
- Educational Simulations: Students can experiment with variables such as pressure or temperature in a scientific simulation, observing their effects on a virtual system like an engine or hydraulic circuit in real time.
Optimization and Customization with AI
AI Key Validation: Enhanced Security for AI Features
The AI Key Validation feature introduced in SimLab Composer 14 automatically verifies the integrity of OpenAI API keys before granting access to AI-related functionalities. If a key is invalid, dependent features are blocked, ensuring strict and secure control. This update also includes two new events, AI Started Talk and AI Ended Talk, to monitor and manage AI-generated voice interactions.
Use Cases:
- Immersive Medical Training: In a VR simulation for healthcare professionals, this feature ensures that voice interactions with virtual patients (generated by AI) only function when API keys are valid, preventing malfunctions during critical sessions.
- Secure Educational Environments: Schools or companies using AI modules in their training programs can ensure integrations comply with internal security and compliance standards.
- Industrial Simulations: When an operator interacts with a virtual machine in a VR environment, AI Key Validation ensures that voice commands (e.g., "start the machine") work correctly without interruptions caused by integration errors.
Variable Writer Update: Advanced Text Management
The Variable Writer update introduces advanced options for text management, including multi-line support, fixed font size, and vertical alignment. These improvements allow for more precise customization of user interactions.
Use Cases:
- Educational Simulations: In a VR training environment, text can be displayed as clear and readable multi-line instructions precisely aligned to guide users.
- Industrial Applications: Error or warning messages in complex scenarios (such as equipment maintenance) can be clearly displayed with consistent formatting.
- Interactive AI-Based Experiences: AI-generated responses in immersive simulations can be presented in a structured and readable format, enhancing the user experience.
Extended Reality (XR): Total Immersion
XR Anchors: Persistent Spatial Anchoring
The XR Anchors feature in SimLab Composer 14 enables attaching 3D models to specific locations in the real world using augmented reality (AR) on headsets like the Quest. This technology combines SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) with differential GPS for exceptional precision.
Use Cases:
- BIM Construction Site Tracking: Architects and engineers can overlay digital models on real-world construction sites to visualize project progress or detect discrepancies between design and construction.
- On-Site Industrial Maintenance: Technicians can virtually position instructions or equipment models directly on machines to simplify complex interventions.
- Interior Design: Designers can virtually place furniture or equipment in real spaces to visualize arrangements before purchase or installation.
- Immersive Technical Training: Trainees can interact with 3D models anchored in their real environment, such as an engine model or medical equipment, for realistic practice sessions.
VR Snapping: Intelligent Alignment
The VR Snapping feature simplifies precise object alignment in a VR environment. Using a contextual magnetic system, it ensures objects automatically position themselves where they belong.
Use Cases:
- Interior Design: While designing a kitchen or workspace, furniture and equipment align automatically to meet spatial constraints.
- Educational Labs: Students can easily place scientific instruments on their supports without errors.
- Rapid Prototyping: Designers can test different configurations without wasting time manually adjusting each element.
Attach/Detach Nodes: Controlled Immersion
The new "Attach" node response allows VR designers to attach the player to objects within the scene, maintaining the connection until the "Detach" response is triggered. This feature unlocks endless possibilities such as:
- Ensuring proper seating during educational simulations.
- Guiding users along predefined paths in interactive scenarios.
- Simulating immersive activities like driving, crane operations, or roller coaster rides.
VR Training: Towards Operational Realism
Smooth Transitions and Centralized Navigation
The SimLab Composer 14 update enhances the Dynamic Training Builder with two new features: Load Scene Responses and Home Response. These tools enable seamless transitions between different phases of a VR experience and provide centralized navigation via a main portal to access multiple scenes. Creators can configure unlimited experiences while simplifying the management of narrative flows.
Use Cases:
- Modular Corporate Training: A company can design a VR training program where employees navigate between different modules (safety, maintenance, procedures) through a central portal, seamlessly transitioning between scenes.
- Medical Simulations: Medical students can be guided through multiple stages of a complex surgical procedure, with smooth transitions between phases (preparation, operation, post-operation).
- Interactive Educational Experiences: In a virtual museum, visitors can explore different exhibits by returning to a main portal to choose their next immersive destination.
Smooth Interactions and Intelligent Events
The Training Builder update introduces two major features: the Variable Changed Event, which easily detects variable updates from sequences or AI responses without using temporary values, and the Delete Scene Node response, which allows dynamic creation and deletion of objects within a scene. These tools enhance interactivity and flexibility in VR experiences.
Use Cases:
- Industrial Maintenance Simulations: When a user performs an action (e.g., replacing a defective part), the Variable Changed Event can automatically trigger an update to the machine's state or display contextual instructions.
- Interactive Educational Games: In scenarios where users solve puzzles, the Delete Scene Node response can be used to make objects appear or disappear based on successful actions, creating a more immersive experience.
- Interactive Prototyping: Designers can test different object configurations in VR, dynamically creating or deleting elements in real-time to explore various design options.
Interactive Navigation in VR Experiences
The new feature, Set Web Browser URL Node, allows dynamic updates to browser links in VR experiences on PC or Quest. Creators can change displayed websites based on scene states or attach interactive links to specific objects, offering smooth and contextual navigation.
Use Cases:
- Integrated Online Training: In an educational simulation, users can click on an object (e.g., a book or board) to access external educational resources such as videos or articles directly from VR.
- Interactive Commercial Presentations: At a trade show, companies can enable visitors to click on virtual products to open their corresponding web pages and explore more details.
- Immersive Tourism Experiences: In a virtual tour of a historical site, users can access dynamic links to additional information or documentary videos based on their location in the scene.
Smart Multi-Platform Optimization
VR Studio 14: Unified Configuration
SimLab Composer 14 introduces a simplified tool for optimizing VR scenes by automatically adjusting polycount, textures, and lighting based on the headset used (Quest, Pico, Varjo, etc.). This ensures a smooth experience regardless of the hardware.
Use Cases:
- Multi-Headset Development: Creators can design a single scene optimized for multiple platforms without having to manually recreate or adjust each version.
- Commercial Presentations: Businesses can showcase their products or concepts on various VR headsets without compromising visual quality or performance.
- Public Interactive Experiences: In museums or exhibitions, the VR scene can automatically adapt to the available hardware on-site.
Updated Translation Process for Multilingual VR Experiences
The latest update of SimLab Composer 14 introduces a simplified translation process for multilingual VR experiences. Designers can now collaborate with translators without sharing source files (.sim or .zim), ensuring enhanced security and optimal accessibility. This system uses external translation files (.xlf), enabling independent localization while offering contextual previews of translated texts with annotated 3D captures.
Use Cases:
- International Technical Training: A company specializing in industrial maintenance training can create a VR module in multiple languages for its teams across different countries while protecting the source content.
- Global Educational Applications: An educational content provider can localize its VR experiences for schools or universities worldwide without compromising the security of original files.
- Multilingual Commercial Presentations: An architecture firm can present projects to international clients by adapting descriptions and 3D annotations to each client's language while maintaining full control over sensitive data.
The Complete Ecosystem for Industry 4.0
SimLab Composer 14 establishes itself as an essential solution to meet the growing needs of Industry 4.0. With features such as Apply Transform to optimize performance for complex models, Variable Writer Update for advanced user interaction customization, and immersive tools like XR Anchors or the Dynamic Training Builder, this update redefines standards in immersive creation.
Whether it’s technical training, industrial prototyping, or interactive educational experiences, SimLab Composer 14 offers a complete and flexible ecosystem tailored to modern challenges. By integrating advanced technologies such as AI, extended reality, and multilingual management, it enables companies to design innovative, secure, and globally accessible solutions. With this new version, SimLab Soft reaffirms its role as a leader in the digital transformation of industrial and educational processes.
For more information on this version and its improvements, visit this page.