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Prerequisites

Build Simbody

You must build and install Simbody first. The instructions below should be sufficient; if you need more detail see the README.md file for the appropriate Simbody branch on GitHub at https://github.com/simbody/simbody (Simbody 3.5.3 build instructions at GitHub).

Build OpenSim

Building OpenSim consists of three primary steps; obtain the source code, generate solution file, then build binaries. 

1. Obtain OpenSim Source Code

• You can download the OpenSim 3.x source code in a zip file from the OpenSim download page. As of 3.0, this is the main way we are distributing the OpenSim source code.
• Unzip the source to a project folder on your machine (e.g. C:/Projects/OpenSim3x). This will create a subdirectory with a name like OpenSim33-source.

2. Use CMake to Build the Visual Studio Solution (.sln) File

1. Launch CMake:
   
   1. Where is the source code? Choose the OpenSim source code directory you specified (e.g. C:/Projects/OpenSim3x/OpenSim33-source).  This designates the folder containing the top-level CMake file named CMakeLists.txt.
   2. Where to build the binaries? Choose a build location (e.g. C:/Projects/OpenSim3x/build). This designates the folder for compiler files, debug and release sub-folders, etc.
2. Press the Configure button (near the bottom). Let CMake create the build directory. Choose a “generator” that best matches the compiler you are using, for example “Visual Studio 12 2013 Win64”. Important: your generator choice must be the same as you used when you built Simbody. Select “Use default native compilers” and click Finish.
3. To avoid building the command line utilities and associated tests (faster), check BUILD_API_ONLY. This is an Advanced Option in the CMake GUI.
4. Specify an installation location for OpenSim (e.g. CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = C:/OpenSimLocal). You should choose a location for which you have write permission.
5. To build python wrapping, set BUILD_PYTHON_WRAPPING to ON.
6. Verify that BUILD_USING_NAMESPACE is set to the same value used when building Simbody (Blank is the default). 
7. Point SIMBODY_HOME (SimTK_INSTALL_DIR in earlier versions) to where you installed Simbody (e.g. C:/Projects/Simbody/install). 
   
   1. After you hit configure again, make sure Simbody_DIR have been set based on SIMBODY_HOME (these are shown only in Advanced View in CMake)
8. Hit Configure again. This time there should be nothing in red and the Generate button will be available.
9. Hit "Generate", which will create the Visual Studio solution files in the OpenSim build directory

3. Build Binaries and Install

1. Click on OpenSim.sln from the OpenSim build directory to launch Visual Studio.
2. If you want to build Debug libraries, make sure you are in "Debug" configuration (selection in the top center of the screen). Otherwise use RelWithDebInfo.
3. Build the project ALL_BUILD (right click and select "Build").
4. Build RUN_TESTS to make sure everything built correctly. Some tests may time-out in the Debug configuration.
5. Build the project INSTALL to make a local installation of binaries (dll’s and exe’s) and documentation. The INSTALL may fail if you do not have write permission for the OpenSim install location that you chose in CMake. Running Visual Studio as Administrator (right click on Visual Studio and select "Run as Administrator") should address any permission issues. Note that if you start Visual Studio as Administrator, you will need to navigate to the OpenSim.sln file rather than double clicking it.
6. Repeat steps 2 to 5  in the “RelWithDebInfo” configuration (right click project - Properties - Configuration drop down box). While the debug configuration is very useful for testing and debugging, it will be too slow to use for most purposes. The production configuration we recommend is RelWithDebInfo, which runs just as fast as Release, but keeps extra debugging information around that can be helpful if you encounter a problem.
7. Ensure the ${install directory}/bin folder is on a path specified in your computer’s PATH environment variable, (e.g., ensure PATH includes C:\OpenSimLocal\bin)
8. If you turned on BUILD_PYTHON_WRAPPING above, you can install the "opensim" python package by opening a command window, navigating to C:/OpenSimLocal/sdk/python and running "python setup.py install" from a Command Prompt. See this page for more information and some troubleshooting tips. If you are having trouble, please post to the OpenSim forum.

Prerequisites

Special Note

You will need a clean directory for downloading, extracting, configuring, and compiling code. We highly recommend choosing a directory with no spaces in its file path because some configuration and compilation tools do not handle whitespace well. For example "/Users/Me/DevProjects/OpenSim3.3" should cause no problems for cmake and GNU make, but something like "/Users/Me/Dev Projects/OpenSim 3.3", which contains spaces, could cause trouble for some development environments.

Install Simbody

• You must build and install Simbody first. Starting with Simbody 3.5, detailed instructions for building/installing Simbody are located in Simbody's README: https://github.com/simbody/simbody(Simbody 3.5.4 build instructions at GitHub). If you need an earlier version of Simbody, go down to the Linux instructions and use the instructions there for building Simbody.
  • If you are using Xcode 8 or greater (more specifically, MacOSX10.12.sdk or greater), or your computer is running macOS 10.12 (or greater), you must use Simbody 3.5.4 or greater, as this version contains a vital fix.
  • Important: For Simbody 3.5, you should set the Simbody CMake variable SIMBODY_STANDARD_11 to OFF before building Simbody; this disables the use of C++11 features. Otherwise, you will get mysterious errors. Alternatively, if you want to use C++11 features with OpenSim (3.3 only), leave SIMBODY_STANDARD_11 set to ON; when building OpenSim, set OPENSIM_STANDARD_11 to ON.
    
    

1. Obtain OpenSim Source Code

• You can download the OpenSim 3.x source code in a zip file from the OpenSim downloads page.
• Unzip the source to a project folder on your machine (e.g. ~/simtk/OpenSim3x).

2. Use CMake to generate an Xcode project or Makefiles.

• Launch CMake:
  
  1. "Where is the source code?" Choose the OpenSim source code directory you specified (e.g. ~/simtk/OpenSim3x).
  2. "Where to build the binaries?" Choose a build location (e.g. ~/simtk/OpenSim3x-build).
• Press the Configure button (near the bottom). Let CMake create the build directory. A window will open asking you to specify a generator. Choose either Xcode or Unix Makefiles, depending on your preference.
• Specify an installation location for OpenSim (e.g. CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = ~/opensim3x).
• Point SIMBODY_HOME to where you installed Simbody (e.g. ~/simbody).
• Specify OPENSIM_STANDARD_11 to be on or off, depending on the Simbody build settings you used (see comment in Simbody installation directions above).
• Hit Configure again. This time there should be nothing in red and the Generate button will be available.
• Hit "Generate". Based on which generator you specified earlier, this will create either the Xcode project or the necessary Makefiles in the OpenSim build directory.

3. Build Binaries and Install

• If using Xcode:
  
  1. Launch OpenSim.xcodeproj from the OpenSim build directory.
  2. Follow the instructions here to properly set your build configuration: https://github.com/opensim-org/opensim-core#build-and-install-1
  3. Build the target ALL_BUILD.
  4. Build the target INSTALL to make an installation of binaries (dylib’s and executables) and documentation.
• If building using Makefiles:
  1. Launch a terminal window and navigate to the OpenSim build directory (e.g. cd ~/simtk/OpenSim3x-build).
  2. Build the binaries (the -jn flag lets you parallelize the build using n processor cores).
     
     • >> make -j8
  3. Install OpenSim onto your computer.
     
     • >> make -j8 install
  4. Make sure the build and installation was successful by running the tests.
     
     • >> ctest -j8
     • Note: prior to doing this, it may be necessary to first set the library path (see instructions below).

Notes

• Set the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH variable so that the SimTK and OpenSim libraries can be found. Do this by running the following command in a terminal:
  
  • export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH:<OpenSim install dir>/lib
• The above instruction only works in that current terminal session. To modify your DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for all future terminal sessions, add the above line to the file /etc/profile on your system. Restart your terminal and check that DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH contains the OpenSim lib path by running:
  
  • echo $DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
• Set OPENSIM_HOME to your installation directory:
  
  • export OPENSIM_HOME=<OpenSim install dir>