Install DART on Windows | DART: Dynamic Animation and Robotics Toolkit

Warning: Using DART on Windows is still experimental; It hasn’t been fully tested.

Supported Platforms and Compilers

Windows 10 64-bit, Visual Studio 2019 64-bit. Please make sure that your Visual Studio is up to date.

Install DART from Source

Install Dependencies using vcpkg

Install vcpkg

Please find vcpkg installation instruction from the website.

Install Dependencies

# Required dependencies
> vcpkg install --recurse --triplet x64-windows assimp boost-system boost-filesystem ccd eigen3 fcl

# Optional dependencies
> vcpkg install --recurse --triplet x64-windows bullet3 flann freeglut nlopt ode opengl osg tinyxml2 urdfdom

Build and Install DART using CMake

You will also need CMake to create the build environment for your system. Download CMake 3.14.3 or later for your system here.

TortoiseGit or SmartGit (optional)

To download the source code using Git we recommend using SmartGit.

DART Source

Using Git

If you have a Git client installed, clone the DART repository. Checkout the tagged version with the highest version number. To do that, choose “Switch/Checkout…” from the TortoiseGit context menu. In the window that appears select the “Tags” option and choose the highest version number from the drop-down menu.

If you are developing DART or want to stay up-to-date with the most recent development (at the expense of using an untested version), just stay on the master branch instead of checking out a tagged version.

Download as zip file

Go to the tag page and download the source code for the highest version number. Unpack it.

Generate Project Files

Run CMake (cmake-gui). Select the directory where you downloaded DART. Name a directory where you want the Visual Studio project files to be placed. You should probably place it under the DART directory, e. g. [DART directory]\build

Click “Configure” and choose your development environment (Visual Studio 16).

If you did not install the DART prerequisites in the default install location, you need to change CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to your install location and click “Configure” again.

Click “Generate”

Build and Install

The previous process should create Visual Studio project files. Open [DART directory]\build\dart.sln. Choose the “Release” configuration. Right click on the “INSTALL” project and choose “Build”. This will build and install DART in C:\Golems or the install location you chose. Do the same for the “Debug” configuration.