MaplePrimes - MapleSim Posts and Questions

Build, Explore, Optimize, Connect: What’s New in MapleSim 2026

svariath — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 19:58:10 Z

Ask any engineer where the time goes in a modeling project, and the answer is rarely "the math."

It's everything around it: hunting for commands, opening help in another window, checking a plot, finding your place in the model again. Each interruption is small. Together, they can turn an afternoon of modeling into a week.

MapleSim 2026 was built around that idea. From the first install to the final result, it keeps what you need right where you're working.

1. It starts before you open a model

Getting started is now simpler than ever. MapleSim, all its toolboxes and the Maple engine are now delivered in a single installer, so one installation provides everything needed to get started.

2. Build: a more efficient modeling interface

Context-sensitive hover bars display the most frequently used commands next to the current selection, and consolidated menus group related commands together. These changes reduce the steps required to build and modify models.

3. Explore: component details alongside the model

A new split pane, which can be arranged beside the diagram or opened in a separate window, updates with each selection to display the component's help page, its Modelica code, or live plots of its variables in the time or frequency domain. Engineers can review component details without leaving the model.

4. Optimize: live insight during optimization

The Optimization app now displays live system plots and a time history of the objective function during execution, allowing engineers to assess convergence and intervene early when needed. The in-product apps have also been redesigned with a more compact layout for use alongside the split pane.

5. Connect: expanded interoperability

FMI import and export now support string and discrete parameters, inputs, and outputs. The MapleSim CAD Toolbox supports the latest formats from Catia® V5, SOLIDWORKS®, Creo®, NX™, Inventor®, Solid Edge®, Parasolid®, and other CAD tools. MapleSim 2026 also supports the latest Maple interface, including ribbons, the AI Assistant, and improved performance.

Web Handling Library: automated model creation, and more

Building a web line model involves many components, each with its own connections and parameters. The new Web Handling Model Creation App automates this process. Starting from a tabulated data file describing the line, the app validates the data, calculates wrap angles, span lengths, and roller mass and inertia, and generates the complete MapleSim model. Engineers can then proceed directly to adding drives, dancers, and control loops to analyze line performance.

New components extend modeling coverage to more of the processes found on real lines:

Noncircular winding and unwinding, for rolls that are not perfectly round
Delamination, where one web separates into two
Web-on-web friction, for two webs running through a nip roller together
Tendency drives, using the new Roller Shaft component

The library is also easier to use and delivers more accurate results. A reorganized Rollers sub-palette groups components into Rollers, Nip Rollers, Multi-Web, and Parameters. Sequential and S-Wrap Nip Rollers simplify S-wrap configurations, and a per-unit option adds flexibility to drives and controls. Improved handling of span tension loss and special nip roller configurations further increases accuracy.

Machine design: expanded component libraries

MapleSim 2026 adds new components that capture more real-world detail in machine models.

Ropes and Pulleys Library: Variable Winch 3D allows engineers to define the shape of the winch drum. Pulley Edge models side contact between the sheave and the rope, and Pulley Multi-Turn models multiple rope turns for added friction, complete with visualization.
Multibody Library: A new Gear Forces sub-package provides simplified models for spur, helical, bevel, and crossed gear pairs, along with a ratchet wheel model.
Directional Control Valve app: The app now creates pneumatic valves in addition to hydraulic valves.

More time for engineering

MapleSim 2026 reduces the time spent navigating the software and increases the time available for what matters most: understanding and improving designs.

To try MapleSim 2026, start your free instant evaluation today. For a complete overview of the release, visit What's New in MapleSim 2026.

A birthday puzzle

Alfred_F — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 11:03:40 Z

At a birthday party, the jubilarian in question observes:
If I substitute my current age for D in Pell X² – D Y² = 1, then X becomes my age next year, and Y is the age of my grandchild. Then how old we are?

Is MapleSim and the B&R Connector included in the Student License version of Maple?

sreilly17 — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:07:20 Z

Pretty much what the title says. I am a student and I've worked with B&R Automation Studio, which is a SCADA software, with the physical automation components in the lab in college. Now that I'm on the summer break, it would be great to continue this learning via the B&R connector that Maple offer, to create a "digitial twin". However, there doesn't seem to be any information as to whether MapleSim is actually included in the student edition, and whether the connector is included too.

Thanks

The intermediate axis theorem with H2O and MapleSim

C_R — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 22:21:11 Z

I was wondering whether a water molecule exhibits the intermediate axis theorem (IAT) effect.

I was also curious if a tool like MapleSim could be used for simulations, as it is designed with technical applications in mind. (It would have been handy to enter parameters in Angstroms and atomic mass, but MapleSim only provides length in mm and mass in grams for small objects.)

The atoms of the H2O molecule form an obtuse triangle. An obtuse triangle exhibits the effect when rotated about its intermediate axis (horizontal axis in the image below) provided it consists of equal point masses (more details here) which is not the case for oxygen and hydrogen.

Building and running a model is quick since geometry and masses are available online. Two molecules are modeled in the attached file with parameters from different sources. The left model in the image below represents the atoms as three discrete point masses without individual rotational inertia. The system's total inertia is derived entirely from the spatial distribution of these masses. On the right, the entire molecule is modeled as a single lumped mass located at the center of mass (CoM), with the molecule’s full rotational inertia tensor applied at that point.

IAT_H2O.msim

Both models are rotating about the assumed intermediate axis at 3 THz (3 trillion rotations per second), which is about two orders of magnitude less than near-infrared light (just beyond the visible spectrum). To generate the IAT effect an orthogonal tiny initial “kick” of 0.001 Hz was added.

Visualizing was not so easy since the models are in the picometer range. It was difficult to locate the molecules by zooming with the mouse wheel (the button “Fit scene” on the 3-D Playback window did not work). Running an animation to visualize the IAT effect was not possible because the display speed could “only” be slowed down by a factor of 2^31 (see A in the image below). However, the slider C to move back and forth in time worked. The time (B) was always rounded to zero due to the very short simulation time span of 1E-10 seconds (i.e. 10 picoseconds).

Export of an animation movie worked better. Over the displayed timespan of 10 ps the molecules flip 2 times back and forth. This corresponds to a flip frequency of 200 GHz.

Time is still not displayed in the movie but that is pretty much all what did not work. Overall, a good performance. Also the numerical results did not show signs of loss of fidelity despite the atomic scale of the objects and the very short time span.

In reality, the rotation of a dipole results in the emission of electromagnetic radiation, which dissipates energy and decelerates the molecule. How can this damping effect be modeled in MapleSim? Someone has an idea?

Does MapleSim support the Modelica language model?

wswain — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:52:42 Z

I have tried to create a function "modelica style" that acts as a custom component.

The Modelica code editor recognizes it. It correctly sees the language constructs "function, parameter, etc." and then the block has the {} symbology showing it is a function. Also, the Syntax Template doesn't seem to work per chapter 07. i.e., the reference of "function" plus CTL-SHIFT-SPACE does nothing.

However, trying to call this does not work and errors that the function is being called from main as a public declaration and gving the named function "myfunction_1" instantiation within main which errors out.

Modelica coide in Main: public MyFunction myfunction_1 annotation(Placement(transformation(origin={120.0,160.0},extent={{-20.0,-20.0},{20.0,20.0}},rotation=0)));

MyFunction is declared below Main along with another custom component model class "UseMyFunction" that calls this function with the variables being used in the simulation.

Where can I find the modelica language references that MapleSim accepts in the modelica coding region?

This mini-attempt is to find the usage syntax and method to reach higher custom functions that act similar to "Math" code blocks in the library.

Bill

Why simulations can go nuts

C_R — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 13:29:05 Z

The Schatz Mechanism should move like this

However, with the default solver settings it froze after a few seconds in a planar link configuration. To make it run, I played around with advanced solver settings. Here is one attempt that went nuts:

(More solver settings for strange behavior can be found here: Schatz_Linkage.msim)

Some people might find this amusing. Of course, it is less fun when the initial plan was to spend an hour just for fun with a simple model (an hour is a fair estimate for similar simple looking models in MapleSim). The immediate reaction when seeing such simulation results is to blame the software for being either buggy or incapable. In this case, however, this was not the case, but identifying the root cause was not obvious.

The Schatz mechanism is a so called closed-loop mechanism where the links of the mechanism form a loop (the ground in the model closes the loop). In general, building and modeling mechanisms with loops is less straight forward than thought. Without a-priory knowledge or help (either by documentation or software hints) users can quickly find themselves in a situation of desperate trial and error. What was easy with other models can become a frustrating experience with unsatisfactory outcome. This happened to me on various occasions.

What makes closed-loop mechanisms more challenging? After resting for a long time on my virtual pile of unanswered questions, it turned out that the model, on top of being a closed-loop mechanism, is ill-conditioned: The Schatzmechanism is an over-constrained mechanism that is only mobile for certain geometric parameters. MapleSim can simulate such over-constrained mechanisms, but this can be a balancing act for the solver.

Who could have known this? A knowledgeable expert might say that users who do not know what they are doing should not use the software. But how to become aware of over-constrained assemblies when building and running a model in MapleSim does not require to be an expert? In this case the geometry was taken from a reference that sets the length of the ground link to Ö3. Model build, assembly and simulation instantly worked … but not for an extended time span.

In retrospect, everything is clear. Models that do not assemble do not fit together. Models that freeze in motion “jam numerically”. Linkages and joints of closed-loop mechanisms made of infinite stiff components may not fit together in all geometrical configurations. During runtime, after successful assembly, a stiff model can make a simulation sensitive to numerical errors. This does not mean that the user is dealing with a so-called numerical stiff problem that can be addressed by using stiff solvers. In this case, stiff solvers could not prevent sudden freeze or inversion of movements.

The only remedies that work for infinite stiff and over-constrained mechanisms are the ones that work also in real life. By either introducing mechanical play or elasticity in supports, joints and links, the simulation becomes robust. Numerically, for this case where none of the many advanced solver options made a difference, a simple increase of the relative error in the standard simulation settings worked. This remedy could be described as introducing more numerical play. Interestingly in a completely different approach of animating a Schatzmechanism @one man also needed to introduce “deformations” in his simulation to make it work.

The Schatzmechanism is of little commercial interest and can therefore be shared. Is it a rare case of successful assembly and freeze during runtime or is it more frequent that users run into similar problems? Only MapleSoft can tell, but in the latter case it could make sense that MapleSim supports the user. I see several possibilities for that:

A more prominent mention in the documentation that kinematic loops require caution could raise awareness.
Algorithmically detecting kinematic loops and informing the user that closed loops can be potentially over-constrained in certain geometric configurations.
(If possible, analyzing the Jacobian in the frozen configuration might give better hints than solver messages during runtime can provide. The attached model gives the hint with MapleSim 2025.1 that the error tolerance might be too tight, but no indication why.)
Implementing the mobility formula, analyzing closed loops and issuing a warning when the mobility M is less than 1 (meaning no degree of freedom)

The latter option sounds appealing. However, the degree of freedom calculated by the mobility formula only provides a necessary but unfortunately not a sufficient condition for mobility. For example, connecting a prismatic joint coaxially to another increases the mobility by one but does not add to the mobility of a mechanism. This means that an advanced algorithm must take the orientation of joints into account to determine the effective degrees of freedom. On the other hand, the Schatzmechanism and some other mechanisms have a mobility of M=0 but can be mobile for certain geometries.

Should Maplesoft implement mobility analysis or are CAD tools that offer some sort of mobility analysis more suitable? In my opinion, from a conceptual point of view, it would be beneficial and faster to have this support already in MapleSim before going into details.

Should the user refrain from modeling infinite stiff mechanisms? I do not think so because they are useful in the context of deriving (analytical) forward and inverse kinematics. Furthermore, there are more mechanisms out there that are mathematically, according to the mobility formula, immobile but useful in daily life. The telescopic fork is a prominet example.

Final note for math enthusiasts:

The Schatzmechanism (invented by Paul Schatz) is a byproduct of the inversion of a cube. Recalling that the diagonal of the unit cube is Ö3 gives a hint of why the Schatz mechanism becomes mobile for this parameter. Also related to the inversion of a cube is the oloid: a solid with a developable surface that touches with its entire surface a flat surface when rolling. The oloid and the Schatz mechanism are closely related, which can be appreciated from this video.