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MAK Delivers Hands-on VR-Forces Training to Kemalak for Virtual Sand Table Development
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, MAK Technologies’ Simulation Product Trainer, Melinda Minear, recently led a tailored MAK ONE workshop focused on VR-Forces for Kemalak Group SDN BH. Kemalak is a systems integrator dedicated to helping their customers make informed decisions through the right tools, knowledge, and solutions.
RFView® for MAK ONE is here, bringing next-generation SAR imaging into MAK ONE synthetic environments.
Jointly developed with Information Systems Laboratories (ISL), RFView® for MAK ONE combines ISL’s decades of expertise in radar simulation with MAK’s multi-domain, terrain-agile synthetic environments—delivering fully correlated SAR imagery that integrates seamlessly with EO/IR sensor and out-the-window views.
From Classroom to Command: How the NPS MOVES Institute Uses Simulation to Prepare Future Military Leaders
In the world of defense training and education, the gap between theory and practice can be tough to bridge. At the Naval Postgraduate School’s MOVES Institute, that gap is being closed every day with the help of MAK ONE.
As part of their graduate programs in Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation, MOVES students are, of course, learning the theory behind military training systems. They’re also designing and running simulations that mirror the tactical and strategic challenges they’ll face in real-world command and control environments across the Department of Defense. At the heart of that hands-on experience is the MAK ONE suite of simulation software, including VR-Forces, VR-Link, and VR-Exchange.
New SAR simulation product, expert MAK ONE tips, & 2025 Plans
Every quarter, we pull together the must-know updates from MAK—product announcements and webinar recordings, deep-dive blogs from our engineers and senior team, partnership news, and a ton of other resources to help you get the most out of MAK ONE and discover all the ways MAK can support you and your projects. Take a look at our Q1 rollup and let us know what you liked or didn't, and the types of stuff you'd find interesting to learn about.
(TLDR: Lots of good stuff, just one quarterly newsletter. Click below to read the full issue.)
Did you know? MAK supports CDB terrain.
by Jim Kogler, VP of Products
CDB (Common Database) is a terrain standard that uses highly structured and curated GIS data to define the terrain for Synthetic Environments. If you’ve ever worked with raw source data (GIS data), you know it can be all over the place...each source may use slightly different formats and inconsistent attributes, which can make it a headache to manage. CDB solves this problem by using a CDB terrain generation tool to process raw data into a highly structured format, ensuring everything is well-defined and consistent. The tool also allows you to clean up problematic data and integrate your own models into a well-organized directory structure (the database).
Getting the Most Out of MAK Customer Support (We’re Your “Engineer Down the Hall”!)
by Deb Fullford, VP Sales and Business Development
MAK has been successfully competing with government owned and internally developed solutions for over 30 years. This is in part due to MAK’s open API’s and MOSA approach, making it an ideal synthetic environment platform that can be customized to meet end users needs. The other reason for MAK’s continued success is our excellent support. MAK is known to continually go above and beyond to help our customers succeed. As Dan Brockway, MAK’s longtime VP of Marketing, coined, “MAK – Your engineer down the hall.”
How to Configure MAK ONE’s VR-Engage Virtual Simulator with Accurate Vehicle Dynamics based on an Existing Model
By Len Granowetter
MAK’s VR-Engage virtual simulator application, part of the MAK ONE suite, includes a built-in vehicle dynamics simulation, using Vortex, by CM Labs. Vortex is a mature and powerful COTS physics and dynamics engine that provides a simple authoring UI, allowing users to model at whatever fidelity is desired – including modeling of multi-axle drive and steering systems, dynamic loads, wheeled and tracked systems, physics of turrets and other parts, etc. However, the MAK ONE platform is also capable of using pre-existing dynamics models and external code that is not based on the Vortex physics engine. Here's how to configure VR-Engage with accurate vehicle dynamics based on an existing model.
VR-Engage 2.0.3 has arrived! Here is what's new.
By Len Granowetter
We just announced our mid-2023 set of maintenance releases for the MAK ONE applications – VR-Forces, VR-Vantage, and VR-Engage. For the most part, maintenance releases are about bug fixes, optimizations, and other minor configuration changes that make our customers’ experience better. But sometimes, maintenance releases also include some targeted new capabilities that are additive or low-impact - that’s the case with the VR-Engage 2.0.3 release.
An experiment with ChatGPT-Powered Customer Support
By Jim Kogler (**edited by ChatGPT, Morgan, and Dan)
I have been approached by multiple customers suggesting the idea of developing a support system by training an OpenAI/Chat-GPT system on our MAK documentation set. They believed it could potentially provide some level of autonomous help desk for our customers. Intrigued by the possibility of automating support, I decided to give it a try. However, I must say it hasn't gone well, and as a result, we won't be releasing it just yet.
Learn how AI can sometimes be misleading...
MAK FIRES: Individual training in the context of a multi-domain operation
For more than 30 years, MAK has been providing commercial software products used by customers, just like you, to create simulated environments for concept development, research, design, and training. Recently, MAK expanded our staff to include experts in the design, development, and implementation of training solutions to train individual skills in a collective training environment. MAK's mission has always been to be a partner, not just a vendor. Our Training Solution Division expands the solutions we can offer to minimize your risk and program cost, and help you achieve program success.
Our first Training Solution offering is MAK FIRES, a comprehensive and immersive training system that provides realistic training for Call for Fire (CFF) missions. MAK's own Bill Kamer, a retired Bradley Master Gunner, was the inspiration behind MAK Fires. Immediately upon joining the MAK team, Bill saw the potential of using the MAK ONE environment to create an easy-to-use and realistic CFF trainer that can be used by an individual trainer at their home station or as part of a formal CFF classroom environment.
