Vortex Studio 2023.3 Change Log

Owned by Marc Lievin
Apr 25, 2023
5 min read

What's new?

Vulkan Graphics Rendering is Default in Vortex Create

Vortex Studio Editor and Vortex Studio Player now uses the Vulkan graphics renderer by default.

See Vulkan Graphics Renderer in Vortex Editor

Massless Cables is enabled as tech preview

The dynamics generic cable extension now offers the massless segment type as a tech preview.

Massless segments can be useful with systems under tension with many pulleys that suffer from performance issues.

A massless segment uses an underlying constraint shared with adjacent massless segments.

See Massless Cable Technical Documentation

Update of Vortex Setup

New Uninstallation Options in VortexSetup has been implemented.

System Requirements

Supported Platform

Vortex Studio 2023.3 runs on the following platforms:

  • Microsoft Windows 10 (x64), version 22H2. 

  • Microsoft Windows 11 (x64), version 22H2. 

Not all features are available on the Linux operating system. See Features and Capabilities Overview for more details.

2022.7 is the last version supporting CentOS7 or equivalent. An update to the latest Ubuntu LTS and equivalent systems is in progress.

Hardware Requirements

Recommended Configuration for Vortex Editor

  • CPU Intel i7-9700 or better

  • RAM 32GB

  • GPU

    • Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD

    • 4 GB VRAM, Vulkan 1.3

 

Any computer running Vortex Studio Create or Activate must support AVX2 instructions set.

The Vortex OpenGL rendering module (named Cyclone) while still supported is now considered a legacy mode.

Vortex Studio Create now supports any graphics card using Vulkan technology.

For advanced simulation application rendering, we recommend using the Unity or Unreal graphics together with the Vortex integration plugin.

See Integrating Unity as Graphics Renderer in a Vortex distributed simulator and Integrating Vortex Studio with Unreal Engine.

Software Capabilities

Mongo DB

Mongo DB is the database engine used in Vortex Activate.

The version supported is Mongo DB 4.2.

Qt

Vortex Studio uses a custom version of Qt 5.15.2.

Python

Unreal Engine Integration

Vortex Studio 2023.3 supports integration with Unreal Engine version 4.26.

Unity Integration

Vortex Studio 2023.3 supports integration with Unity 2021.3.16f1 LTS.

Supported Compiler

Vortex Studio 2023.3 supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (VC14) compiler and above.

GCC 7.3 is the supported compiler on Linux.

Simulink/MATLAB

  • Real-time UDP protocol of Simulink/MATLAB is supported.

  • Vortex S-Function block in Simulink is supported.

Supported 3D model File Types

The following 3D model file types can be imported into Vortex Studio Editor.

  • .cive, .dae, .fbx, .flt, .ive, .obj

  • .osg2, .osga, .osgb, .osgs, .osgt, .osgx, .shp

Vortex Human

In the editor, humans can be represented as a capsule and moved around with a script or an animation path extension.

Visualization of humans can be done in a simulator using Unity or Unreal.

Vortex Vegetation

In the editor, plants and trees can be represented as collision geometries.

Visualization of Vegetation can be done in a simulator using Unity or Unreal.

Licensing

Vortex uses RLM by Reprise Software™ for licensing.

Compatibility Notice

Between any Vortex version

Record-and-Playback as well as Keyframe files created with previous versions may not work with Vortex Studio 2023.3.

End-of-life Notice

  • Python 3.8 needs to be used.

  • Feature Snap to Surface in the Vortex Editor was removed.

Minor Improvements in Vortex Studio 2023.3

In addition to features documented in the what's new, minor improvements have been made during the development of Vortex Studio 2023.3:

ID

Summary

ID

Summary

VP-45261

Vortex Applications no long indicates that a GPU is not supported as Vulkan renderer has been default.

VP-45409

Additional information is added to the log: Content of Path environment variable, Crash dumps locations and processor type.

VP-45067

Vortex Setup - Progress Dialog should not be overlaid on top of all windows

Fixed Issues in Vortex Studio 2023.3

Various bugs and workflow issues have been fixed during the development of Vortex Studio 2023.31:

ID

Summary

ID

Summary

VP-45224

Merging application setups in python does not work properly

Known Issues in Vortex Studio 2023.3

ID

Summary

Workaround

VP-41437

When a sound is created such that the listener and the emitter are exactly at the same location, or the listener is moving together with the emitter such that it is precisely above it, the sound that the operator hears becomes garbled. 

This happens for monaural sound track when the listener and the emitter are moving in tandem while being either too close or aligned vertically. The workaround is keep the sound emitter and the listener separate and make sure they can't be move in a way where they could align with each other.

VP-43810

Memory blocks dumped, when terminating the application. 

None. This memory leak is not growing, it's memory that should be returned before the end of the process. Requires a 3rd party update.

VP-44315

Memory leak related to VxContactMaterial when there is a contact upon termination of a VxCore application.

Removing all parts and collision geometries before destroying the VxUniverse ensures that any ongoing contact is invalidated before destroying the VxUniverse. Optionally, using the higher level VxSim API and loading content created in the Vortex Studio Editor seems to work around this issue as the content is automatically unloaded before the application is destroyed.