SIMUL8 for Education FAQs
Following are answers to the most commonly asked questions. If you have any other questions or would like additional information you can email us at
.
Jump to:
Is there any form of users network?
Yes there is an on-line user forum. This means a wide audience can participate. The café is not moderated. No messages are deleted. Anyone can make any suggestion at anytime and has direct access to the support team, the development team and SIMUL8 consultants.
[Top of the page]
How can I purchase SIMUL8 Corporation products?
Purchases can be made at our on-line shop or by telephone, see our contacts page for your nearest branch.
[Top of the page]
Is a manual provided with your products?
SIMUL8 Standard has a 250 page manual that includes a guide to the simulation technique. All other products have their own manual that supplements this main manual.
In addition the SIMUL8 Educational license comes withs a Teacher's Pack that includes a copy of our training course.
There is also a training and reference guide, Learning SIMUL8: The Complete Guide which can be purchased.
[Top of the page]
How does you support work?
Most of our technical support is provided free:
- Free Electronic Support
Support via the web and our online discussion forum and a free e-newsletter that contains case studies and hints and tips on using SIMUL8.
- Free Support for Registered Users
SIMUL8 for Education comes with free feature telephone and email support forever for the registered tutor. There can only be one registered tutor per license.
We also provided training, consulting and higher level support, more details can be found in the Services and Solutions section of this website
[Top of the page]
What means of presenting simulation results are there in your software?
Each object (work-center, queue etc.) has it's own comprehensive set of results. Any of these can be placed on SIMUL8's Results Summary (with a quick RIGHT click).
The results summary is then a central data-store of your key results. SIMUL8's Visual Logic & Spreadsheets mean that you can also customize your results & create a ABB specific results page. Results can also be sent to external software (e.g. Excel).
[Top of the page]
When analyzing the results of a simulation, what aids in form of statistical and history functions are there?
SIMUL8's Result's Summary includes 95% & 99% confidence limits. Histograms and Time Graphs are available of stored history data from any object. Gantt chart based historical reporting is also provided. Visual Logic or VBA let you write additional custom history reports if required
[Top of the page]
Does the program have a debugger function?
Yes. Visual Logic has a debugger like the debugger in VB. It allows you to step through any control rules and place break points in your control logic. SIMUL8 also has a Simulation Assistant that gives advice to new users & offers direction. The SIMUL8 simulation monitor allows the user to monitor the events in the simulation in a very detailed way (including break points on events).
[Top of the page]
How does your software communicate with other software and databases? (i.e. what standards are used, VB, SQL etc.)
SIMUL8 Professional uses OLE automation to communicate with any application that support OLE automation.
SIMUL8 Professional can communicate with databases using SQL.
[Top of the page]
What platforms are supported?
SIMUL8 runs on Windows NT, '95, '98, 2000 and XP. For more detailed information see our system requirements page.
[Top of the page]
Will the user be able to tailor their own modules if one suitable is not available in the standard library? (module = a process, a buffer a storage etc.)
Yes. SIMUL8 has 'meta-objects' that you can create & save and add to the toolbar.
[Top of the page]
What add-on programs are available?
SIMUL8 Standard has 2 plug-ins.
OptQuest for SIMUL8 - Automatically searches for great simulation solutions.
Stat::Fit for SIMUL8 - Find the statistical distribution that best fits your data and inputs it directly into SIMUL8.
[Top of the page]
What means of visualizing the model in a true VR environment does your software support?
SIMUL8 Corporation believe VR capabilities are very important for the simulation community. VR is currently available in SIMUL8 Professional only.
[Top of the page
Could one easily build a model for visualization only, with no or little demands for correct output. (i.e. just to sell an idea to management)
Yes. This is very easy. SIMUL8 can import ANY Visio flowcharts that can then be animated (via simulation). Additional parameters etc. can then be sent if desired.
[Top of the page]
Is it possible to export a visualization to an .mpg for example?
Yes. You could create an .mpg using external application.
[Top of the page]
How fast will my simulations run?
SIMUL8 is very fast. A major group of power simulation users based in Detroit performed a test with SIMUL8 and two of our main competitor simulation packages. On a test simulation to see how the packages compared on speed, time to complete a full simulation run was as follows: Package A 29 Seconds Package B 18 Seconds SIMUL8 3 Seconds
SIMUL8 is priced so you can put simulation on many more of you engineer's desks. This does not mean that the support SIMUL8 Corporation delivers will suffer. SIMUL8 Corporation offer a Corporate support package that offers support that matches and beats our competitor support options.
[Top of the page]
|
