Workspace Settings
The workspace setting can be accessed by pressing the rightmost gear icon in the toolbar.
This brings up the following panel. There are 4 different tabs (Workspace, Physics, Graphics, Gateway and Logs), the settings for each tab are explained below.
Workspace settings
In this tab, all settings related to the workspace can be configured.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Version | Displays the version of the connected server. |
| Connection Status | The status is 'Connected' when the app is able to communicate with the server. |
| Participants | A list of all users currently logged in on the server. |
| Export Scene (.glb) | Using 'Export' button you can export your scene as .glb file which can be used to share with others or utlize in any other 3rd party software. |
Settings
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Autosave | Enabling this will allow you to auto-save your scene |
| Autosave Period | When 'Autosave' is enabled, the 'Autosave Period' defines the time in seconds to auto save the scene |
| Force Thread Sleep | The Force Thread Sleep parameter in Simumatik helps manage CPU usage by introducing a small delay (sleep time) in the simulation's processing threads.Minimum value is 0.01 second |
Information
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Behaviur FPS | Displays the update frequency of the physics engine. |
| Element Count | Displays how many nodes are currently loaded in the workspace. |
| Emulation Clock | Displays how long the emulation has been running. It's the same as the server time shown in the toolbar, but with higher resolution. |
| Emulation FPS | Emulation FPS (Frames Per Second) represents the speed at which the physics simulation is running. It indicates how many simulation frames are being processed per second, directly affecting simulation accuracy, responsiveness, and real-time performance. |
| Emulation Status | Current status of the Emulation. Stopped or Running |
| Gateway Info | Displays, if the gateway is connected and the emulation is running, how many drivers are connected and how hard the gateway is loaded. |
| Progress | The Progress parameter in Simumatik represents the completion percentage of the current simulation or emulation process. It indicates how far along the simulation has progressed from start to finish. |
| Remaining Time | Displays how much time is left before the server shuts down (online servers only). |
| Workspace Mode | Current mode of the Workspace. EMULATION or EDITOR |
| Workspace State | Current state of the Workspace. Ready or emulating |
Physics settings
In this tab, all settings related to the Physics engine can be configured.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Physics Clock | The Physics Clock in Simumatik represents the simulated time elapsed within the physics engine. It is an internal timer that keeps track of how much time has passed in the physics simulation, independent of real-world time. |
| Physics Load (%) | Displays how many percent of the emulation step (see description below) that the physics engine requires for each step. |
| Physics Steps | Displays how long time an emulation step takes to execute. It is important that the physics step is lower than the integration time, otherwise a real-time emulation is not possible. |
General Settings
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Constraint Iterations | Defines the additional step iterations to carry out on constraint to increase stability. |
| Emulation Step | Default is 0.005 seconds. Integration step time used by the physics engine, recommended value between 0.01-0.001. |
| Global ERP | The ERP specifies what proportion of the joint error will be fixed during the next simulation step. If ERP=0 then no correcting force is applied and the bodies will eventually drift apart as the simulation proceeds. If ERP=1 then the simulation will attempt to fix all joint error during the next time step. However, setting ERP=1 is not recommended, as the joint error will not be completely fixed due to various internal approximations. A value of ERP=0.1 to 0.8 is recommended (0.2 is the default). |
| Global CFM | If CFM is set to zero (which is the default value), the constraint will be hard. If CFM is set to a positive value, it will be possible to violate the constraint by "pushing on it" (for example, for contact constraints by forcing the two contacting objects together). In other words the constraint will be soft, and the softness will increase as CFM increases. What is actually happening here is that the constraint is allowed to be violated by an amount proportional to CFM times the restoring force that is needed to enforce the constraint. Note that setting CFM to a negative value can have undesirable bad effects, such as instability. Don't do it. |
| Physics Scale | Physics Scale controls the size relationship between the simulation world and the physics engine. It helps ensure stable and accurate physics calculations, especially for small objects.If you are working with small parts, keep the default 10 for better accuracy. Use 1.0 for larger objects |
| Sleeping Time | Sleeping Time controls how long a dynamic object must remain still before the physics engine puts it to sleep (disables unnecessary calculations).Use a lower value (e.g., 0.5 - 1.0) for highly dynamic simulations, and a higher value (e.g., 3.0 - 5.0) for stable environments with minimal movement |
| Broadpahse | Broadphase is the first step in collision detection, optimizing performance by quickly identifying potential collisions before performing detailed checks. In Simumatik, there are two broadphase options. DbvtBroadphase (0), the default, uses a Dynamic Bounding Volume Tree (DBVT) and is ideal for dynamic environments with frequent object movement, making it suitable for real-time simulations. AxisSweep3 (1), on the other hand, utilizes a sorted axis-aligned bounding box approach, making it more efficient for static or structured environments with minimal movement. Selecting the right broadphase method enhances performance and simulation accuracy, ensuring efficient collision detection based on the simulation’s needs. |
| Solver | Physics Solvers in Simumatik determine how forces and constraints are resolved, impacting performance and accuracy. The Sequential Impulse Solver (0) is the default and best for real-time simulations in robotics and automation, balancing efficiency and stability. The Dantzig Solver (1) offers higher precision for strict constraints but is computationally expensive. The Gauss-Seidel Solver (2) is optimized for large-scale constraint problems, prioritizing performance over absolute accuracy. The Lemke Solver (3) provides the highest precision for specialized simulations. For most applications, Solver (0) is recommended, while the others suit specific needs based on complexity, accuracy, and computational requirements. |
Debug Settings
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Debug Visual Update Interval | The Debug Visuals Update Interval controls how often the visual debugging information for the physics engine is refreshed. It is measured in milliseconds (ms), meaning a value of 1000 ms updates debug visuals once per second. A lower value (e.g., 100 ms) provides faster updates, useful for debugging real-time interactions, but may increase CPU usage. A higher value (e.g., 1000 ms or more) reduces performance impact while still providing insight into physics behavior. |
| Debug Constraints | Display physics engine joints and constraints. |
| Debug Contact Points | Display physics engine contact points. The contact points are visualized as yellow lines to show where collision geometries are touching. |
Graphics settings
In this tab, all settings related to the graphics can be configured.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Graphics Engine Enabled | Enable/disable the Graphics Engine. It should be enabled to work with the Vision camera. |
| Select Box Color | Here you can change the color of the bounding box that appears around a selected element. |
Shadows
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Determines whether shadows are drawn or not. Having shadows active can have a big impact on performance. It is turned off by default. Remember that component lights only cast shadows if that option has been enabled on the lights themselves, regardless of whether this option is enabled or not. |
| Component Shadows | Determines whether shadows are drawn on components or not. |
| Environment Shadows | Determines whether shadows are drawn on the environment or not. |
| Shadow biased | Determines the bias of the shadow map from component lights. This alters how the shadows are calculated, and whether or not a particular object counts as in shadow or not. This value starts with a default of -0.0001. Altering this value may help eliminate shadow artifacts. |
Lights
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Component Lights Enabled | Toggles the component lights on or off. |
| Hemisphere Lights Enabled | Toggles the hemisphere light on or off. |
| Show Helper | Toggles the hemisphere's light helper on or off to understand how lights effect the environment. |
| Ambient Lights Enabled | Toggles the ambient light on or off. |
| Color | Determines the color of the ambient light. |
| Intensity | Determines the intensity of the ambient light. |
| Directional Lights Enabled | Toggles the directional light on or off. |
| Show Helper | Toggles the Directioanl's light helper on or off to understand how lights effect the environment. |
| Color | Determines the color of the directional light. |
| Intensity | Determines the intensity of the directional light. |
| Position | Determines the position of the directional light. |
Ground
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Toggles the ground plane on or off. |
| Grid | Toggles the grid on the ground plane on or off. |
| Size | Determines how many squares are distributed along each side of the ground plane. Each square is one square metre. |
| Color | Determines the color of the ground plane. |
Gateway
In this tab, all settings related to the gateway can be configured.
Gateway Info
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Version | Displays the version of the installed gateway. |
| Status | Displays the connection state of the gateway. |
| Connected Workspace | Shows the IP of the connected workspace. |
Gateway Settings
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Use default settings | Enabling this option will set the default IP address of the workspace. |
| Workspace Address | Sets the IP of the Workspace. |
Logs
This tab displays log messages sent from the server. Black text is used for INFO messages, while red text is used for ERROR messages. Errors from behavior scripts in components will show up in red text here.
Clear
This button clears all messages from the log.