Building OpenFrames on Ubuntu

Overview

The OpenFrames build process can be broken down into four main steps:

1. Download and configure the dependencies
2. Create the build system using CMake
3. Build OpenFrames
4. Run OpenFrames

The first two steps are generally "one-time" processes that are performed immediately after downloading the OpenFrames repository. They result in a build system (e.g. Visual Studio solution or makefiles) that will intelligently rebuild OpenFrames components as needed when source or configuration files are changed.

Below are step-by-step instructions on how to perform the aforementioned steps along with the background requirements that are needed before beginning.

This tutorial was most recently tested and run on Ubuntu 18.04.1

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Step 1: Dependencies

OpenSceneGraph

• Building OpenSceneGraph in Ubuntu

CMake

sudo snap install cmake

• used to generate build system
• used 3.16.5 as tested

GCC

sudo apt install gcc

• used version 7.4.0 as tested

(Optional) Winteracter Open Motif

• used if you want to to build the Winteracter demo
• download the latest static library for your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and place it in a convenient location
• it is recommended to place it in the Winteracter lib directory (e.g. lib.ifi64) next to the existing Winteracter libraries

OpenFrames

• clone the OpenFrames repository
  • git clone https://github.com/ravidavi/OpenFrames.git
• when checking out, ensure you have selected the "develop" branch instead of the "Master" branch
  • cd OpenFrames
  • git checkout develop
• the root OpenFrames folder will be referred to as [OF_FOLDER] on this page

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Step 2: Setup OpenFrames Build System

In Terminal:

1. cd [OF_FOLDER]
2. mkdir build
3. mkdir install
4. cd build
5. cmake ..
6. ccmake . or cmake-gui .
   • this is a Terminal/GUI based cmake that displays information in a textual/graphical based interface
   • CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = [OF_FOLDER]/install
   • press [c] to configure
   • if any XXX_LIBRARY file path is not found, edit the entry
     • may require the advanced mode edit
     • XXX_LIBRARY = [OSG_FOLDER]/install/lib64/<filename>.so
     • press [c] to configure
   • press [q] to quit
7. (Optional) ccmake -D WINTER_ROOT:PATH=[PATH_TO_YOUR_WINTERACTER]`
   • this is a Terminal based cmake that displays information in a textual based interface
   • press [c] to configure
   • press [g] to generate
   • press [q] to quit

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Step 3: Build and Install OpenFrames

In Terminal:

1. Go to the [OF_FOLDER]/build folder.
2. Type make or make -j N where N is the number of cores your computer has.
3. Type sudo make install to install the compiled OpenFrames into the [OF_FOLDER]/install folder
4. Confirm that the ofviewer executable is in [OF_FOLDER]/install/bin

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Step 4: Test OpenFrames

In Terminal:

1. Add the following lines to your .bashrc

export OF_ROOT=[OF_FOLDER]/install
export PATH=$PATH:$OF_ROOT/bin
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$OF_ROOT/lib

2. Download and unzip the OpenSceneGraph Data Resources if you haven't already from installing OpenSceneGraph
3. cd <UNZIPPED_OSG_FOLDER>
4. ofviewer cow.osg

Congratulations, OpenFrames is now built and installed.