1. AutoSimulations Creation Editor

AutoMod users typically edit the contents of cell files using the AutoSimulations' Creation Editor, or ACE, which is available both as a stand-alone application and as an embedded tool within AutoMod. (AutoSimulations, Inc. was the original company behind AutoMod, and were taken over by Brooks Automation, Inc. in 1999. Their Brooks Software division, which included the AutoMod product, was subsequently acquired by Applied Materials, Inc. in 2006.) It is interesting to note that ACE does not allow the user to edit many of the different cell types. Cell files that contain Vector Lists, Polyhedra, or Compiled Pictures, for example, cannot be edited in ACE. See Cell Type for a complete list. ACE is the final arbiter of cell file validity; if ACE is unable to read a cell file, or fails to display its contents correctly, then the cell file is not valid. However, note that ACE processes cell files differently depending upon whether it is running in Standard Graphics or VR Graphics mode; a file that can be read without problem in Standard Graphics mode might not succeed in VR Graphics mode, and vice versa. Note that ACE is not very good at reporting errors in cell files; this is because the cell file format was not designed to be edited outside of ACE.