Building OpenSceneGraph in Windows

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Building OpenSceneGraph

OpenSceneGraph provides the underlying scene graph management capabilities for OpenFrames. This page outlines the process of downloading and building the OpenSceneGraph libraries.

NOTE: These instructions where tested under Windows 7

Windows Requirements:

• CMake to generate platform specific build system (used 3.5.2 as tested)
• Microsoft Visual Studio to run build and install processes (used VS 2013 Community edition ver 12.0.40629.00 Update 5 as tested)
  Note: MVS is freely available, however, one must register with Microsoft and login to the account within MVS to activate the free license
  Choice of Git Client such as:
• SourceTree - a GUI git and mercurial client
• Git for Windows - a command line linux style shell and with git support or GUI based (runs over included MINGW)

Download OpenSceneGraph

1. OSG is hosted on GitHub. Use your choice of git client to clone the repo from (https://github.com/openscenegraph/OpenSceneGraph.git). Additional instructions can be found in OpenSceneGraph Git repository.
2. Checkout the OpenSceneGraph-3.5.6 tag

Note: The root OSG folder will be referred to as [OSG_FOLDER] in this page

Download 3rd Party Libs for OpenSceneGraph

1. Precompiled OSG 3rd party libraries for Windows 7 are hosted on their Dependencies page. The following is a list of Visual Studio, OpenSceneGraph, and 3rdParty lib releases known to be compatible:

Visual Studio	OpenSceneGraph Git Tag	OpenScenGraph 3rdParty libs
VS 2013 Community edition ver 12.0.40629.00 Update 5	OpenSceneGraph-3.5.6	3rdParty_VS2013_v120_x86_x64_V9_small.7z
VS Community 2017 15.2.26430.15	OpenSceneGraph-3.5.6	3rdParty_VS2017_v141_x64_V11_small.7z

1. Extract the 7z file to your hard drive. (Install 7-zip to extract the package if necessary.)
2. As of this writing the 3rdParty directory is named 3rdParty_x86_x64

Note: The absolute path to (and including) 3rdParty_x86_x64 will be referred to as [OSG_3RDPARTY] in this page

Setup OpenSceneGraph Build System

In CMake:

1. Specify [OSG_FOLDER] as the Source Code location.
2. Specify [OSG_FOLDER]\build as the Build Binaries location
3. Press the "Configure" button
   • Say "ok" if you are asked to create the 'build' folder
   • Verify the default generator choice ("Visual Studio 12 2013 Win64" in our case) or choose a different one
   • Check "Use default native compiler"
   • Click "finish"

The configure process sets up build variables that can be modified before generating the actual build system. The variable list can be organized by clicking the "Grouped" button. Set the following variable:

• CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = [OSG_FOLDER]\install
• BUILD_OSG_EXAMPLES checked off if you want examples built. Adds significantly to the build time. Set to false by default (OPTIONAL)
• ACTUAL_3RDPARTY_DIR = [OSG_3RDPARTY]\x64
• WIN32_USE_MP enable parallel compilation in Visual Studio. Greatly speeds up the build process. "Advanced" must be checked for this option to show.
• If using VS 2013 and 3rdParty_VS2013_v120_x86_x64_V9_small.7z, then GDAL_LIBRARY = [OSG_3RDPARTY]\x64\lib\gdal_i.lib. Otherwise gdal.lib without an _i will be chosen, which results in linker errors.

Finally, create the build system:

1. Press the "Configure" button again to enable the variable changes you just made
2. Press the "Generate" button to create the build system
3. Exit CMake

Build OpenSceneGraph

In Visual Studio:

1. File->Open Project and navigate to [OSG_FOLDER]\build folder. Choose OpenSceneGraph.sln and click "Open"
2. The Solution Explorer window will have ALL_BUILD selected
3. By default the Debug build solution may be selected on the standard Visual Studios toolbar. Choose the Release build solution and perform build (Build->Build Solution)
4. Once the build is complete perform the installation:
5. Within Solution Explorer window, go to CMakePredefinedTargets,
6. right-click INSTALL, left-click build
7. Confirm that the osgversion executable is in [OSG_FOLDER]\install\bin

Test OpenSceneGraph

In System Properties (on your machine):

1. Select the "Advanced" tab
2. Click on "Environment Variables" button
3. Scrolldown to Path under "System Variables"
4. Select Path and click Edit
5. Add ;[OSG_FOLDER]\install\bin;[OSG_3RDPARTY]\x64\bin at the end of the Path
6. Click OK to close the editor dialog
7. Click OK to close the Environement Variables dialog
8. Open a new terminal (so the above changes take effect), and type osgversion. It should tell you the version of OSG that you have installed.
9. (Optional) If you have a 3D model file, test osgviewer filename to see the model using the standard OSG viewer application. A standard test dataset for OSG is also available on the OSG Data Resources page. A very common test to ensure that OSG is installed properly is osgviewer cow.osg.

OpenSceneGraph is now built and installed, and ready for use with OpenFrames.

[Anika Halota]

1. Confirm that the osgversion executable is in [OSG_FOLDER]\install\bin

This file does not appear. I have 56 items in this folder, most of which are of the type "osg148-osgXXXX.dll" (or a matching pdb)

I have in this folder only two executables, called: "osg2cpp.exe" and "sogshaderpipeline.exe" . There is also a folder called osgPlugins-3.5.6. which has 221 items of the type "osgdb_XXX.dll" (or a matching pdb).

If I look in [OSG_FOLDER\build\bin, I do find osgversion.exe,

It looks like something is not working out right for me when I build the "INSTALL" projects, because not all of the created files are being moved to the install dir. I've added [OSG_FOLDER]\build\bin to my path instead. Although not recommended, it does at least solve the issue for now, and I can run "osgversion" from the command line.