If you are already experienced with using CMake to generate a C++ project, please read the following paragraphs for a quick guide. If not, you may read Section 1 and 2 first and then get back to check this section as a summary.
The starter codebase is organized as ext, src, assignments and tutorials. We put all external codes (e.g., the Eigen library) in ext. We put the common headers that can be shared among different subprojects in src (e.g., the classes of mesh, grid, file IO, etc.). The folder assignments maintains all assignments. An assignment is dependent on src and ext, but is independent from other assignments.
Usually, you are asked to write code in one or multiple files in an assignment folder (e.g., in assignments/a1/LoopSubdivision.h). You don’t need to change files in ext or src.
We use CMake to separate the source code and the build files. CMakeLists.txt is maintained in each subproject.
To generate build files (e.g., an .sln file for Windows or a makefile for Linux), you need to 1) create a build folder to hold all subprojects;
2) use CMake to generate the build files (i.e., run cmake <path to source> in the build folder).
The executables are generated in the Release or Debug folder under the subdirectory (e.g., build/a1/Release) for Windows and just in e.g. build/a1 for Linux/Mac.
git clone https://gitlab.com/boolzhu/dartmouth-cg-starter-code
cd dartmouth-cg-starter-code
Substep 2.0: Install CMake
- Windows: Visit https://cmake.org/download/ and download the latest version.
- Linux:
sudo apt-get install cmake - OSX:
brew install cmake(using Homebrew)
Substep 2.1.0: Install IDE (Windows only)
- If you are using Windows and you don't have Visual Studio, please install Visual Studio 2017 , as well as it's C/C++ support
- If you have already installed another version of VS (not Visual Studio 15 2017) or if you are not sure about the version, check the version by running
camke --helpin your command.
Find setup.bat in your script folder, and change "Visual Studio 17 2015" to your own version, or you might get an error at step 2.2
Substep 2.1.1: Install Dependencies (Linux/OSX only)
- Linux:
sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev libglew-dev - OSX:
brew install glew freeglut
Substep 2.2: Run setup.sh/bat
.\scripts\setup.bat [Windows]
./scripts/setup.sh [Linux/OSX]
Note: you need to run the command in your root folder (dartmouth-cg-starter-code). Otherwise your computer will not be able find the cmake file.
To test if everything works correctly you can run:
.\scripts\run_assignment.bat a1 1 [Windows]
./scripts/run_assignment.sh a1 1 [Linux/Mac]
This will:
- Compile the code for the assignment 1 and any dependencies
- Popup a window and show an OpenGL window
- Windows: Open the .sln project file in the
buildfolder. - Linux or OSX: Use your editor of choice to edit the assignment files in
assignments
While the setup and run_assignment scripts should get you up and running quickly, you might want to peek behind the curtains and run the individual parts manually.
You should familiarize yourself with CMake, which is a tool that allows you to describe your build steps in a platform independent way.
During setup, the script creates a directory called build in your top level project folder.
This is standard CMake practice and makes sure that we are not polluting our source code with platform specific build files.
The script enters the directory and executes CMake using cmake ... CMake finds the `CMakeLists.txt' file in the project folder and executes the build setup steps that we configured.
After this runs, you will have a bunch of files and folders in the build folder. You might notice that the folder structure mirrors the one in the source folder.
Generally, you can find the build files related to "assignment/aN" in "build/assignment/aN".
The build step can be done through cmake as well. In the build folder, run
cmake --build . --config Release
This will build all assignments and examples.
For more details, you can look at the setup and run_assignment scripts!