Simulation3DEngine startup timed out in Simulink 3D Engine (MATLAB R2025b, Ubuntu 20.04)

I am encountering an issue when running a Simulink model that uses the Simulation 3D Engine block.

When I start the simulation, the following error occurs:

MATLAB System block '~/<project_folder>/Simulation 3D Scene Configuration/Simulation 3D Engine' error occurred when invoking 'resetImpl' method of 'Simulation3DEngine'.

The error was thrown from:

'/usr/local/MATLAB/R2025b/toolbox/shared/sim3d/sim3d/+sim3d/+engine/EngineInterface.p'

'/usr/local/MATLAB/R2025b/toolbox/shared/sim3d/sim3d/+sim3d/+engine/Engine.p'

'/usr/local/MATLAB/R2025b/toolbox/shared/sim3d/sim3d/+sim3d/World.p'

'/usr/local/MATLAB/R2025b/toolbox/shared/sim3dblks/sim3dblks/Simulation3DEngine.p'

Caused by:

3D simulation engine executable startup timed out.

Environment:

• MATLAB: R2025b (Update 4)
• OS: Ubuntu 20.04
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
• NVIDIA driver and OpenGL appear to be working correctly

Installed toolboxes include:

• Simulink
• Robotics System Toolbox
• Simulink 3D Animation
• Computer Vision Toolbox
• Image Processing Toolbox
• Stateflow

Additional notes:

• rendererinfo reports a WebGL renderer (Chromium/ANGLE).
• GPU and OpenGL seem to be functioning correctly in the system (glxinfo reports NVIDIA renderer).
• I already tried reinstalling MATLAB and clearing the MATLAB user configuration folder.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue with Simulation3DEngine on Linux?

Is there any known compatibility issue with Ubuntu 20.04 or MATLAB R2025b for the Simulation 3D Engine?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Answer 1

[Nishan Nekoo]

Hello,

Using Simulink 3D Animation on Linux requires a Debian distribution - please see our requirements page here: https://www.mathworks.com/help/sl3d/unreal-engine-simulation-environment-requirements-and-limitations.html

I apologize for any inconvenience here.

Nishan