GPU Simulation

Mastercam Simulator can now use GPU-accelerated processing for Simulation and Verification to significantly increase speed and performance compared to CPU based simulations. GPU Simulation is particularly helpful for large and complex 3- and 5-axis parts, where fast verification can significantly shorten programming cycles.

Traditional CPU-based simulation typically can be limited by:

• Lower performance during material removal. Simulating material removal operations with millions of toolpath points requires considerable computing power and time, often forcing engineers to compromise on resolution and quality.
• The need to constantly balance performance and accuracy, compromising both. Engineers often need to compromise on accuracy to get simulation results on time.

While previous Mastercam versions include a limited form of GPU support for Milling operations, the new GPU Simulation offers broader compatibility across part types and substantially improved performance. It is enabled on the Simulation page in your configuration file:

Mastercam will use the new GPU Simulation only when Tool vs. Stock collision detection is enabled.

When GPU processing is active, Simulate Cuts displays in the bottom-left corner.

GPU Simulation is available for both Machine Simulation using an external post and Mastercam Simulator. Please be aware of the following guidelines and limitations:

• GPU Simulation is limited to milling operations only and is disabled if turning operations are selected. This means that if you select multiple operations and one of them is a turning operation, GPU Simulation will be disabled for all of the operations.
• When you are running Mill-Turn, GPU Simulation is only available when you are using Mastercam Simulator with a single-stream machine. GPU Simulation is not available when you launch Simulation from within Code Expert.

To use GPU simulation, Mastercam recommends medium to high end graphics cards with at least the performance of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB) or an AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT. The graphics driver must also be up to date, such that the required Vulkan APIs are available.

Minimum requirements:

• Vulkan 1.3 support with dynamic rendering (available on NVidia GeForce RTX 960 or later, AMD Radeon RX 480 or later)

• 4 GB of video RAM (VRAM). Performance may degrade if other processes use VRAM during simulation. In that case, the system may evict important GPU buffers to system RAM.

• 16 GB of system RAM

Recommended requirements:

• 12 GB of VRAM to avoid buffer eviction due to memory pressure

• Command buffer preemption support. Without this it may be necessary to increase the TDR Delay on your system, to avoid graphics driver resets during simulation.

Performance improves significantly with more powerful GPUs. The minimum requirements ensure that GPU simulation runs correctly, but they do not guarantee better performance than CPU-based simulation.

Mastercam automatically prioritizes a dedicated GPU when available. If multiple dedicated GPUs exist, Mastercam selects the one with the most on-device VRAM.