First Annual Demo3D User Group Meeting
By: Christy Starner
Oct 12, 2011 | 1:44 pm
Here’s an update from the first annual Demo3D User Group Meeting, courtesy of our very own Mati Chessin!
Christy and I had a blast at the first (and hopefully annual) Demo3D User Group Meeting in Salt Lake City last month. We were there as presenters giving a talk on our standard approach to emulation projects, but we were really there to learn. It was fascinating to see how other companies use Demo3D. A few users primarily spoke about the management of extensive product catalogs, with which their equipment could be built from individual components into working models. With the catalog in hand, their sales force could build custom solutions right in front of the customer and then export a bill of materials that would match the real thing. For equipment manufacturers, this is definitely the way to go.
Other users build the same kind of large emulation models that are our mainstay. We saw models communicating with dozens of PLCs and thousands of devices. One company even built a giant emulation work station with at least eleven monitors to keep track of the model, the code, and the HMIs. While we’re not likely to go to those lengths on any of our projects, it was fascinating what a company could do that committed to modeling a single, large, long-term project.
I think I speak for Christy when I say that we were blown away by the movie-making prowess of some users. The attention to detail and the dedication to optimal graphics resulted in some amazing videos. One user committed three weeks to making a single two-minute video. And with some of the shading and rendering options coming in Demo3D 2011, I’m sure the videos are only going to get better.
That brings me the other half of the conference. After every user’s presentation, the developers presented upcoming features, tips & tricks, or demonstrations of the software’s potential. I’ve been using Demo3D for years now, and I still took pages of notes on ways I could use it better. While I can barely wait for the high-speed simulation capabilities and additional tools that will be available in the next release, there are oodles of things I can be doing right now that I learned in Salt Lake.
All in all, it was a big success: Good information, good people, good food, good weather. What more could you want? See you guys in 2012!
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