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.