Visualization Library v1.0.3

A lightweight C++ OpenGL middleware for 2D/3D graphics

VL     Star     Watch     Fork     Issue

[Download] [Tutorials] [All Classes] [Grouped Classes]

Compiling and Installing Visualization Library

Visualization Library uses the CMake building system to target several platforms and compilers.

At the moment Visualization Library supports the following development platforms:

Note that CMake supports many other platforms and operating systems as well, in which you can probably also run Visualization Library.

Please visit http://www.cmake.org to download the latest 2.6.x CMake distribution for your operating system.

In order to compile Visualization Library with CMake you have to understand a few simple concepts that remain valid for all the platforms. When building Visualization Library you will need 3 directories:

Run CMake, select the source directory and the build directory, then press the Configure button:

cmake-01.png

Select your building environment and press the Finish button:

cmake-02.png

The basic build environment is ready:

cmake-03.png

Variables overview:

Press the Configure button, you should see something similar to:

cmake-04.png

If you would like to reset your configuration go to the menu File -> Delete Cache.

To finalize and generate the building environment press Generate. Now you can close CMake and go to the specified build directory. If you are using a Unix-like environment you can simply type make then make install. If you are using Visual Studio you just need to double click on the VisualizationLibrarySDK.sln file and build the BUILD_ALL project and then the INSTALL project.

You are now ready to use Visualization Library!

Using VL from a CMake project

Let's say that you are working on a project that uses VL and you would like to take advantage of CMake to support several compilers and operating system, your CMakeLists.txt would look like similar to the following example:

project(My_VL_Project)

# must be called after project!
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6)

# let CMake locate the FindVL.cmake if you haven't installed in any standard location
# this will look for the FindVL.cmake file where the CMakeLists.txt is
set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH} "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}")

# set VL_ROOT to point to where VL have been installed.
# you can set the VL_ROOT either here or as an environment variable
# set(VL_ROOT "D:/VL/Install")

# for static linking do this
# find_package(VL COMPONENTS VLCore VLGraphics VLVG VLVolume VLMolecule VLWin32 FreeType JPG PNG TIFF ZLib REQUIRED)
# add_definitions(-DVL_STATIC_LINKING)

# for dynamic linking do this
# find_package(VL COMPONENTS VLCore VLGraphics VLVG VLVolume VLMolecule VLWin32 REQUIRED)

# NOTE:
# - FreeType, JPG, PNG, TIFF, ZLib, are not required with dynamic linking because they have been linked already in VLCore and VLGraphics.
# - VLWin32 is the library implementing the VL/Win32 gui bindings, here is required because Win32_example.cpp uses it.
# - For a full list of available modules and all the details see the instructions inside FindVL.cmake.

# add VL include directories
include_directories(${VL_INCLUDE_DIRS})

# find ${OPENGL_LIBRARIES} to be used later
find_package(OpenGL REQUIRED)

# adds a new executable with sources
add_executable(vlWin32_example WIN32 Win32_example.cpp App_RotatingCube.hpp)

# defines which libraries to link to the previously defined executable
target_link_libraries(vlWin32_example ${VL_LIBRARIES} ${OPENGL_LIBRARIES})

# install everything in the destination path defined at CMake configuration time
install( TARGETS vlWin32_example
    RUNTIME DESTINATION "."
    LIBRARY DESTINATION "."
    ARCHIVE DESTINATION "."
)
Third Party Libraries

This is a convenience list of third party libraries used by Visualization Library:

Visualization Library v1.0.3 Reference Documentation
Copyright Michele Bosi. All rights reserved.
Updated on Tue Feb 7 2017 00:55:05.
Permission is granted to use this page to write and publish articles regarding Visualization Library.