What’s New

Military Simulation Seminar ― COTS Tools and Techniques

Many of your colleagues and competitors are using COTS software for training and simulation to:

  • Save money
  • Shorten project life cycles
  • Reduce risk
  • Empower users

Join us for a free seminar on COTS tools, with demonstrations of their use in Network Centric Warfare simulation, Communications modeling and Human Machine Interfaces. Featuring VIP speakers from DiSTI, Scalable, and MÄK.

To register or learn more click here.

Coming Soon ― VR-Forces 3.11 and MÄK Plan View Display 2.11

  • Entity Creation Palette on the VR-Forces GUI toolbar
  • Entities can task other entities by sending radio messages. Conditionals in plans to react to radio messages
  • Compliance with an interface standard developed by Scalable Network Technologies (makers of Qualnet) for interoperability between a CGF and a Communications Effects Server. This allows VR-Forces to query an external server to determine whether a radio message should actually get to its intended recipient, based on terrain, environmental conditions, etc.
  • Simple Entity Editor application that allows you to edit the set of entity models available to VR-Forces. Add a new entity type to the simulation engine’s model library, map your entity type to a graphical icon, and automatically add it to the VR-Forces entity creation palette, all from a single tool.
  • Support for RPGs and IEDs
  • Multiple levels of detection: Identification, Classification, Recognition, Identification
  • Share detection lists among entities for shared situational awareness
  • Scenario Merge tool
  • GUI Toolbar for setting commonly used options
  • Create and copy entities and their plans via copy and paste
  • Drop-down select from a list of polygons at a particular XY location, to place entities on specific floors of buildings
  • And much more!

3D GUI Added to VR-Forces

It’s a 3D world. Your SAF should have a 3D user interface. VT MÄK presents the VR-Forces 3D GUI.

Back in the day, wars were fought on the battlefields between cities. These days, the battle has moved indoors: snipers perch on roof tops and in third floor windows; unidentified explosive devices lay in wait in cluttered alleyways and amongst roadside debris; and threats hide in tunnels, caves and under overpasses. Classic SAF navigation and 2D Plan View displays are no longer sufficient for planning simulation scenarios in these multi-level 3D environments.

The VR-Forces 3D GUI allows you to drag and drop models directly within the 3D scene to interactively create, place, and task entities. Entities can be rotated and moved into position behind doors, on the stairs between floors, under a bridge overpass, anywhere in the 3D scene. Simple controls allow you to keep ground vehicles clamped to the terrain as you move them around, or to drag air vehicles into the air to a desired elevation. The same menus are used for tasking and scenario control in both the 2D GUI and the 3D GUI to make switching back and forth* simple and intuitive.

The VR-Forces 3D GUI adds to the MÄK suite of tools that address the unique challenges of urban simulation. Last year we released B-HAVE – an artificial intelligence module for VR-Forces that adds "brains" to human activities in virtual environments. B-HAVE performs intelligent path-planning through complex 3D environments, allowing simulated human entities to enter and leave buildings, go up and down stairs, realistically avoid obstacles, and flee or hide from threats. Although B-HAVE is responsible for navigation once the scenario gets underway, a scenario planner needs a powerful scenario editor to perform the initial laydown, and to define the order of battle. This is where the VR-Forces 3D GUI shows its strength as the right user interface for urban simulation.

Integration is the key. All of MÄK’s products are designed to maximize interoperability at the network level. Now the VR-Forces 3D GUI brings interoperability to the user interface level, allowing you to interchange simulation front-ends to suit your scenario planning needs.

The VR-Forces 3D GUI is another component of the MÄK Advantage ― our ability to help you craft compelling distributed simulation solutions by drawing upon MÄK’s technology, expertise, partnerships, and character.

*With a single license, VR-Forces can run with either a 2D or a 3D GUI. An additional front-end license is required to run both a 2D and 3D GUI at the same time.


AGI Releases DSim

AGI has announced the official release of their Distributed Simulation (DSim) software. This new technology integrates VT MÄK’s VR-Link toolkit with AGI’s STK (Satellite Tool Kit) for a quick and easy way to network STK to DIS and HLA protocols. The interface allows users to model land, sea, air, space, and missile platforms for incorporation into M&S, training, and wargaming tools, while offering the ability to port M&S data feeds into STK for additional analyses. Learn more and then test-drive the technology for yourself by visiting www.agi.com/dsim.

For further questions about AGI software products, or to request an on-site demo, please contact AGI by phoning 1.800.220.4785 (toll-free in U.S. &Canada) or 1.610.981.8000, or e-mailing


Dan Brockway Joins MÄK

VT MÄK is pleased to welcome Dan Brockway to our team. Dan has joined the company as the Director of Technical Marketing. He will be responsible for market research in the M&S industry, researching opportunities in other vertical markets, and creating market messaging for MÄK products.

For those of you who don’t know Dan, he has spent the last eleven years with MultiGen-Paradigm (now Presagis), most recently as the Vice President of Product Management. During his tenure there he focused on market research and product requirements, successfully directing three visual and sensor simulation product lines. He also worked as the Director of Technology Strategy and Director of Database products while at MutliGen-Paradigm. His previous experience includes leadership at SAIC as the Director of Advanced Graphics for the War Breaker program and as a software engineer for Cambridge Research Associates.