What’s the difference between Producer, Producer Pro and the Production Suite?

I get a lot of questions about what the difference is between our three main software products.  The short answer? Producer and Producer Pro are authoring tools that allow you to make 3D computer models interactive. The Production Suite is a software platform that allows you to go further and turn these interactive 3D simulations into full-blown training and support solutions.

That was the Coles Notes version — Here’s some more detail:

Ghosted view of sphenoid bone created using Producer

Producer = Tool in your toolkit

NGRAIN Producer allows anyone with basic computer skills – like course instructors – to turn “static” digital 3D models into easy-to-deploy interactive 3D simulations. (Cool example: The US Air Force medical training team selected a 3D model of the human skull from an online catalog, then used our tool to create an interactive 3D simulation for anatomy training). Producer allows people to create and update animations, as well as interactive practice tasks, using a visual “click and capture” storyboard. These simulations can be deployed over the Web, inserted into Word documents or PDF files.

Producer Pro is our advanced authoring tool. It includes all the feature sets of Producer, but also lets you do some other really neat things that are crucial for technical training, like create fluid flows and inverse kinematic animations. (Last week, we talked about the importance of showing interdependencies within complex systems, and by simulating inverse kinematics, you can demonstrate how the pistons in an engine move or how the flight controls in a helicopter operate the rotor head). With Producer Pro, you can also create larger, more complex models because it runs on 64 bit.

We created Producer Pro for multi-media developers, but instructors and subject matter experts with no programming experience can use it too. It’s available as a stand-alone product or as part of the Production Suite. And speaking of the Production Suite…..

Production Suite = Platform for the big picture

The NGRAIN Production Suite (which includes Producer Pro) is a software platform that allows you to create a “big picture” solution that can be configured to meet complex training and support requirements.

Creating a full 3D training application from scratch takes a lot of elbow grease. Over the past ten years, we developed tools that we used to help us work more efficiently as we created solutions – such as Virtual Task Trainers and Virtual Task Refreshers –for our customers. With the Production Suite, we are providing multimedia developers with a way to use our “secret sauce” for optimizing the interactive 3D simulation development process. For example, the Solutions Builders in the Production Suite allows you to create a full application by setting parameters and providing context data around the interactive 3D model. It also includes plug-in efficiency tools, sample code and conversion tools to accelerate key tasks. This means that you are creating 3D applications within days – instead of weeks.

So how do I turn 3D models into interactive training applications, exactly?

Very good question – We’ll be getting into the nitty gritty of this in future blog posts. But if you’re eager to learn more today, there’s still time to join our Webinar on turning 3D models into interactive training applications, taking place at 2:00 p.m. EST today (September 26^th). We’ll be recording the session and posting it online shortly after.

Any questions? Feel free to make a comment on this blog, and we’ll be happy to assist!